Anglican Discipleship Programme
One of the largest and most wide-ranging programmes the Relay Trust has embarked upon in its history is the Anglican Discipleship Programme (ADP) in South Sudan.
The aim of the programme is to enable the church to disciple its very large membership s across South Sudan.
The project is hugely ambitious as it seeks to operate over a number of years, delivering a spectrum of theology, practical ministry and Anglicanism courses. It plans to have full time staff delivering training in every diocese and an administrative support network to enable the flow of training materials and learning across the country.
The programme not only aims to support the church in discipling its estimated 4 million members, but also do so at an appropriate level, often to people with very low levels of literacy and in their own heart language.
The initial stage is to provide core theological training for the clergy and catechists across the country, and establish the administrative infrastructure to enable future training.
The Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan (ECSS) is a province of the Anglican Communion located in South Sudan. The province consists of eight Internal Provinces (each led by an archbishop) and 61 dioceses (each headed by a bishop). The church is led by its Primate Archbishop Justin Badi Arama.
Archbishop Justin is also the Chairman of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) Steering Committee. The Relay Trust is a mission partner of the GSFA.
The Current Components of the ADP
The ADP is a long-term programme during which the Relay Trust hopes to work with the ECSS in the development of training across the Province.
The current roll out comprises of two core components designed to equip clergy and catechists with both the basic theological training they need and an understanding of Anglican distinctives in order to support their flocks well. These are provided through a partnership with SEAN International and through an indigenously produced Anglicanism Course. Both of these courses are explained below.
The ADP also encompasses a number of other courses including youth leadership training being delivered by SOMA, Creation to Christ, and Rooted in Jesus.
SEAN – Abundant Life Course
The primary theological element of the ADP is the SEAN series of courses.
The Abundant Life is the first and is a basic course which teaches the foundations of the Christian life and how to live the ‘Abundant Life’ offered by the Lord.
It is designed to be partly self-study, which is deepened by regular group meetings led by the diocesan facilitator, and then the student seeks to implement the learning in their daily life.
It is ideal for discipling new believers or reinforcing basic teaching with more mature believers.
Abundant Life has been translated into more than 70 languages, and the ECSS are translating it into 7 more.
The course consists of 18 lessons, which will be delivered over 5 months.
Anglican Discipleship Training
The second core component of the initial roll out of the ADP is Anglican Discipleship training.
The church believes that many of its believers do not fully understand what it is to be an Anglican and as a result is providing not only training in Anglicanism, but applying this to daily life as members following Christ though the traditions of the Anglican Church today in South Sudan.
These two PDFs provide an overview of some of training the church has developed to support its believers.
Video Overview of the ADP
Latest News about the ADP
SOMA’s Mission to South Sudan: Empowering Youth Leaders through Anglican Discipleship
In late October 2023, a Sharing of Ministries Abroad (SOMA) UK team embarked on a training mission to South Sudan. Their mission aimed to nurture
Visiting our partners in South Sudan – October 2023
In late October, John Inglis-Jones, our new Regional Relationship Manager, and Doug Ingram, our Chief Operating Officer, travelled to Juba to visit our partner church,
The Anglican Discipleship Programme in South Sudan
One of the largest and most wide ranging programmes the Relay Trust has embarked upon in 2023 has been the Anglican Discipleship Programme (ADP) in South Sudan.
