Ministry and theology students publicly share faith in Fiji
Josh Dye
Public relations intern
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
“God loves you.” Ten Avondale ministry and theology students, including Abel Iorgulescu, presented two evangelistic series in Fiji, at which 168 people were baptised. The experience “showed them how to put beliefs into context and frame the message around the core values of the culture within which they’re preaching,” says the students’ lecturer Dr Murray House. Credit: Christos Spero.
Two evangelistic series presented by ministry and theology students from Avondale College of Higher Education has led to the baptism of 168 people in Fiji.
The two two-week series “exceeded our expectations,” says Dr Murray House, senior lecturer in ministry and theology at Avondale.
Up to 900 people attended the evening meetings in Nausori; up to 600 in Navua. The number surprised the students, some of who were preaching an evangelistic sermon for the first time. “The team felt spiritually underprepared,” says Murray. “The Fijians had been praying for eight months.” According to honours student Abel Iorgulescu, “People were praying before, during and after the meetings—some even in the middle of the night.”
This reminded the students to whom they should give credit. Seeing God “use people like us” is “a humbling experience,” says Abel. “Success in ministry comes only from God; there is nothing we can achieve through our own power.” He speaks of the ease with which you can lose a sense of humility and of the need for constant prayer. “It helps us to have the right attitude.”
The students prepared sermons based on the four Cs: Christ; the cross; the Second Coming; and the commandments. Christos Spero says he found the simplicity of this gospel message to be a more powerful preaching tool than, say, preaching with great volume or with oratory skill.
Adapting the delivery of the message is the key to evangelising in a different culture, says Murray. “The content is reframed, but the context and the way you deliver it is different. We modelled our program in a more Christ-centred way.”
The trip also saw the students participate in door knocking, street preaching and field school training with theology students from Fulton College. “It showed them how to put beliefs into context and frame the message around the core values of the culture within which they’re preaching,” says Murray.
Avondale’s Ministerial Training and Scholarship Fund Management Committee, chaired by alumnus and retired minister Pr Malcolm Allen, the former Pathfinder director for the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church, provided $12,000 for the two series.
The School of Ministry and Theology is planning trips to the Solomon Islands in 2013 and Malaysia in 2014.