IN AUGUST 1964, the Methodist Church held its first annual conference as an independent church conference, after 129 years of being a district of the Methodist Church of Great Britain, and later of the Methodist Church in Australasia.
Fifty years since the church became an independent conference, members of the church are preparing to celebrate its Golden Jubilee.
The theme of the jubilee, The New Exodus, invites members from each of the church’s 56 divisions to celebrate God’s guidance, strength and abundant love, according to Reverend James Bhagwan.
Divisional celebrations will take place between April 28 and May 4.
National celebrations will take place between August 17 and 23, prior to the annual Methodist Church conference or bose ko viti.
A welcome service will be held on Sunday, August 17 at the Centenary Church.
Events over the course of the following week, include an Agape (Love) Fellowship Feast and a thanksgiving day, planned to take place on Furnival Park.
International guests are invited to the events, and this include reps from Great Britain, Tonga, South Korea and New Zealand.
Celebrations will continue into October with outdoor revival conferences taking place on October 6-9.
This will conclude on October 12 with the commemoration of the cabe ni lotu, marking the date on which the first Wesleyan missionaries arrived in Fiji in 1835.
