METHODIST Church president Reverend Semisi Turagavou has called on ministers and lay pastors to exercise discipline over consumption of yaqona, saying it has become a “genuine burden” and “source of ridicule” on ministry.
Speaking at the church’s Ministerial Session yesterday under the theme ‘Liberation and Reformation’, Mr Turagavou said the issue was not yaqona itself, but the lack of self-control.
“Let me be clear, this is not a cultural issue,” he said. “Yaqona has an honoured place within our vanua and among our people. It remains an important expression of our identity and hospitality.
“The issue before us is not yaqona itself, but the absence of discipline. Whenever something begins to master us, it ceases to be a blessing and becomes a burden.”
Mr Turagavou said over-consumption had affected and weakened pastoral duties across the church, including pastoral visitation, Bible study and sermon preparation.
“It has affected our attendance at training programs. It has diminished our energy for evangelism and social outreach.”
He said the ministers’ public image, through physical signs of excess, “tell a story before we ever preach a sermon”.
“Bloodshot eyes, weary appearances, dryness of skin, unsteady speech, and visible fatigue communicate the effects of excess.
“We cannot proclaim holiness while our lives visibly reflect a lack of self-control.”
Mr Turagavou quoted from the Bible 1 Timothy 4:12, urging ministers to “set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity”.
He said true liberation meant freedom from unhealthy habits and addiction.
The church in Fiji also reaffirmed its discipline on smoking and will now require lay pastors to observe the same standard as ordained ministers.
He said the discipline was tied to the church’s calling “to honour our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit and to live lives worthy of the Gospel we preach”.
