Methodist Church President Reverend Dr. Semisi Turagavou expressed deep concern over the internal challenges facing the church.

In his address during the opening of the Methodist Church of Fiji’s ministerial session, Reverend Dr. Turagavou highlighted a significant decline in moral behavior and the emergence of various malpractices within the church’s leadership, which have led to a loss of trust and a weakening of the church’s image.

Reverend Dr. Turagavou pointed out that unlike in past decades, where church followers remained silent, there is now a growing vocal disagreement among members regarding pastoral and moral issues.

“For instance, instead of shepherding and congregating the sheep, we tend to mislead and divide them through immoral and impulsive decision-making. We have constantly been blamed by uttering unkind words that disunite and discredit the hard work and commitments of our church followers. We overused the powers vested upon us in leading and shepherding the flocks/ We were also blamed and branded as bad leaders with bad attitudes and incompetence in handling sensitive issues with our congregational platforms.”

One of the major concerns raised by Reverend Dr. Turagavou was the mismanagement of church funds, which has led to public grievances and a lack of confidence in church leadership from both circuit and divisional levels.

Reverend Dr. Turagavou urged the Church to act decisively to restore the true image of Christ within the Methodist Church in Fiji.

He emphasized the need for visionary and exemplary leadership to address the alarming issues facing the church and to reinstate its lost image.

The ministerial session will continue until next week.