Sue and I had long been anticipating visiting the Fijian church, and also the visit of GCI Church President Dr Greg Williams and Regional Supervisor for Central and South America Heber Ticas a few days after our arrival. It was again such a pleasure to visit this friendly place, to encourage them and be encouraged by them, and to leave the New Zealand winter behind for two glorious weeks. After arriving late Friday evening, we made our way to Suva the next day, sharing a meal with Frank and Emily Boyd, catching up with the latest happenings and planning for the week ahead.
Our first port of call was to join the Suva congregation in their Trinity Sunday celebrations, to reconnect with those we knew and meet new folk coming since my last visit. I gave the sermon, after which Frank Boyd led us in Communion. I am always touched when everyone comes forward to participate in these precious symbols, parents bringing forward their children – they taking grape juice, the adults wine – and everyone sharing the symbols in unity.
Next morning Sue and I headed north to first to Rakiraki and then on westward to Lautoka for a couple of days of annual leave before the arrival of our international guests and start of the big event on Wednesday 29th. Lautoka is only 35 km north of Nadi and that morning Sue and I enjoyed visiting with the ladies there who plied us with questions and caught us up on family happenings. Then it was on to meet with the Boyds for a quick lunch before connecting with the Suva group already settling in at the Lamolagi Apartments just south of Nadi at Wailoaloa. Frank Boyd and I then left to collect Dr Williams and Mr Ticas and bring them back in time for a catered dinner and a time of introducing ourselves (here our guests speak with TongLi and Eugene Panuve).
On the first morning (May 30), after a breakfast prepared by the youth with help from Emily Boyd and Sue, Dr Williams presented the first lecture on “The Flow From Jesus To And Through Us” followed by Mr Ticas focussing us on “Understanding Mission.”
The clear focus of the Suva Youth Leader’s Retreat was on missionality, beginning with Dr Williams explaining our “Joining the Harmonious Flow of the Triune God.” He began by locating the church at the heart of Jesus’ own faith, hope and love at work in us, and spoke of “a double movement of God’s grace” initiated by Jesus coming to us for relationship and salvation, and our return “in him” to relationship and service of the Father through the Spirit, and of Jesus’ continuing mediation for us, his worshipping for us, etc. Our response is to join him in the work he is doing in the world (church and community) as we are compelled by God’s love to show that love to the unlovable. Dr Williams stressed that in Christ we are invited into free and gracious communion with God and each other, are fully reconciled and fully included, and hence equipped to love as Jesus loves, share as Jesus shares, and witness to the hope of the world.
Following on, Mr Ticas challenged us with the simple concept that living things multiply, pointing out that in the church we are sent to multiply disciples, multiply ministries, multiply leaders, and multiply churches. The key to this is having a clear, actionable and attainable missional vision. We are the sent ones, hence the importance of having a missional mentality, of working at missional development (i.e. having a plan), and encouraging missional movement and rhythms, all of which is then summarised in our ‘missional posture’. Using the Love Avenue as his focus, he drew out how acts of love reflect and flow from the Father, Son and Spirit as we join them in their work in the world.
Much of Mr Ticas’ presentation, however, was more storytelling than formal teaching, reinforcing that acts of love initially appearing fruitless can suddenly show fruit years down the line (eight years in the case of the family pictured, who were able to connect back via a gifted mug with the church’s number the day they had first visited – they are regulars now). Birthing a consistent missional heart is fundamental to church life and growth.
An important element Mr Ticas spent a little time on was explaining the direction of missional flow in an existing church compared to a relaunched church or new plant – existing churches reach to community in order to participate in the culture whereas the new church participates in the culture, from which a group in community forms and finally a church emerges. And, he said, the first is much harder to do than the latter. He knows because he is an experienced church planter and pastor. He concluded by explaining the Four Missional Lanes (missional mentality, development, movement, and rhythms) and how the Avenues work in each of these lanes.
Following afternoon tea, several went for a walk on the nearby beach, a leisurely stroll, a chance to complete daily steps targets, and to take further the discussions of the day. The picture is of Dr William speaking with Pastor Frank Boyd, Joni Tebei, and TongLi (also known as Li) Panuve speaking with Mr Ticas. We did this same walk the next day, which gave me an opportunity to explore Mr Ticas’s his colourful, challenging background, and how he connected to GCI, all of which showed how God had been preparing him to help GCI in these challenging times.
Food is always a feature of church gatherings. That first evening we dined at a Korean restaurant (shown below) and the next evening we joined Eugene and Li’s parents, James and Alisi, at their time share a few minutes’ drive from the apartments. The shared breakfast is shown and also a special occasion, for as it happens, May 31 is Li’s birthday, for which Eugene presented a cake on behalf of the church, then each said what we were grateful for in him while Li (as he is also known) said nothing and listened. It was a fun moment and touching also.
The plan for Friday had been for at least one further lecture and then answers to questions the youth had collected a week or so earlier, but it was decided the night before to alter the plan and instead of a Q&A session, Dr Williams took their questions and challenged the Avenue teams to tackle these first themselves before any needed final word. Hence, before breakfast was served, he had written the questions up and sorted them into the relevant Avenues – e.g., Q.1 (Faith Ave): How will we draw sr. adults into the wave of excitement with our newly appointed Ave Champions?
As can be seen in the photo, the teams were called upon to explore the questions under four headings: Goal, Action step, Point person(s), Target completion date. Hence, they were asked not only to brainstorm an answer, but to also present a complete plan (called a Ministry Action Plan or MAP) to address those issues, resolve them and lay out how, who and when that process might be completed. Then, after lunch, each team presented to the group and feedback was given. What, in effect, they were asked to do is what ministry leaders have done for some years, laying out how the challenges of the year ahead will be tackled, by whom and when.
With the teaching portion done, there was time for group photos to be taken (the three Avenue leaders are shown with Dr Williams and Mr Ticas first, then the whole group of young leaders) ahead of another beach walk followed in the evening by dinner with the Panuves at their time share in Denarau.
The group packed up and left next morning for Suva, leaving Dr Williams and me. Alongside a spot of shopping at Denarau, another beach walk and dinner at the Korean Restaurant, we did a great deal of talking about the shape and future of the NZ church, leadership opportunities and/or possibilities across the land and into the Pacific, succession planning, and further reflections on our two days with the Suva youth. And the next morning I dropped Dr Williams at the Nadi Airport for his flight back to Brisbane before driving the 190 kms (3½ hours) to Suva in time for the service that morning in Suva. Like the service 18 months earlier when Dr Williams was welcomed to Fiji, members came from all around the Island to welcome Mr Ticas. He had come simply to give the sermon that day but the membership again laid out the special mats, one of the young women presented a salusalu (a beautiful Fijian style of lei), a speech of welcome was made, and a special gift was presented by Mrs Vasiti Colati, widow of the former senior pastor in Suva.
Following this the service continued with special music from the ladies of Suva and Lautoka followed by a praise dance by the young women of Ra, a region to the north, and then the sermon by Mr Ticas centring on the strong sense of mission orientation evident in the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians 1. And, with the celebrations complete, the church got down to the serious business of fellowship and food. While this fellowship carried on, Mr Ticas took Frank Boyd, myself and the Avenue leaders outside to talk about area the church is located in (he and Mr Boyd had done a quick drive around the area earlier), the opportunity it presents and possible ways of reaching into the neighbourhood there. He spoke too about signage that might be put out so our presence in that hall is known, and the role of greeters both outside and inside the hall when new people come. Other things that might be done are having a gift for newcomers and providing contact details for the church, the importance of contact cards and using these to thank them for coming, and also for offering the church’s help and/or prayer where needed.
Mr Ticas departed Monday afternoon following a visit to Fiji’s national museum and a quick trip downtown for lunch and purchasing gifts for home. In parting he spoke highly of the group and prospects in Fiji (as Dr Williams had done also).
That night the final item for this trip was a board met plus AGM followed by a meal together (Boyds, Panuves, Jope Uqeuqe, Sue and me). And lastly, before finally leaving for Nadi and home, a morning coffee with Frank and Emily Boyd to say our goodbyes and reflect finally on all that had happened and been accomplished over the past week. God’s hand of guidance and blessing were clearly evident, and we are so thankful for it.
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