A four-day meeting of the Methodist Church Consultative Council of the Pacific was officially opened by the Head of State, His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, on Sunday night.
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Held at the Methodist headquarters at Faleula, an ava ceremony to welcome the delegates followed yesterday morning at the Momoli La’au iFoga’a Hall at Avoka.
The theme of this year’s meeting is “How to respond to the decline in Methodist membership of the Pacific.”
One of the answers for this question, according to the Head of State, is for the church to simply show love.
“Love, the Bible tells us, is patient, kind and truthful, not rude, boastful or easily angered;
love is not blind but always hopeful, always trusting and loyal (1 Corinthians 13:4-8),” he said during his address.
“The Bible tells us that where there is deep love, such love will cover a “multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4: 8). And, that “love comes from God” so that “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).
“The foundation of a Christian home is love.
The foundation of a Samoan home is love. The foundation of fa’asamoa is also love. Love is God and God is love.”
In a wide ranging paper where the Head of State delves into a number of deep issues in relation to Christianity, culture and Samoa’s indigenous reference, His Highness Tui Atua pointed out that the greatest example for the church to follow is Jesus Christ.
“Our faasamoa or aganuu (Samoan customs and traditions) as practiced today are as accountable as our Christian practices and traditions to the ethical and moral standards of Christ’s life,” he said.
“As Christian Samoans it is through Christ’s life example that we can find a measure for our own. It is by following his example that we can find refuge from negative doubt and ill-feeling.
It is through him that we can build the rock that can withstand the fissures of life and tests of time.”
His Highness Tui Atua’s paper will be published in full on the Sunday Samoan.
Yesterday, Reverend Faulalo Leti Pa’aga said the meeting is held every two years.
“The purpose of the meeting is to look at some of the issues faced by the Methodist Church not only here in Samoa but also throughout the Pacific,” he said.
“One of the main issues that we are going to discuss in this meeting is to look at some ways to stop people from leaving the church.”
Rev. Faulalo said there are delegates from the United States, Australia, England, Hawaii, New Zealand and other countries across the region including Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and American Samoa.
“They are here to voice their thoughts on the issues that will be discussed and how what they think should be the solution for these problems.”
Asked where the next consultative meeting after Samoa will be held, he said they are not sure.
“We will find out after this meeting where will be the next island country to hold the meeting, but I think it might be Tonga or Fiji.”
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