Speaking during a virtual meeting regarding the church's stand on covid-19 on Thursday, the church's general secretary, the Rev Iliesa Naivalu has reminded pastors that they were answerable to the church.

Naivalu has also called on them to refrain from circulating baseless videos being circulated on social media.

Naivalu reminded pastors that they had a duty to preach about goodness and life to those under their charge.

Fiji has reported 241 new cases of covid-19 infections and one death in the 24-hour period ending at 8am yesterday.

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Assistant Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu made his appeal to delegates at the church's annual conference in Suva on Friday.

He asked for their support in regard to crimes against women and children and in the fight against drugs.

He said fighting crime could be helped by the churches using their networks to spread information the police have.

Tudravu said women and children were the vulnerable groups when it came to physical and sexual abuse.

"It is affecting the members of the community and they are part of the church, so the gospel should be related to the reality on the ground.

"You bring the Bible, you teach about the Bible, you teach the gospel and you relate it to the environment that we live in and that should be done."

Tudrava also sought the assistance of the churches in the fight against drug abuse, particularly marijuana.

He said that new developments had emerged in the campaign against marijuana.

"A trend that is coming up that is really surprising when you mention the Lau Group is marijuana cultivation there, but now it is coming up."

He said it was a concern and that is why the police have asked church elders to take the awareness programme to the members of the community.

Commissioner of Police Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho also addressed the deleagtes.

He told them about the toll that methamphetamine addiction is having on Fijian children.

"If we don't try to combat this then it will cause chaos, especially in a small country like ours," he said.

Qiliho said the church also had its role to play in trying to combat drugs in Fiji.

Source:

• fijisun.com
• fijisun.com.fj
• Source: fijisun.com.fj

Since 1987, there have been military three coups in Fiji within a year after elections.

In an interview last week, RFMF chief of staff Colonel Jone Kalouniwai said the military had learnt from its past mistakes, moved out of the coup culture and was no longer a threat to the country.

However the RFMF has recently commented on statements from both main opposition parties as well as the Methodist Church.

The defence spokesperson for the Sodelpa party, Mosese Bulitavu, whose leader Sitiveni Rabuka was the instigator of the 1987 coup, said "There needs to be a clearly defined role as to when do they come in and comment in the political arena."

In April Kalouniwai said that the RFMF had a constitutional role to ensure the safety, security and well-being of Fiji and all Fijians.

He offered this as a justification for commenting on the Methodist Church's submission about the marginalisation and agitation of the iTaukei.

The submission included a call for a Christian state, reinstatement of the Great Council of Chiefs and a review of indigenous rights issues.

Kalouniwai said the RFMF believed the statement had the potential to influence and breed suspicion, distrust, heightening ethnic tensions and potentially lead to conflict.

An opinion piece posted on the Fiji Sun has urged the commanders of the RFMF to remain silent.

"If they have any concerns about threats to the security of Fiji, they should see the Minister of Defence and explain to him."

Source

• Fiji Times
• RNZ
• RNZ
• RNZ
• Fiji Sun
• Image: Fiji Sun

The church's general secretary, Reverend Epineri Vakadewavosa, has responded by saying the church leaders would see the Prime Minister and "sort things".

Mr Vakadewavosa said the church was neutral and not a mouthpiece for SODELPA.

"The Methodist Church is a neutral organisation, biggest religious organisation in the country, and we were very sad with what had transpired with the programme (Parliament sitting)," he said.

Bainimarama told Parliament that the Methodist Church was a campaign mouth for SODELPA while responding to a question by SODELPA deputy whip, Mosese Bulitavu about a Parliamentary review the 2013 Constitution.

During a heated debate Bainimarama said that lies are being spread by the opposition and others like the Methodist Church that the iTaukei are being victimised under the constitution.

The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation reported that Bainimarama, who is a member of the Methodist Church, is convinced that 1987 Coup leader and current SODELPA leader, Sitiveni Rabuka, is colluding with and using the church again for political gain.

Last weekend the church released a statement entitled "Submission on Proposed Village Bylaws 2016".

The statement made reference to a number of other concerns.

According to information received by Fijivillage, the Methodist Church has asked the government:

• Extend the timeline to review proposed village by-laws
• Re-instate the Great Council of Chiefs
• Declare Fiji to be made a Christian State
• Open consultation with the Itaukei along with the removal of 17 decrees and policies which the church claims breach ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the rights of the indigenous people.
• Review the 2013 Constitution.

Source

• fijivillage.com
• fijitimes.com
• fbc.com
• Image: fijisun.com

Earlier the Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, has accused Rabuka of involving the Methodist church in politics.

He was commenting after a SODELPA thanksgiving service for the party leader took place at the Imanueli Methodist Church in Nadera.

Bainimarama told FijiVilliage "first it was the SVT [Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei] and now it is SODELPA."

The Methodist Church says that the SODELPA thanksgiving service was not part of its regular core worship service.

Bhagwan said Rabuka did not preach or deliver a sermon but only spoke to the congregation after the service.

He said the Methodist Church allows different groups of people to have their church service at their churches and this was no different.

SVT, sometimes known in English as Fijian Political Party, was a party which dominated politics in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999.

FijiVillage reported that Bainimarama said this is "1987 all over again."

And he had repeated his comments about Rabuka, saying that no matter how many times the snake sheds its skin it will always remain a snake.

Rabuka said that this is not 1987, it is 2016 and they are gearing up for change in 2018.

He said he did not organise the party's thanksgiving service. Rabuka said that he was only invited to the church service and it was a thanksgiving service for the party leader.

He said that he had to respond to the words of welcome which is normal in a church service and he also put the word out about the party as it was a SODELPA church service.

Source

• fijisun.com
• fijivillage.com
• Image: 3.bp.blogspot.com

Speaking in response to questions raised by the Fiji Times newspaper about explicit sex education for Year 7 and Year 8 students, the church's secretary for education, Waisake Ravatu, said they were already aware of and had raised concerns with the Education Ministry about sex education in a subject called Healthy Living.

Concerns have been raised by parents, grandparents and the Fiji Teachers Union about what children were taught.

The grandparent of a child at a prominent primary school in Lautoka has raised his concerns about sexually explicit material being taught and boyfriend-girlfriend relationships being encouraged during Healthy Living classes.

"I cannot believe they are exposing 11 and 12-year-old children to these types of teachings because it goes totally against what we teach our children at home," said the grandparent.

"My grandson was very upset by what was taught because we teach our children Christian beliefs that build character by upholding the virtues in the Holy Bible."

The Fiji Teachers Union has called on the Ministry of Education to immediately remove sex education material in text books for Years 7 and 8 students.

Teachers have said since the subject was introduced last year, there had been a marked change in the behaviour of students of the opposite sex towards each other.

Education Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy has ordered an investigation into claims by concerned parents that inappropriate information was being shared in the Year 7 and Year 8 Healthy Living tutorials.

Source

• fijitimes.com
• fijitimes.com
• fijtimes.com
• Image: i.telegraph.co.uk

The Reverend Tevita Nawadra Banivanua, believes the church has prepared itself to work in a secular state nation as set out in the Constitution.

Nawadra was elected the church's president on Monday.

He told the Fiji Times,"The secular state is here. The church should prepare itself because it is here already, it is legally binding. The church's mission is to prepare itself to live in it."

"The church should brace itself for this so we won't be caught by surprise. We want to be with the law. If the law says it is a secular state, we will abide by that."

"We have always been a law abiding church and whatever law prevails in our country that we are guided by, we will accept it that way."

After the 2006 coup, Methodist Church activities and meetings were curtailed after the church's strong criticism of the military regime.
Mr Banivanua is married to Jiajiana Bale Banivanua and they have six children.

He holds a Diploma in Theology from Davuilevu Theological College (1977), Bachelor of Divinity from the Pacific Theological College (1980) and gained a Masters of Arts in from Lancaster University's Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion in the United Kingdom (1997).

He has served as a minister in the Methodist Church of Great Britain and was the General Secretary of the South Pacific Association of Theological Schools for more than a decade.

He became deputy general secretary in 2009, during a difficult time for the church in the midst of Fiji's political crisis.

He began his appointment as General Secretary of the Church in 2013.

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• The Fiji Times
• The Fiji Times
• Image: Radio New Zealand International

Rika says Waqairatu may well have been installed as Archbishop of Suva rather than President of the Methodist Church. From childhood in Naroi village on Moala, Waqairatu was put on a path to priesthood and encouraged every step of the way by his father and grandfather.

"My father influenced me to go to St John's College at Cawaci and become a priest," Waqairatu reflected a week after his ordination as head of the country's largest Christian denomination. "While he was a Methodist, my grandfather Roko Taito Waqaiqera received the Catholic faith and was the only Catholic person on Moala. "It was my father's wish that I continue the family tradition by becoming a priest trained in Rome."

Cawaci was his first choice for his secondary education. But there were no places available, so the following year, Waqairatu entered Central Fijian School—now Sila Central High—less than two kilometres from the Davuilevu Theological College where he would eventually study for the ministry.

Catholicism would, however, continue to follow the young cleric and later in life, the Methodist minister would marry a Catholic girl, Ioana Banivetaua.

"The support my wife and in-laws have given me has been enormous. There have been times when she has challenged me to ensure that we say our prayers as a family—that's a huge inspiration."

Ioana has also influenced Waqairatu in terms of ecumenism or the relationship between churches. For some years now, she has coordinated joint prayer meetings of Methodist, Gospel and Assemblies of God women, culminating in providing meals for 150 street people once a week.

Waqairatu is open to regular contact with Archbishop Chong. He attending his Episcopal ordination earlier this year. Both men have strong views about reform and development in the church, as well as the role of religion in politics.

Source

• Islands Business
• Image: calnevumcfiji2011.

Church general secretary Reverend Tevita Nawadra said they were grateful that government kept its promise for a new Constitution before the general elections in September next year.

"Fiji needs a democratic government and we are on the right path to achieve that," Mr Nawadra said.

When asked of his view on the content of the Constitution, Mr Nawadra said he had not read the document.

"But I am glad we have a Constitution that will guide us through democracy."

The New Zealand Government has also recognised that progress is being made towards the restoration of democracy.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully says the New Zealand Government welcomed recent moves toward elections, including the release of the final constitution, and wanted to support the elections process.

"A senior official from the New Zealand Electoral Commission has recently participated in elections planning work in Fiji. New Zealand will now offer to resource the on-going work that is taking place."

"The Cabinet has also agreed some changes which recognise both the progress that has been made in Fiji and the need for support for free and fair elections."

Not everyone is happy however. Last Friday when about 100 people assembled across the road from Fiji's presidential residence in Suva to protest against the promulgation of a new constitution, Police took fourteen of them into custody and then released some hours later without formal charge.

Source

• Fiji Times
• Pacific Scoop
• Lowy Institute
• Image: The State.com

In his opening address to the "Bose ko Viti", Reverend Dr Waqairatu highlighted the 12 pillars that are to be the way forward for the drua (double-hulled canoe) of the Methodist Church in Fiji.

The changes are not just in terms of a new Connexional Plan: review of the church constitution or the introduction of remnant giving, registration and utilisation of land given to the church and new more transparent accounting measures. Also highlighted last week, as part of the renewal of the church, was the emphasis on a return to the mission of personal and social holiness that is one of the hallmarks of Methodism.

Source

• The Fiji Times
• Image: The Fiji Times

A rift in the Methodist Church from over two decades ago will be healed at the beginning of this year's Methodist Church in Fiji annual conference.

In the late 1980s, the tenure of then church president Reverend Josateki Koroi's, who was seen as a moderate came to a premature end with a rift in leadership between Mr Koroi and Reverend Manasa Lasaro.

As a result, Koroi has did not exercise his role as a past president; to officiate during the installation of a new church president.

So this year with Koroi will join immediate past president Reverend Ame Tugaue in to installing the new president Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu.

In an interview with Radio Australia, deputy general secretary Reverend Tevita Banivanua said next year the church was planning to hold a church-wide "washing of the feet".

This process would see Tuikilakila washing the feet of the superintendent ministers and lay leaders of the church's 55 divisions.

These leaders would then continue the process in their divisions until every church has held a 'washing of the feet', as a sign of humility, servitude and seeking of forgiveness.

"All we're trying to do now is to mend the broken net of the church as a whole," Banivanua told Radio Australia.

Source

• Radio Australia
• Fjii Sun
• Fiji Times
• Image: api.ning.com

Confirming this, church general secretary Reverend Tevita Nawadra said despite their intentions not to participate in the elections, they would still be part of the country's political agenda.

Mr Nawadra said their main aim was to spread the word of God and would focus on that.

"We (church ministers) will not stand for elections," Mr Nawadra said.

Source

• The Fiji Times
• Image: FijiLive.com

President-elect Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu unveiled the principles of reconciliation in the lead-up to Christmas and the church's continuing effort in nation-building through grace.

Reverend Waqairatu said the principles of reconciliation had been passed in the previous conference and the work of reconciliation is not new to the church.

He said reconciliation was a mission for all the churches but for the Methodist Church, this needed to be internal and external.

"The church needs to clean itself. It needs to reconcile. There are some things we need to clean ourselves of — that is relationships between ministers and relationships between the church and some vanua chiefs," he said.

"We need to clean ourselves before we go out and stretch our hands to say we would like to amend our relationship with other churches and with the vanua and the state."

The Methodist Church is the largest Christian denomination in Fiji.

Source

• The Fiji Times
• The Fiji Sun
• Image: Croz Walsh's Blog

Submissions to the Constitution Commission recommending that Fiji should be declared a Christian State have caused considerable debate.

The idea would continue to be debated, Mr Koroi said, "because many of us accept this concept at face value rather than following Jesus Christ's teaching as recorded in the scriptures, 'come follow me'."

According to Mr Koroi, Fiji needs to separate Church and State — to distinguish clearly between the State's role to govern and the role of Christianity.

Christianity, he said, was personal and to do with a person's living relationship with the living person who is Jesus Christ.

Declaring Fiji to be a Christian State would mean that Christianity became an ideology enshrined in law, and adherence to this ideology would be compulsory.

Mr Koroi said that Christianity was never meant to be like that.

"Christianity is a worldwide religion; it is not sectarian, closed religion of one's own race or country as the Fiji Christian state being advocated by others", he said.

Sources

• The Fiji Times Online
• Image: Fiji Guide

"Fiji was given to God," Waqairatu told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat.

"When we say that Fiji is a Christian state…we say it was decided by our chiefs who ceded Fiji to Great Britain that Fiji be a Christian country.

"When it was given to God, it has already established its covenant relationship with God, and that covenant relationship is eternal - it cannot be withdrawn."

The party removed from power in 2006, the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua, was in favour of Fiji being declared a Christian state.

However, the interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and his Government and other major Christian churches support the separation of church and state.

Vijendra Prakash, general secretary of Sanatan Dharam, one of Fiji's main Hindu groups, told Radio Australia his members would prefer Fiji to be a secular state where religion does not mix with politics.

"Because this country is multicultural religion and a multilingual country, and we have been living so happily," he said.

"All the religious organisations are given respect and rights and no one is given supremacy over another or try to undermine the others."

Source

• The Fiji Sun
• Radio Australia
• Image: Coup Four and a Half

Last week the annual Methodist Church conference, was told that the membership this year was 4658 less than the previous year.

According conference media officer, Reverend Abel Nand, the executive is trying to find out why the decline is occurring.

He said since the rift between the church and the government in 2009, some members had opted for other denominations for their own safety.

Church general secretary Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu said they were happy the permit was received early, giving them time to prepare for the conference.

In granting the approval for the conference, Commissioner Brigadier General Ioane Naivalurua said that the Methodist Church must exclude activities that will financially burden its members at the three-day meet such as the bazaar and choir competition and laid down 8 more conditions to be observed for the conference

• meeting should not coincide with the Hibiscus Festival which will be held from August 17-25
• meeting is for three days only
• meeting to be conducted on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively
• meeting to be held from 8am to 8pm
• meeting to be confined to the Centenary Church premises
• church matters only to be discussed
• no political issues be discussed
• no request of extension of time frame be made during the meeting proper

Source

• PacNews
• The Fiji Times
• Image: Screen Shot Fiji Today News

The Church will offer spiritual guidance to members of the group who seek their advice.

The acting general secretary of the Methodist Church in Fij, Reverend Tevita Nawadra, says the church was adamant that a union between a man and a woman alone was sacred and the scriptures abhorred any other kind.

"It (the promotion of sexual minority rights) is against the morals and the teachings of the church, we do not condone any such activities."

Mr Nawadra said the church respected the individual rights of the members of sexual minority groups.

"It is in their every right to stand up for what they believe in but the issue itself is not condoned by the church based on our beliefs and the principles of the Bible," he said.

Source

• The Fiji Times
• Image: KETK

Church acting general secretary Reverend Tevita Nawadra said the annual meeting which was disallowed in the past four years was crucial to the operations of the church.

"We're still awaiting the decision by the police on our permit application and, hopefully, the result will be favourable," he said.

Nawadra said the Church has submitted its conference agenda to the police as part of its permit application.

Church assistant general secretary Reverend Tevita Nawadra Banivanua said last year's agenda was submitted to the police.

He said the only changes would be the names and dates.

He confirmed that the names of church president Reverend Ame Tugaue and church secretary Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu would remain.

Director of Operations Police SSP Rusiate Tudravu said the sole authority on the matter was Police Commissioner Brigadier Ioane Naivalurua.

He said the commissioner had promised to consider the application and would make the final decision himself.

• Fiji Times
• Fiji Times
• Image: FijiVillage.com

According to the divisional superintendent, Reverend Osea Bera, the division comprised 13 churches including Vatuwaqa and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces Methodist Church.

"All the donations come under the church's hurricane and flood relief committee," Reverend Bera said.

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