Women’s Discipleship Class

The Women’s Discipleship Class is a specialized training program designed for African women. The women selected for this class are primarily married Christian women from rural areas where they have few opportunities. Many of them are wives of peasant pastors. The women come to the Bridges compound for one week every other month, except for August and December, each year for two years for a total of ten classes. Two classes, the Winners and the Fishers, meet on alternating months and each class contains about 30 women.

The training manual for the Discipleship Class is a book entitled “Winners for God.” The book contains materials on spiritual development, witnessing, children and family issues, hygiene, health, and spiritual gifts. It was written by three dedicated Christian women, Ann Morell, Ann Rosser, and Cindy Wacker. Ann Morell is the widow of a long time Methodist pastor. Ann Rosser is the Executive Director of Women’s Ministry at Bridges International Development, Inc., and Cindy Wacker is a school teacher. The book was written in English and has been translated into Swahili for Kenya and Lingala for the Congo.

In October 2008 the first two classes of 60 women trained at Bridges Kenya graduated. It was a joyous time of celebration for these women. For most of these women this graduation was the greatest achievement of their entire life. There are many testimonies from the women of good things happening as a result of their training. Several marriages and families have been restored due to these women receiving this training.

The Lingala translation of the “Winners for God” book has been used in The Democratic Republic of Congo with at least 4 or 5 classes of women there.

Back