Namaka Seventh-day Adventist Church members are taking Fiji for Christ beyond the meeting venue, visiting homes and businesses each day to personally invite and pray with people in the surrounding community.
The Namaka for Christ site is hosting the two-week Mysteries Revealed evangelistic series, where Papua New Guinea Union Mission president Pastor Danny Philip is serving as the main speaker. During the day, Pastor Philip has joined local young people in the visitations.
Assistant Personal Ministries leader Neta Vuwanga Junior said young people from the church have been visiting nearby homes each day to follow up invitations distributed before the campaign.
“We’ve seen people open their doors. People have welcomed us. People have also answered the invitation,” he said.
Mr Vuwanga said attendance had increased since the visits began, with some people attending after receiving a personal invitation.
“A few nights ago, one of those we invited came with their children,” he said. “They came and they said that they came because we went and invited them.”
Pastor Philip said the visitations were initiated by the young people themselves and have become a daily part of the campaign.
“The young people thought, ‘Hey, we need to actually go and door knock and invite people and bring them to the meeting,'” he said.
During one visit, Pastor Philip and the group met workers building a house nearby.
“There were about seven of them,” he said. “They all stopped what they were doing and we gave them an invitation and prayed with them and they said, ‘Pastor, we’re gonna be there tonight.'”
He said the group had received similar responses from other residents, including painters and families living near the meeting site.
The Namaka for Christ initiative is also running a children’s program alongside the evening meetings. Ten-year-old Tiana Whppy discovered the meetings while walking past and has since been attending the children’s program, which includes Bible stories, prayer and crafts.
The only member of her family currently attending, Tiana said she takes what she learns home with her. “When I come home, I explain it to my mum and dad,” she said.
The visitation group also stopped at Tiana’s home, where they met and prayed with one of her relatives.
