Case Study of the SCCs in St. Charles Lwanga Parish, Muthambi, Meru Diocese, Kenya

By Paul Munga’thia

St. Charles Lwanga Parish, Muthambi in Meru Diocese, Kenya has an organized pastoral structure of Small Christian Communities (SCCs) — Jumuiya Ndogo Ndogo in Swahili. SCCs are central to the life and activities of the parish. There are a total of 88 SCCs with 44 active Jumuiya. Each Jumuiya have an executive comprised of the following leaders:

1.      Chairperson and vice chairperson

2.      Secretary and vice chairperson

3.      Treasurer

4.      Co-coordinator

5.      Welfare person

6.      Vocation representative

7.      Priest chaplain

Each leader is trained in his or her role.

Meetings

St. Charles Lwanga has 22 outstations (prayer houses) with its own leaders who form the Parish SCCs Coordinating Team (picked from the different prayer houses). Every third week of the month their leaders meet in a scheduled program. What they learn they pass on to the prayer houses and SCCs in a Train the Trainor (TOT) process.

10:00 – 11:00 Mass

11:00 – 12:00Jumuiya updates

12:00 – 1:00 Reports from the executive and other leaders

1:00 – 1:30 Lunch break

2:00 – 3:00 Bible sharing on the next Sunday.

Members contribute for their own lunches.

Leaders

Three leaders who are members of the Parish SCCs Coordinating Team visit the prayer houses on Sundays.

Leaders’ Mission

1.      Reports to the prayer houses on parish updates e.g. self-reliance of the diocese.

2.      Annual Kenya Lenten campaign.

3.      Advent and Christmas.

4.      Easter expectations.

5.      Church documents, for example, pastoral letters of the bishop and the parish pastor.

6.      Instructions on the faith and sacraments.

7.      Preparations for Ordinations.

8.      Special activities such as the 2013 Year of Faith.

9.      Challenges and needs of the church.

Programmes

In St. Charles Lwanga Parish each Jumuiya with a patron saint. So all 88 SCCs have their own patron saints. They meet different days of the week depending on the availability of the members but mainly on Wednesdays. We skip market days or other days that have special activities. The priest chaplain visits all the Small Christian Communities in a year especially on the day of the patron saint. During this day of celebration the members contribute for the feast (food and drink).

Activities

1.      Jumuiya are the best model for raising money for projects of the parish.

2.      They take care of the sick members by visiting them in hospital or at home.

3.      They educate the poorest members especially children from very needy families.

4.      Preparing funerals for their committed members.

5.      Leading liturgies in their church on a rotating basis.

6.      Preparing adults for the sacraments of Matrimony and infants for Baptism.

7.      Organizing pilgrimages to National Shrines, for example, Resurrection Garden, diocesan shrines, etc.

 

Rev. Paul Munga’thia

St. Joseph’s Seminary (Meru Diocese)

Nairobi, Kenya

Cellphone: 0720-805527

paulngathia@yahoo.com

 

 

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