Preparedness, passion and preaching the good news in Fiji

“Standing from up there and preaching, it takes courage to preach something about God. And you’re preaching God’s word, it’s very important. And when I took the Langham training, it helped me a lot. The Langham training really taught me to dig deeply in the Bible passage, and then from text to sermon.”

Veresa Colato lives in Nukubolu Village in Fiji, where he pastors at Nukubolu Brethren Church, a job he inherited from his father who also pastored there. 

In Nukubolu and lots of places in Fiji, church and Christianity are part of the culture for many. However, this creates its own challenges! Veresa says, “People just go to church for the sake of going to church, but not really knowing what it means.” This makes faithfully teaching the Bible and how to practically follow Jesus an essential focus for the church!

Unprepared to equipped

When Veresa first took over the role, he didn’t have any training and felt the weight of responsibility for everything he didn’t know. He shares, “Pastoring the church without training, it’s difficult because you have to learn everything.” 

Preaching was something Veresa felt he particularly needed to learn about, and so when the opportunity to do Langham training came, he jumped at the chance. He recalls, “When I was told that we were having training, I was looking forward to coming and learning to preach.”

After doing training with Langham, Veresa has a new perspective and process for understanding and teaching God’s Word. He also has an even bigger appreciation of the importance of handling scripture appropriately.

Veresa says, “Standing from up there and preaching, it takes courage to preach something about God. And you’re preaching God’s Word, it’s very important. And when I took the Langham training, it helped me a lot. The Langham training really taught me to dig deeply in the Bible passage, and then from text to sermon.”

Members of his church are already seeing the benefits of Veresa’s training, especially because he is dedicating energy to contextualising his preaching for them!

Veresa says, “They are really coming to understand the changes. I preach in Fijian, in my own dialect, from English. I took Langham English training and I transferred that to the Fijian, and to my dialect, so they can really understand what I’m talking about, what my sermon is about.”

Through the training, Veresa is more confident and comfortable to pastor his congregation, and is extremely focused on sharing God’s word faithfully!

This is something he’d love to see more and more throughout the churches of Fiji. Many preachers locally use what Veresa describes as ‘outside’ ideas in their sermons. He says, “This is dangerous because it can bring some different ideas and can confuse listeners. But what’s important is what the passage really teaches us, what it really means.”

Passion and personal faith

Preaching is more than a task or job for Veresa, he is genuinely passionate about the call to preach given by Jesus in the Bible. He shares, “That’s what we are called for, to go out, to serve, and to preach the good news. And I love it. And God has blessed me a lot to preach this Word, not only in my congregation but outside.”

Outside of his church, Veresa also preaches sometimes in the local school for children, teachers and families. He sees it as a great privilege to be able to share God’s Word with them. 

Preaching training from Langham has also impacted how Veresa is personally growing in his faith in Jesus. He shares, “Langham Preaching taught me to study God’s Word more. Like before, it only took me a few minutes, now it takes me hours to really dig deep into God’s Word. And that helps me a lot. Because not only do I dig into God’s Word, it teaches me to pray a lot.”

For those involved in supporting Langham Partnership, Veresa says, “I really appreciate the Langham training, and how God works through Langham Partnership.”

Learn more about our work in training preachers like Veresa in Asia-Pacific.