Cyclone forces Methodist Church to cut costs

The Methodist Church of Fiji will be looking at cutting some of its expenditures as a result of the devastation left by Tropical Cyclone Winston. While delivering his sermon at Centenary Methodist Church yesterday, Church general secretary, Reverend Epineri Vakadewavosa said Fiji was confronting a very critical situation in the aftermath of the natural disaster. “Many areas of our environment were severely affected; coasts, hills, cane fields, farms, gardens, livestock, villages, homes, facilities, schools, churches, shops, hotels, etc, were heavily demolished,” he said. Reverend Vakadewavosa said thousands of people had lost their belongings and even most of them survived with only clothes they were wearing on that day. He also mentioned the people who lost their lives as a result of Cyclone Winston. He said the tragic event had determined them to alter the course of their planning and work. “Our Government for example has changed its financial year beginning in August to July basically to accommodate all the necessary financial requirements for relief and rehabilitation work,” Reverend Vakadewavosa said. He said the church had made some alterations as well in response to the situation. Reverend Vakadewavosa said the head office had circulated a memorandum to all

our 57 divisions seeking their full support in the conference for endorsement. Reverend Vakadewavosa thanked Divisional Superintendents and for their divisions support to those important matters for the conference deliberation and endorsement this week.

“As we are reflecting on this big picture today, the bottom line is…God always speaks loud and clear in difficult time such as this.

“Therefore, it is indeed for our huge benefit as a church (as people of God) to search deeply and seriously; what is God’s will and intentions in this challenging experience that we are going through now?” he said. Edited by Jonathan Bryce