He had been at the Assembly of God Church of Samoa on August 15, for an all-day event involving the church's 27 congregations from across the country. The event included bible studies, performances and competitions.

It was the first time all the Assembly of God Church of Samoa congregations in New Zealand had gathered in over two years. "This was the first one in a long time and everyone was happy but no one knew what was going on," says John, speaking from his quarantine hotel room.

Within a day of his test, John found out his family of eight would be moving to Jet Park in Mangere to quarantine.

"Trying to get all of our stuff together was a mad rush, especially getting stuff for our baby like nappies and baby food," he says.

He initially thought the positive test was a mistake, given how healthy he felt, but within three or four days that all changed.

"I have a good diet and I exercise and train as much as I can, but when it came to this variant, it came on so fast, I was thinking, 'holy shit, what's happening?'"

He experienced a loss of taste, hot and cold flashes, body aches, joint pain and "migraines that wouldn't go away, which felt like they would blow up my brain".

Then the virus hit his wife and kids, as they all tested positive.

Thankfully his youngest, an 11-month-old, did not experience the same intensity of symptoms. With both parents sick in quarantine, John and his wife faced a new challenge.

"We knew we just had to hang in there because we knew if we went to hospital, there would be no one to look after the kids.

"I've never seen my family in this much pain before and I would never wish this on anyone."

A standard stay in MIQ is 14 days, but with their positive and symptomatic cases, John's family have already stayed at Jet Park for 19 days.

He says they've been told once the family have been symptom-free for over 72 hours they will be allowed out - something he feels isn't too far away.

As his family recuperated in their room in Jet Park, seeing the news about attacks against his congregation only amplified the pain John and his family were feeling. "I saw the remarks. People can't treat us like that but it shows that racism is still alive in this country," he said.

And he was doubly disappointed when Pacific people were highlighted as being the majority of cases in the current outbreak.

"I don't see how saying which ethnicity has the most cases is needed. We just need to know there's this many people infected - that's it. But to put it out there that we had the most cases... that really puts us down as Pacific Islanders."

His frustration extends to the government's rollout of the vaccine given how the virus has ripped through his church community.

"All this could have been prevented," he said.

"They knew South Auckland was the most affected in the last two outbreaks, so why wasn't South Auckland the first to get the vaccine? Why now when there's a cluster over 500 people are they holding all these pop-up clinics and you can go in without lining up? These things should have been put in place before."

Despite the tortuous last few weeks, John says his family have been well looked after by the team at Jet Park, as well as by the staff from the social service agency. Continue reading

On March 24, it announced it would no longer define marriage as between a man and a woman in its employee conduct manual in the US.

But it reversed that stand soon afterwards and said it would no longer recognise its employees' same-sex marriages.

Heavy criticism from evangelical Christians may have prompted the reversal.

Soon after the earlier groundbreaking decision, the Assemblies of God in the United States urged members to consider dropping their support.

The loss of child sponsorships may also have been a factor in the flip-flop.

"We've listened," World Vision president Rich Stearns told reporters.

"We believe we made a mistake. We're asking them to forgive and understand our poor judgement in the original decision."

Since its founding, World Vision has always been a Christian organisation, Mr Stearns said.

"The decision we've made is based on biblical principles."

Supporters made it clear that same-sex marriage was not consistent with the organisation's views of the Bible.

In an interview with Religion News Service on March 26, Mr Stearns suggested that the number of sponsors lost was under but around 5000.

Those who sponsor a child pay US$35 each month, so the loss could have tallied up to US$2.1 million a year.

About US$567 million of World Vision's US$1 billion budget comes from private contributions, according to its 2012 annual report

In a letter, Mr Stearns noted that while World Vision supports a biblical view of marriage, "we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect".

He told the Religion News Service "the important thing for World Vision is that every organisation has to clearly define who they are and what they stand for".

But in the last week, confusion and dissonance has been the result, he said.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Religion News Service
• Image: Mere Orthodoxy

Mr Sikalu has been a pastor for more than 10 years. But recently his work to spread the word of God was challenged after the Assemblies of God revoked his ministerial credentials.

"I received the letter from the executive," he says. "I accept it. I honour the decision and I surrender and say sorry to those that accuse me."

Mr Sikalu is apologising for sending threatening text messages. He says he was stressed and upset. Continue reading

Divisional Superintendent of the church in the north, Pastor Jeremaia Radrodro, confirmed the north had hosted a total of 64 AOG churches and that there were plans to extend this number as part of a crusade the church planned to hold in the near future.

Pastor Jeremaia said "In our bid to evangelise Vanua Levu, I think we have forgotten our Indian brothers and sisters here in Vanua Levu — we look forward to ensuring they are part of the evangelism and our house-to-house visits that are currently being planned."

Source

• The Fiji Times
• Image: Assemblies of God Fiji

Out of 191 million Brazilians, 123.2 million define themselves as Catholics — more than in any other country in the world.

But in the 10 years to 2010, the percentage of Catholics in Brazil dropped from 74 per cent to 64.6 per cent. Meanwhile, the percentage of Protestant evangelicals has increased from 15.4 per cent to 22.2 per cent.

Jose Diniz, a professor at Rio de Janeiro's National School of Statistics, predicts the downward trend for Catholicism will continue, and that Catholics will represent less than 50 per cent of the population by 2030.

"Most evangelicals are former Catholics, but being Catholic does not mean being a practising Catholic. By contrast, an evangelical lives his faith at work, in school and in the community," says Silas Malafaia, a television evangelist whose Victory in Christ Assembly of God church has almost 20,000 members.

The Assemblies of God, the largest evangelical group with roots in Brazil dating back more than a century, has 50,000 pastors and 100,000 churches, including mega-churches, according to Malafaia.

By contrast, the Catholic Church says it has less than 25,000 priests and 11,000 parishes.

Census figures show that the proportion of Catholics in Brazil is higher among people over 40 years old, whereas evangelicals are more highly represented among children and adolescents — including 25 per cent of those aged 5-14.

According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, Brazil sent 400,000 Christian missionaries overseas in 2010 — second only to the United States, with 127,000.

Sources:

Agence France-Presse

Christian Post

Image: Free Republic