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Pacific leadership Tag

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Project Updates, Women in Ministry (Pacific Region)
April 19, 2024

In 2024, we are continuing to support five of the brilliant scholars we supported last year: Asinate, Amalaini and Toobora at Pacific Theological College (PTC), and Mela and Luisa at Davuilevu Theological College (DTC). Both colleges are in Fiji. The scholars are now halfway through Semester 1 of 2024 and are all due to finish their studies at the end of this year. We are also continuing to keep in close contact with Rev Geraldine while she finalises her PhD.

All students are continuing to achieve great academic results.

In big news for PTC, the College is currently transitioning to become a university to be known as Pacific Communities University (PCU)! This transition includes two new schools of the university, infrastructure development and a communities-based model of education.

Thank you to the supporters of our Women in Ministry project. Your support, both financial and prayerful, is so appreciated by the students, their families, their churches and the team at UnitingWorld.

Blessings,

Mia Berry                                                                 Mardi Lumsden
International Programs Manager                  Donor Relations Manager

Student Updates

Rev Geraldine is continuing to finalise her PhD thesis. To support her studies she is working part-time at the Institute for Mission and Research at PTC, writing up some of their new coursework which she is really enjoying. She is working closely with her supervisors to submit her PhD by June, and then hopes to take up a teaching position at Davuilevu Theological College.

Rev Geraldine

Congratulations are in order for Toobora, Amalaini and Asinate, who all graduated with their Postgraduate Diploma of Theology at the end of 2023; the halfway point to graduating with their Master of Theology (MTh) at the end of this year!

Asinate and Amalaini both noted that one of their standout learnings from last semester was studying different interpretations of the books of Daniel and Revelation. They really enjoyed diving deeper into these parts of the Scripture and shifting their perspectives. Asinate said: “I realised through taking this course last semester that [Revelation] has more to do with the past and what the people of those contexts went through, rather than the future. The book of Revelation is not as scary as we were raised to believe.”

Outside of their studies, Asinate is enjoying being part of the Student Body Association and Amalaini is leading Bible studies for a local youth group most Sundays.

Toobora is currently at home in Kiribati due to delays with processing her and her son’s visas to return to Fiji after the Christmas holidays. She is persevering with her thesis writing from abroad and is in touch with her supervisors, but is wishing to return to the PTC campus as soon as possible.

Amalaini

Asinate

Toobora

Mela has been enjoying putting her learning into practice through her placement church assignment last semester. Mela explains: “These placement churches were meant for us to practically apply what we learned in the classroom, such as ways to serve people, house-to-house visitations, and approaches to talking to a man or woman who is willing to repent.”

Mela found this experience incredibly valuable.

“I have gained skills in approaching different age groups both in theory and in practice,” she said. “I plan to practically use these approaches to meet the spiritual needs of people of all genders, statuses, and races, and to help women with their spiritual needs.”

Mela

Luisa also had some eye-opening experiences in her Institutional Chaplaincy course last semester. As part of the course, she visited different institutions including the CWM Hospital, Naboro Prison, two high schools, Lelean Memorial School, and John Wesley College.

She reflected on her experiences saying, “I can say here that every course I took in my second semester of 2023 was an eye-opener to me. It helps me to know every little thing about the unique spiritual needs of people in the setting where the chaplain serves.”

Luisa

UnitingWorld visit to Suva

UnitingWorld held a Pacific Partner Learning Forum in mid-March in Suva, which saw around 35 people from across our Pacific partner churches meet in Fiji for five days of fellowship, sharing learnings, and shaping future priorities for their regional collaboration. The forum was held onsite at PTC, which allowed us to attend daily chapel and spend time with several staff members at PTC and, of course, the wonderful scholars!

Mia from UnitingWorld shared a meal with Amalaini, Asinate and Geraldine (pictured above) and had a tour of the PTC campus, which was wonderful. Unfortunately, Toobora was in Kiribati at the time.

Past Women in Ministry scholar, Pastor Leinamau from Vanuatu, attended part of the UnitingWorld forum. She is currently completing her PhD at PTC. It was great to reconnect with her and to have her valuable inputs into our conversations on Gender Equality and Child Protection within Pacific churches. UnitingWorld previously supported Pastor Leinamau to study a Master of Theology in 2018-19.

Mia with WiM scholars at PTC
Pastor Leinamau
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Blogs
May 26, 2020

The word is out.

COVID-19 is God’s global hammer against sin – and only those who maintain purity of faith will be spared.

In one place, the ‘evils of homosexuality’ are to blame; in another it’s women in ministry, globalisation or loss of family values. On Facebook, people boast of relying on the ‘protective Blood of the Saviour’ rather than sanitiser; in the US, Kenneth Copeland has attempted to “blow” COVID-19 away with the wind of God, an anti-lockdown protest rallies around the slogan “Jesus is my vaccine”; and in New Zealand a pastor is quoted as calling his congregation to continue to gather because “I’m not about to let a filthy virus scare me out of worship.”

You might shrug off such examples as fringe territory, but the temptation to fall back on the truism of ‘faith alone’ doesn’t only loiter at the edges. And as part of the scrutiny of ideas spawned by COVID-19, we have the chance to ask ourselves anew: how do we live out the heart of authentic faith?

“The simplistic option during a crisis like this one is to turn to religion and prayer as the only solution,” says Rev James Bhagwan, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches. “That’s not only problematic, it’s risky and reckless. Yes, Christians are saved through the gospel of God’s grace. However, this salvation does not mean we escape physical corruption, futility, and death.”

That reality has seldom been more evident among the poorest on our planet, where the arm of this disease is longest and its grip most devastating.

Half a billion people – or more – confront the prospect of being tipped back into poverty as the economic fallout from COVID-19 bites hard. Alongside the terror of the virus itself lurks hunger and loss of hope. For decades our international church partners have poured heart and soul into communities fighting poverty across Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia. Now they face their greatest challenge in a generation.

Some struggle personally with lockdowns, unreliable electricity or lack of clean water. But each, with the support of Uniting Church communities through UnitingWorld, has immediately turned their efforts toward meeting urgent needs.

Critically, it’s not just health and hunger that weigh on their minds. Worldwide, in a context where 84% of the population identify with a religious group, the pandemic is seeding big questions – where is God? Who is to blame? What of faith? What of fear?

Rev Bhagwan, like others across the Pacific, Asia and Africa, is helping communities hold and heal together. As people wrestle with sovereignty and suffering, our partners are coming out strong to emphasise the interconnectedness of faith, prayer, science and human responsibility in tackling the virus from all angles.

“We’re called to join our hearts in solidarity with each other, to mourn with those who mourn, to share peace with those who are anxious,” says Rev Bhagwan.

“In many of our regions and across the planet, access to clean water and soap, shelter for protection, and other basic services are a real challenge. Our role is to provide hope and manifest the love of God in practical ways.”

In places where the need is overwhelming, our partners are holding faith, resilience and action together – and that’s a beacon. But their example goes even further.

It calls us to hold our own theologies and practices up to scrutiny too. The connectedness of our world has been laid bare by the virus; our need to take seriously the ecological damage that threatens to unleash new strains of disease; our commitment to ‘one global Catholic church’ united in Christ.

Crisis always prompts innovation and reflection. Keeping these questions at the heart of our journey, even as we grapple with local suffering, is proof of the risky, all-encompassing love of God. And that, right there, is what it means to live an authentic faith.

– Cath Taylor

Join the power of people uniting by praying and giving to save lives and share hope during COVID-19.

Right now your donation has six times the impact! Every donation you make to this appeal will be combined with funding from the Australian Government to reach more people. We have committed to contribute $1 for every $5 we receive from the Australian government. Your donation will allow us to extend our programs!

Please help bring hope, health and good theology. Read more at www.unitingworld.org.au/actnow

As a valued partner of the Australian Government, UnitingWorld receives flexible funding under the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) each year to implement development and poverty alleviation programs overseas.

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