Bula vinaka! Greetings and thanks!

Yes, greetings from the Pacific Theological College and thanks be to God for travelling mercies. I've spent a week acclimatising and work begins on 1st September. I'll post some introductory scenic pictures later - just for flavour!

Each morning this week it's been great for me - for body, mind and spirit - to join the PTC community for worship at 8.00. As soft breezes waft through the open windows of the hexagonal Chapel and voices are raised in sensitive, powerful harmony, God is surely in this place. 

I was expecting, naturally, the Body of Christ here to wear a predominantly Pacific face, but was interested and curious to scan a fair variety of others too. One group of participants from the 2014 Face to Face programme run by the Council for World Mission has been based here for experience and exposure. The programme offers an imaginative and potentially life changing cross-cultural experience for younger Christian leaders. Participants in training for ministry experience the realities of Church and society here in Fiji, or in India, based at Bishop’s College, Kolkata &
 Aizawl Theological College, Aizawl. Or at the United Church of Zambia Theological College. Hurrah! So on day one in Fiji,I was absolutely thrilled to meet student minister Rev Karen Mwenda who's been on the Zambia-Fiji option and was in her last week. Karen has been sponsored by Lubuto congregation in Ndola. I know it well from living in Ndola in the 1990s, and my dear Zambian 'Mum', Joyce Kapesa Simengwa is a member there. In due course, Karen will personally deliver a Fiji parcel with love from me to her. And so it goes that God's people connect again, mysteriously and wonderfully, across continents and experiences. Connections for treasuring. Encounters for transformation.

And, as promised,  a few glimpses of life in Suva...

And suddenly it's THIS month...

'When are you off?' 'Oh, next month', I say cheerfully. Except all of a sudden it's this month. Much revising for the PhD viva continues alongside mission formation and preparation, and it's immensely helpful to gain insights from those on the ground. For example, Julia Edwards whose mission service is with the Pacific Conference of Churches writes about campaigning in solidarity with the people of West Papua. National Golden Jubilee celebrations for the Methodist Church in Fiji take place from 17-23 August and will be massive and deeply significant. Communications officer Revd James Bhagwan reports in The Fiji Times on the acts of reconciliation that have already been a key part of the commemorations.

I've also found myself turning over and over in my mind, the excellent first priority that the Education by Extension programme at the Pacific Theological College claims so boldly. What we're about, it says, is to train lay Christians in the Pacific, both men and women, for theologically informed service in various forms of ministry.

It's a fabulous principle: that all our 'ministries' - which can often mean our endless, unexamined, Church-related busy-ness - shouldn't escape scrutiny. The kind which helps us decide whether what we do and how we do it is credibly theological: of God (theos) and reflecting God's reasoning (logos). All manner of activity is God-inspired, so we're urged to believe, but how is that established exactly? Beyond Church walls and on a global scale, horrendous atrocities are justified in the name of the Almighty. Does that mean credible theology has been at work? Mmmm. Conclude so with caution. The more I reflect on such matters, the more I'm convinced that there's a world of difference between a mind that's uncritically indoctrinated and one that's theologically informed. I'm certainly up for a spell of mission and ministry that prioritises the latter. 

A small commissioning within the Great Commission

Tomorrow, Sunday 20th July 2014, I'll be making promises in the context of morning worship at Upper Norwood Methodist Church. It's the tradition that Methodist Mission Partners are commissioned for service in the wider World Church, and this is the form of words.

World Church

Representative: 

We joyfully present this servant of God, to be commissioned for service in the World Church.

Leader:                 God's mission is one throughout the world and we thank God that you have responded to God's call to work in the Church overseas. You go to serve the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit. As you live, work and worship with fellow Christians may you grow in mutual respect and love, so strengthening each other. We are one with you in this act of dedication. We will pray for you. Pray for us also.

    Will you share fully in the life of the Pacific Theological College to which you go, and accept       its discipline?

Candidate/s:     With God's help I will.

Leader:                 In the power of the Holy Spirit will you seek in your daily living to demonstrate the love of Christ and proclaim the Good News of God's Kingdom?

Candidate/s:     With God's help I will.

Leader:                 Will you try to stay open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that you may be enabled to take your part in the mission of the Church, according to the opportunities available to you?

Candidate/s:     With God's help I will.

Leader:                 Will you maintain your links with the home Church, receiving its support and sharing your experience with it?

Candidate/s:     With God's help I will.

(The Congregation stands)

Leader:                 Members in Christ, will you support by your prayers, understanding and love this person now being commissioned, together with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the World Church?

All:                         With God's help we will.

(Candidate kneels, the Congregation remain standing)

Leader:                 In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we commission you to serve and to witness in your life and work overseas.

All:                         Amen.

Leader:                 Almighty God, we thank you that you strengthen your Church for mission in all the world; bless this your servant whom you have called to serve in the worldwide Church. Give her insight and adaptability, courage and good judgement. Make her ready to learn as well as to teach, to receive as well as to give, to the Glory of your Name.

All:                         Amen.

Presentation of a Bible.

When we're ordained for ministry, we go public. There's no hiding who we are and what we're about - or there certainly shouldn't be - and so it's right and proper for me to be called to account once more, in a service of public worship, and make solemn commitments before God and God's people about the next stage in ministry. It will be both my duty and delight to do this. My hope though, is that the spotlight which falls on me for a brief moment, extends its rays over everyone in the congregation - indeed over everyone who's ever committed themselves to a life of Christian faith and service. We're all commissioned within the Great Commission. Gifts, graces and geographical locations may differ, but these commitments and promises can surely speak to all our lives. I trust so.

'The Knowledge' about Fiji comes by various routes...

Thanks to everyone who asked me if I'd seen A Cabbie Abroad on BBC 2. It's the series where London cabbie Mason McQueen has a go at taxi driving in different cities of the world, and this week it was the turn of Fiji's capital, Suva. For a programme which is essentially popular entertainment (nothing wrong with that) combined with documentary, it was a useful watch and didn't avoid the big issues. Conversations in and out of the cab ranged around local government, community life, housing, the daily takings of a Suva cabbie (not enough for survival it would appear), and featured insights from iTaukei (indigenous Fijians) and Indo-Fijians. With a media analyst's 'hat' on I'd like to question some of the editing choices - what we were shown and spun and what we were steered away from, but that's so often the case with 'global' documentaries. There were one or two squirm making moments in terms of language and stereotyping but Mason McQueen came across as chirpy, upbeat, thoughtful and appreciative, especially of his host and taxi-driver guide Dhamendra Kumar and family with whom he stayed. Suva, according to the stats wheeled out, has around 5000 taxi cabs - 4 times more per head than in London. Dhamendra rents his cab at 60 Fijian Dollars per day (£20) and needs to spend 80-90FD daily on fuel. So, about £50 to cover costs before any hope of a profit. 17 hour shifts, 7am-1am are not unusual and it's a constant battle to pay the rent. Here's what McQueen says to camera at the end of day one as a Suva cabbie. 

What a day! I'm absolutely shattered. They're crazy shifts, crazy long hours. They can destroy people, them sort of hours, you know, but he just gets on with it. He didn't want to come home tonight - he wanted to carry on working and I'm shattered. He's such an honest, gentle guy, really - his whole family are. They're lovely. Argh (yawning)  - time for some sleep...'

Rejoicing with them that rejoice

Not all focus is on Fiji. It's important to be in the present moment too. Spurgeon's College graduations take place in Croydon Minster and it was great to go along and bathe in others' reflected glory last Saturday. Remi, pictured on the left with Rosemary - wedding shortly to follow graduation - is now a Bachelor of Divinity from the University of Wales, as is Basharat. Both are enthusiastic evangelists and during this year I've much enjoyed meeting with them and my Colombian neighbour Edy for prayer on Tuesday afternoons for an hour or so. 

During those prayer times, God's guidance was often sought around the group as we all faced the 'Where next?' question in mission and ministry. Vocational seeking has led, for me, to the South Pacific as destination. Others still watch, wait and discern and we've promised to keep praying for each other beyond the College walls.

Lydia, best god-daughter ever, has finished her first year reading law at Oriel College, Oxford. While on an intern-ship in London, we met up on the South Bank, watched a bit of Wimbledon on big screen in the Scoop, swopped stories, mused on life, and enjoyed a balmy, lazy Summer evening strolling by the Thames. Lovely. And the tropical humidity (well almost), excellent practice for things to come...

Bigger pictures

Methodist Conference rolls around again at the end of June and it's illuminating and formative, as ever, to be at the pre-Conference Consultation with leaders of Methodist and United Churches around the world. Represented are Zimbabwe, Kenya, Togo, Sierra Leone, Southern Africa, Rwanda, Uruguay, Guayana, Ecuador, Cuba, Portugal, Germany, Korea, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Australia. Oh yes, and Fiji. I'm delighted to be meeting again after some years and picking the brains of the Revd Tevita Banivanua, General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Fiji. Among many other roles, he serves on the College Council at Pacific Theological College where I'll be based and is therefore filling me in a bit. We didn't nip over to Fiji for the photo, by the way. This is sunshine, fuchsia and palm fronds in the grounds of Wesley's Chapel, City Road, London. Although the Consultation is looking at and chewing over forthcoming Conference business and recognising the diverse perspectives we bring to it - same-sex marriage for example - there's time for tourism and exposure too. Baroness Kathleen Richardson,  the Methodist Church in Britain's first woman President of Conference (1992-93) who has a cross bench seat in the House of Lords kindly took us around and showed us the Parliamentary ropes. We listened in on speeches about the Scottish independence referendum and ogled at the plush and glinting splendour all around. Here we are on the steps of the Great Hall. Ah.. if we ruled the world...

Transitional times

My bookshelves have changed face a bit. Post-PhD submission (though there'll be a necessary re-visitation of that material as the viva looms!) I'm currently reading Voices of the People - Perceptions and Preconditions for Democratic Development in Fiji and the Citizens' Constitutional Forum's guide to the the 2013 Fiji Government Constitution Booklet. Fiji's elections will be held on 17th September and I'll have begun ministry at the Pacific Theological College on 1st Sept, so it'll be fascinating and very (in)formative to start mission service at such a crucial time in the country's history. Before leaving there's preparation to do - spiritual, intellectual, medical, practical, personal - and administrative. Only potentially interesting bits will make the blog - have no fear! 

It was great to worship and walk London's streets on 24th May for Wesley Day, beginning at Wesley's Chapel and ending at St Paul's for Evensong - the service John Wesley had been attending before his heart-warming, life-changing experience at Aldersgate St. Want a different kind of walking tour when visiting London? The Methodist Heritage walk is highly recommended. 

We laid flowers at Wesley's statue in St Paul's churchyard and the splendid Order of Susannah Wesley rocked it on the steps, much to the delight of passing tourists and all to God's glory! 

Spent last Saturday at the Methodists for World Mission Conference at the Hayes in Swanwick. The regional focus was South-East Asia and the Revd Victor Vinod who co-ordinates the South Asia Ecumenical Partnership Programme reminded us during his powerful presentation, ‘Mission beckons the faithful in every age’. Glad - and relieved - to hear it.