Bruce and Jan Rossington

Zoë, Martha and Joseph

Sent from Kensington Baptist Church, Bristol

Bruce is Scripture Engagement Consultant for AIM’s Eastern Region and works to make God’s word available to unreached people groups through Bible translation and Scripture Engagement. Jan teaches French and oversees the IGCSE programme at Rift Valley Academy, which supports missionaries by educating and mentoring their children.

Bruce and Jan began serving with AIM on a TIMO team based in Kigali, Rwanda in 2006. This prepared them for long-term ministry in Africa by teaching them key principles of cross-cultural ministry through learning about Rwanda’s language and culture and the challenges facing Rwandan pastors. Bruce then began an assignment at the Rwanda Institute of Evangelical Theology in 2008.

In 2012 the Rossington family was seconded by AIM to SIL-Cameroon, a partner organisation of Wycliffe Bible Translators, which works with Cameroonian churches who have a vision for translating God’s word into the mother tongue or ‘heart language’ of Cameroon’s 279 people groups. With so many ethnic groups and so few Bibles (20 in all), Cameroon is one of the world’s priority areas for Bible translation. Bruce’s role was to train Cameroonians in the principles of Bible translation and to give them the theological and linguistic tools that they need to take the lead in their translation project. He also checked their work to ensure that it was as accurate, clear, and natural-sounding as possible.

Jan was involved in a variety of ministries. As well as home-schooling Martha and Joe, she was Vice-chair of the Board of Governors of Rain Forest International School, which Zoë attended. She was also active in the women’s group at the local church that the Rossington family attended. In all these ministries, they built on the language and culture skills that they picked up during their five years in Rwanda.

In August 2014 the Rossingtons moved from Cameroon to Kenya. They are now based at Rift Valley Academy, AIM’s boarding school for missionaries’ children that enables families to serve God all over Africa. Jan is a full-time member of the staff team at RVA, teaching French, overseeing an IGCSE programme and helping students with their UCAS applications to the UK. Outside the classroom, both Jan and Bruce have opportunities to encourage, mentor and disciple students as they live away from their families and process what it means to grow up as ‘Third Culture Kids’. History shows that a good number of these students will return overseas to serve in cross-cultural situations or take up leadership positions in their local church.

Having previously worked in theological education, Bruce is now serving in the fields of Bible Translation and Scripture Engagement. As a Translation Consultant, he trains and checks the work of national Bible translators around East Africa, using Swahili and French as the bridge languages between him and his African colleagues. As a Scripture Engagement Consultant, he provides advice, training and support to teams which are making Scripture accessible to unreached people groups in the language and medium that best enables them to engage with God’s Word.

Could you partner with the Rossingtons in this work?

Latest Prayer News

December 10, 2020

“A prayer request for the whole family is that students would be able to return to RVA in January. The kids miss their friends and Jan misses her students. As things stand, Kenyan schools will be allowed to reopen, but there are obviously going to be challenges, especially in a boarding school like ours. Please pray for perseverance and energy for Jan as she keeps an online course going for the handful of students who can’t return and tries to teach French pronunciation whilst wearing a face mask.”

September 25, 2020

“…it [has been] somewhat dispiriting to start the new academic year without any students on campus. We’re hoping that the Ministry of Education will allow schools to reopen in January. With RVA students currently scattered all over Africa and in their passport countries, the School may need to establish a hybrid model of teaching, offering online classes to those students who can’t travel to Kenya Please pray for Jan and her colleagues as they grapple with this reality and experiment with ways of combining in-person teaching with an online offering.”

May 22, 2020

“…on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 May, Bruce will be chairing a meeting of AIM’s International Council (its governing board) for the first time. It goes without saying that this will be a virtual meeting. Please pray for Bruce as he facilitates discussion and the making of decisions on a variety of topics in a limited amount of time (three hours per day).”

March 27, 2020

“…the students left school early and it seems unlikely that they will be able to return in time for the start of third term. Jan and her fellow teachers are therefore being given a crash course in online teaching. The amount of new skills to learn has felt overwhelming at times, so please pray for Jan as she steps well outside her comfort zone in order to support her students, some of whom will sit important AP (A-Level equivalent) exams in mid-May (now shortened and online). Bruce was supposed to be in Rwanda this week, checking a translation of Luke’s Gospel with a team from DR Congo. He cancelled the trip at the eleventh hour when the first confirmed case of Coronavirus in Kenya was announced. It proved to be the right decision – had he travelled, he would have ended up self-quarantining in both Rwanda and Kenya. All flights in and out of Rwanda were subsequently suspended. For the time being, Bruce will support his two translation projects remotely and has plenty of Scripture Engagement work to keep him busy.” Please pray for Bruce and Jan as they adapt to working remotely.

December 20, 2019

“Bruce has recently been asked to take on the role of Chair of AIM’s International Council, the Board which oversees all the organisation’s activities. Bruce’s name was one of a couple to emerge from a consultation with AIM members and the final selection was made by the members of the Council themselves. Although this is a somewhat daunting responsibility to take on, Bruce is excited about the opportunity to work with AIM’s key leaders as they seek to accomplish our stated goal of being part of a missions movement that leads to ‘Christ-centred churches amongst all African peoples’.” Please pray for Bruce as he prepares to take on this role in February.

Kenya

Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963. Since then British tourism has been a key element of Kenya’s economy, however, unemployment, poverty and crime remain high. Whilst the majority religion is Christianity, Kenya’s ethnic diversity and vast countryside means there are still many unreached with the gospel. LEARN MORE

Teaching

Teaching is not just a support ministry. It's vital in sharing the gospel, displaying Christ and helping children and young people to thrive. Could you use your gifts and skills to make Jesus known among the nations? LEARN MORE

Language & Literacy

For the word of God is alive and active. But what if God’s word hasn’t been translated into your language yet? Or if you simply have never been taught to read? LEARN MORE