Ministry opportunities following the rapid adoption of Moore College’s Preliminary Theological Certificate in French-speaking Mauritius are now literally as wide as the Ocean.

Archbishop Ian Ernest from Mauritius spoke to the Synod on Monday night during Missions Hour and described to Synod the developing partnership between the Diocese of Mauritius and the Sydney Diocese.

They are also outlined in a video interview he gave to Anglican Media:

Archbishop Ian Ernest is also the Primate of the Province of Indian Ocean, which includes Madagascar and the Seychelles which together with Mauritius have a population of nearly 15 million.

What he describes is a very exciting initiative in Mauritius that could potentially impact the entire Indian Ocean.

The seed of the partnership was planted in 2003, after Archbishop Ernest saw Sydney Diocese’s support of the church in Malaysia and decided to visit Australia.

French-speaking Sydney minister, the Rev Al Lukabyo recently visited Mauritius in order to kickstart training in Moore College’s Preliminary Theological Certificate (PTC).

"Many people speak French in Mauritius" [so we] want to translate the Moore Preliminary Theological Certificate to French," Archbishop Ernest explained.

The primary aim is on training leaders in the Mauritian churches. Through teaching a translated version of the course, they want to build up local church leaders to be better equipped to lead.

The Diocese of Mauritius is also keen to send people over to Sydney to train at Moore College and the first ministry couple will arrive in February.

Archbishop Ernest's vision is for the church in his Diocese to expand, and this involves three key areas: equip, empower, evangelise.