The Anglican Diocese of Buye, Burundi has held two 3 week training sessions for 30 women catechists in January and July 2024. The women catechists were chosen from the six Archdeaconries from the Diocese. They came to be empowered so that they may serve effectively in their congregations because a priest cannot be everywhere at the same time.

Catechists are playing an important role in the Diocese and this training at Bishop Barham Theological College meant they were trained in Old Testament, New Testament, Prayer Book, Liturgy, Homiletics and Church doctrine.

This training has had a great impact on the attendees and the church. All have said it has significantly helped their leading, preaching, understanding and discipleship.

Rev. Fr Linus John Buriani has been studying a 2 year degree in theology at McGill University and the Montreal Diocesan Theological College in Canada, graduating at the end of 2024. As an ordained priest in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, this opportunity was more than just academic, he reported it was a profoundly personal, spiritual and ministerial journey that deepened his calling and prepared him for leadership in an increasingly global Anglican Church.

As an ordained Tanzanian priest studying and serving in Canada, he noted that he was uniquely positioned to bridge theological, liturgical, and ministerial practices between the Anglican Church of Tanzania and the Anglican Church of Canada. The experience allowed him to:

· Enhance cross-cultural theological engagement, learning how Anglicanism is expressed in different cultural contexts and applying these insights to ministry.

· Compare and integrate liturgical traditions, understanding the diverse ways worship is celebrated across Anglican provinces.

· Develop intercontinental mission strategies, exploring how theological education and mission work can strengthen ties between the Global South and Global North.

· Foster dialogue on Anglican identity, contributing to discussions on faith, tradition, and the evolving role of the Church in a rapidly changing world.

He returned to Tanzania( as the Rector of St Cyprian Theological Collage and also the Director of Mission and Evangelism in the Anglican Church of Tanzania) fully equipped to serve his church and community.

Gloria Nduhukire is from the North Ankole Diocese in Western Unganda and is a 3rd year student of master of Divinity and Theology in the Bishop Tucker school of Divinity and Theology at Uganda Christian University. Her grant from St Augustine’s has supported her accommodation & food and enabled her to buy a laptop.

Before entering ministerial formation, she was a Sunday school teacher in her local church. Whilst studying she has received hands on ministry experience and has been blessed with opportunities to:

• Lead worship services and preach and

• Serve as a Sunday school volunteer at Thorncraft Chapel Children’s Church

She worked with both 4–6 year olds and 10–12 year olds, gaining valuable skills for engaging children in a more modern and structured setting. She also participated in children and youth camps, learning how to nurture faith in young people through creative and age-appropriate methods.

During holidays, she returned to her home parish, where she assisted in Sunday school activities alongside the teacher who succeeded her and the parish priest. This ongoing involvement ensures continuity and shared learning between the church communities.

Her long-standing passion for children’s ministry has shaped the direction of her academic research and she’s currently preparing a proposal entitled:

"Parents' Knowledge of Sunday School Programs and Children's Attendance in Kinoni Parish, North Ankole Diocese"

This study aims to explore how parental awareness influences children's participation in Sunday school, a concern rooted in my observation that many children are absent on Sundays, despite strong parental church attendance.

Our grant has also encouraged her to pursue another calling: serving children in need. She is doing this through resource mobilization and church collaboration, extending compassion and practical support to vulnerable young lives.

From coursework to hands-on ministry, this formation journey has been deeply enriching for Gloria and she is looking forward to putting all she’s learned into meaningful practice in the years to come, especially after her ordination.

On 7 July 2022, Moses Madeya from the Diocese of Harare, Zimbabwe, received a Fellowship to support his post-graduate studies in Musicology at the University of Cape Town. Although the programme was initially set for a shorter duration, his research-intensive path extended his study over three years (2021–2023) and he graduated on 23 March 2024 with a specialisation in Choral Studies in Communities - a journey that has deeply shaped his career and ministry.

During his studies, he developed a strong foundation in research techniques specific to musicology, including historiography, ethnography, and musical analysis. These skills have had a direct impact on my vocation in choral and sacred music, allowing him to approach both the academic and spiritual aspects of music with depth and intention.

Midway through his academic journey, he was appointed Music Director at the Anglican Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints in Harare, Zimbabwe. This appointment revealed a vital lesson: musical knowledge alone isn’t enough. Effective music ministry also requires servanthood, relational leadership, and heartfelt teaching.

With this perspective, he:

• Revived the Cathedral’s choral evensong and singing culture

• Trained choristers in both practical and theoretical music

• Integrated diverse musical expressions into worship, making it inclusive and spiritually resonant

This experience taught him how to balance tradition and innovation, ensuring worship remains theologically sound and spiritually impactful in a multicultural church setting.

Over the past eight months, he has had the privilege of facilitating workshops for choir conductors in the Anglican Diocese of Harare, particularly on the Five Sung Prayers of the Mass. He reports that these sessions have been both humbling and energizing, offering a collaborative space for conductors to share, learn, and create together.

Through these workshops, he has encouraged churches to move beyond surface-level music performance to a deeper, contextually grounded, and biblically faithful practice of worship music. His training in music analysis and interpretation has proven especially valuable in helping music leaders:

• Evaluate the purpose of the music chosen

• Understand the message and theology behind musical selections

• Avoid treating church music as entertainment, instead embracing it as a spiritual and theological expression

In the course of his research on community choirs, including original composition and arrangement, he reports that he has developed a deep interest in hymnology and that there is a rich opportunity to contribute new worship music that is:

• Musically sound

• Theologically rich

• Contextually meaningful

This could help churches move beyond generic trends and embrace music rooted in biblical truth and historical depth.

In 2022, St Augustine’s Foundation gave an Innovation Grant to enable four students to study theology at the Anglican University of Congo over two years.

What a joy to see them graduate, pictured here with Rev Dr Kahwa Njojo, the Rector from the University.

The students came from 4 Dioceses of Boga, Goma, Kinshasa and Kasaï and graduated with an MA in Theology. The grant was hugely beneficial to these students covering tuition fees, monthly allowances for food, house rent, medical care and books.

We were delighted to give an Innovation grant to enable a team of African Anglican Theological Educators to meet in Kenya in July 2024, for a collaborative consultation on priorities for mission and theological education in the next decade.

This conference was hosted by the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) and the Commission for Theological Education in the Anglican Communion (CTEAC). It gathered together theological educators from Anglican universities and theological colleges across 11 provinces.

Their focus was on how Anglican theological education in this African context can progress themes raised by the Lambeth Calls from the Lambeth Conference in 2022 and resolutions from ACC-18 in Ghana in 2023. Both events listed specific calls and actions for CTEAC, in relation to theological education design and planning. The Limuru consultation was held as a direct response.

The themes of the conference prioritised by CTEAC were

• Intentional Discipleship,

• Reconciliation,

• Safe Church and Safeguarding,

• Science and Faith &

• Slavery to Freedom.

The keynote address speaker was Prof Esther Mombo, Professor of Theology at St Paul' University, Limuru, Kenya. She challenged the church, asking whether Anglican churches are guilty of the accusation from the Gen Z protests in Kenya, that on the injustices of the government…

“The silence of the Church is too loud”

— Professor Esther Mombo

Sessions were facilitated by a number of contributors, including Venerable Kofi deGraft-Johnson, Canon Dr Stephen Spencer, Professor Esther Mombo, Dr Percy Chinganga, Bishop Alinafe Kalemba, Canon Dr Peniel Rajkumar and Rev Daniel Karanja.

On the last day, the Rt Rev Anthony Poggo, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, joined the consultation to commission the participants for the work ahead. He encouraged ongoing collaboration and the swift implementation of action plans. His final prayer was:

“May we be equipped as theological educators and church leaders across the Provinces of Africa. Keep us skilled in what we must do, knowledgeable in what we teach, wise in the leadership we provide and united in love.”

— Rt Revd Anthony Poggo

Since 2021, we have been partnering with Missio Africanus and CMS to enable a total of six students to train in their pioneer leadership training programme.

One student is Jacqueline Abbedu Baffoe: Jacqueline started studying with CMS in 2024 and is the first recipient of a bursary on the new African Christianity undergraduate certificate course. She is originally from The Gambia where she worked for many years with Scripture Union before moving to the USA where she is exploring church planting in her local community.

She writes:

“I have realised that my ministry experience is without appropriate academic rigour. I am confident it is now time for me to pursue some formal theological education to support my experience and help me become a more effective missionary in my current context. Being an African and having worked in African Christian contexts, I am hoping your African Christianity course will help me understand my history and equip me for doing ministry in the western context as an African.”

Another student is Rachel Karanja (see photo above). She has been studying with CMS since 2021 and she graduated from the African Christianity MA last year. She writes:

These scholarships have changed my life; if I hadn’t gotten my scholarship, I might not have continued with my studies. The skills and knowledge I acquired from this course will benefit both the current and future generations. After graduation I intend to become a champion of African Christianity, starting by establishing a cluster to study African heritage and spirituality, as well as write a book about how Africans may recover their cultural identity while inviting Christ to restore its negative aspects.

The Diocese of Mara in Tanzania recently received a grant to run a Church & Community Integrated Training Programme for 168 participants.

This training programme is important for for these clergy and lay people because it helps give them necessary skills to grow self-reliance. Some of the participants have gone on to set up small micro-enterprise groups, having a positive impact on their own personal economic situations and communities.

“Poverty is still a big challenge in our communities. I believe that through this training, things are going to change...the topic of the advantages of micro-economy was very interesting.”

— Neema Magangira, Kibara Parish

The short answer is across the world! We work with theological institutions, dioceses and provinces across the Anglican Communion and are especially keen on receiving applications from areas we have not funded before in the majority world.

This map above gives you an idea of the Fellowship grants given in 2022. But this is just a snapshot as many other grants have been given to a wide range of places over the years. Below is the scholarship grants from last year.

We’d love to hear from new institutions or dioceses who would like to apply for a grant. Get in touch!

The Amos Bible School in the Episcopal Diocese of Ezo, (Western Equatoria Internal Province) in South Sudan received a grant from St Augustine’s to run a theological training course enabling students to outreach to traumatized communities. The course received students from 18 parishes in the Diocese and these students go back to their churches and communities to pass on their skills.

Hear what John Elias Elisama said about this course:

“I am happy that I have been a student of Amos Bible School in the whole of this year. In the time that I spend here, I have learnt new ways of facing challenges that come my way. I have been able to know why my family and community have not been able to move along well. This has changed my way of relating to my family and the people around us. Humility, love, forgiveness, care and peace now rings in my mind all the time. I am also able to understand the importance of living and working in unity with one another. Three of us in ABS come from Bafuka parish, and we have already agreed that once we go back to our Church, we shall work jointly to see that we train at least 10 people for a start who can join us in reaching out to our communities in a number of ways including door to door, open air, visit to places like health Centres, prisons and other places of gatherings. Thank you so much.”