The Archbishop of the Church of Melanesia (COM) calls on Church members to rise up in renewing hope and healing over challenges facing the mission of the Church today.
The Most Reverend George Takeli made the call during the re-launching of the Decade of Evangelism and Renewal at Lawson Tama on Sunday.
The decade programme is a ten years Evangelism and Renewal ministry with the vision to build new emerging church and build a new community of God’s people in the Anglican Church of Melanesia.
Rev Takeli said, the need to carry out Evangelism and Renewal work in the Church today cannot be overstated.
“The mission office of our Church continues to receive ongoing reports on the many challenges confronting the mission work of the Church today.
“Actually, the need to carry out evangelism work in the Church is worldwide,” he told thousands of Anglican members at the launching.
Rev Takeli said, the same urgency to carry out evangelism work in the Church was discussed and endorsed by the Anglican Consultative Council meeting held in Lausaka, Zambia in April 2016, calling for advancing intentional discipleship in the world within the Anglican Communion.
“There are evidences of destruction experienced in our society today such as decay of our natural environment through the effects of climate change that affecting our islands, decay of true faith in Jesus Christ leading to loss of moral values and discipline resulting in re-creating Christian gospel into subjective individualism to self promote above others.”
He added, other evidence includes the decay of Christian leadership and stewardship leading to loss of common vision for all resulting in business practices that entertain greed and corruption in the society and decay of love of and justice in the community resulting in holding firmly to structures and traditions that oppress and dehumanize people in our society.
He said, these moral and social decay shows there is need of healing and restoration of our broken world today.
“In such a critical spiritual, socio-political, economics and cultural situation confronting our society today the church is called upon to rise up,” he said.
Rev Takeli said the Church must do this through work of evangelism and renewal ministry of the Church.
He said, through the evangelism ministry the church can work together to influence or change the dying moral and social orders in every society to make it become the kingdom of God in the world today.
He also wants to make it clear that the evangelism and renewal must not be understood as an isolated activity just to keep the Church busy.
“It is strategic commitment by Church to support the overall mission work in the Anglican Communion in addressing the urgent experiences of brokenness in the world.”
By CHARLES KADAMANA
