Church Leaders: Ecology And Spirituality Are Connected

The Church has an important role to play in an ecological crisis.

Pacific Council of Churches general-secretary Reverend James Bhagwan and the secretary-general of the Tonga National Council of Churches, Ikani Tolu, shared the importance of the role of the church in the ecological crisis dur­ing the Reweaving the Ecological Mat (REM) conference at Tanoa Hotels Skylodge in Nadi on Monday.

Mr Bhagwan said, “There is an impor­tant role that churches play when we re-think ecology, our human well-being in the Pacific context. The type of contributions that they offer is also impor­tant.”

“I was presenting on a part of devotion this morn­ing, on the spiritual reflection on looking at ecological crisis as not only an environmental crisis, economical crisis or political crisis, but also a spiritual crisis.

“We are called through scriptures as the church to challenge the norms that have been placed upon us.”

Mr Tolu said when they spoke about ecology, they spoke about almost every­thing that sur­rounded and that affected their lives.

“When it comes to us as human beings, we speak about our spirit­ual life, we speak about how we emotionally and psychologically adapt to our envi­ronment.

“It is very im­portant for us to look at our ecolo­gy from a spiritual side. In terms of ecology, it is about us. It is important that we look at things that affect our lives.”

Edited by Susana Tuilau

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