Mission life: THE KUKMIN DAILY

Ecumenical Movement Unites us to Solve Problems : Interview with Rev. James Bhagwan (Fiji)

2013-11-04 17:46

On the third day of the WCC Busan Assembly, I met Rev. James Bhagwan from Fiji. He is Secretary for Communications and Overseas Missions of Methodist Church there. He, therefore, organizes many programs with other denominations.

He speaks Korean very well. I wondered how. He answered, “I studied in South Korea at Seoul Methodist Seminary.” We talked about Korean culture and tradition.

It was right after his music group performed when I interviewed him. We talked about the performance. When the group was on the stage, there were so many people, including myself, gathered to enjoy their performance. He said that this performance presented their issues. Nowadays, including WCC Assembly’s main agenda, most of the program focuses on Asia, America, or Europe. It is the very reason they wanted to represent the Pacific.

For example, the Pacific Islands (Samoa, Fiji, and others) are definitely facing real environmental issues. Because of the global warming, islands are threatened by the rising sea level. He says that the sea level changes everyday. “Yesterday it was just over there (far away from their houses), but today the sea level is close to their houses. It really is horrible.”

So I asked him what we should do to solve these problems. He said, “We are very small group. First of all, many people has to learn about these real issues. Secondly, many people will have to get united for these issues and take action.

Finally, we talked about ecumenical movement. Rev. James said, “through the ecumenical movement we can unite and reconcile.

He hopes for the reunification of South Korea and North Korea.

Volunteer repoter for The kukmindaily (Jeon Sang woo)

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