Seventh-day Adventist Church members in Port Vila (Vanuatu) are celebrating after the opening of a new multipurpose building.
South Pacific Division president Pastor Glenn Townend officially opened the Epauto Adventist Multipurpose Centre on November 2, and was joined by president of the Adventist Church in the Trans Pacific (TPUM), Pastor Maveni Kaufononga, president of the Adventist Church in Vanuatu, Pastor Nos Terry Mailalong, and more than 3000 church members.
The project, which was started in August 2015 and completed late last year, is now the largest building in Vanuatu, and Church leaders are hoping it will become a centre of influence.
“The multipurpose hall project was initiated to address discipleship needs and to provide urgently needed seating capacity for the growing urban areas of the Pacific,” said Pastor Mailalong. “It was ideal to be built in Port Vila as a gathering place for all the Church activities and programs, but the Vanuatu Government is also looking at opportunities to use the hall as a future evacuation centre for natural disasters.”
“While we will use it for worship services and evangelistic meetings, the public can use it too,” said Pastor Kaufononga. “Although it was only opened last weekend, it has already been booked until the end of this year, from within the Church and outside as well.”
“In the long run, this area is going to be very beneficial to all our communities, so we want to work together to build that relationship, for the interest of our people,” said Pastor Mailalong.
The Sabbath morning program held in the new centre was also taken by Pastor Townend, and included two ordinations and a special appeal.
“Pastor Townend invited those who would like to study theology and be ministers to come forward, and more than 10 people put their hands up,” said Pastor Kaufononga. “We praise God and believe that this centre is already an influence for the whole of Vanuatu.”
