2015 busy year for Presbyterian Church of Efate

This year is going to be a very busy year for the Presbyterian Church of Efate, according to the Clerk of Efate Presbytery, Pastor Nippy Aiong.

He said apart from preaching from the pulpit there will also be meetings, finance and programs to proactively engage in to help the people.

One of the big events that will take place on Efate this year is the Annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu (PCV) which will be held at Erakor Village in August.

“Before that big event in the PCV’s calendar for the year, there will be two big meetings – one at Ifira for Assembly members who will attend a retreat before going to the Erakor Assembly and the second at Mele for Pastors and their wives,” Pastor Aiong said.

He added that in February the Efate Presbytery will hold a big meeting at Eton Village to be attended by between 150 and 200 people from Efate – Pastors, their wives, elders, deacons, youths, Sunday Schools to start planning for the Annual General Meeting of the PCV. One more preparatory meeting will be held in May and another in July just before the Assembly when between 300 and 500 people will be attending including some from overseas and from partner churches in Vanuatu.

To get the church’s 2015 program of work underway, a church service was held on Sunday, January 25, at Mele Village to commission members of the standing committees of the PCV.

Altogether just over 300 people of 28 standing committees of the PCV – pastors, wives of pastors, elders, deacons, deaconesses, lay people including youths who possess talents recognized by the church for service of the people made their promises in front of the Moderator of Efate Presbytery, Pastor Jiva Taravaki.

“The church service allows these people to promise that they will attend meetings and contribute to the development of the church,” Pastor Aiong said. “The Church depends on these people for the development of the church,” he added.

Of the church’s 28 standing committees a few are located on Tanna and Santo but the majority are on Efate where Efate people are taking their leadership roles in the committees. One standing committee has 10 to 17 members, so over 300 members of these standing committees attended the service and took their oaths.

The highlight of that occasion was the commissioning of Pastor Allan Nafuki, the new Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu, who was voted in at the 2014 Presbyterian Assembly on Paama.

Pastor Nafuki will be in office for one term — 2015 to 2017, and the Presbytery of Efate was asked to perform this responsibility of his commissioning, says Pastor Aiong.