Report from Pacific Conference of Churches Leaders’ Meeting, April 2026

 Sustaining Pacific Ecumenism 

Pacific Church Leaders met in Suva, Fiji, from 13 to 17 April 2026 at a kairos moment for the churches of the Blue Pacific. Leaders gathered not simply to review regional issues, but to re-ground their common life in the Pasifika Household of God and to ask again what kind of people and churches God is calling us to become. Across worship, talanoa, theological reflection, keynote sessions, community engagement, and collective discernment, participants returned repeatedly to one central conviction: the future of Pacific ecumenism cannot be sustained by structure alone. It must be renewed in the soul of the Household through Scripture, prayer, humility, truthful conversation and deeper relational belonging. 

Sustaining the Household Journey 

The meeting revisited the journey from the restorying of Pacific ecumenism in 2017–2018 toward the Household of God and read earlier statements and declarations as signposts along a continuing voyage. The image of the Household was understood not as something static, but as a moving vaka or drua held together in relationship. Participants affirmed that this relational vision remains the most fruitful way to hold together difference, memory, public witness and shared responsibility in a region marked by rapid ecological, social and geopolitical change. The meeting also recognised that the Household continues to widen and must listen more intentionally to youth, women, underrepresented churches, First Nations voices, diaspora communities and those living closest to the wounds that now press upon Pacific life. 

WCC and Pasifika Voices 

The visit of Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, was received with gratitude as an important sign of solidarity with the Pacific churches. His participation was also an orientation into the Pasifika Household of God, as he entered the meeting through worship, the foundations sessions, theological reflections, talanoa and the wider discussion of the WCC journey. Leaders welcomed the opportunity for the wider ecumenical movement to listen more deeply to Pacific theological language, especially around relationality, restraint, truth-telling, hospitality and the Household as a living ethic rather than a mere institutional metaphor. In turn, the meeting strengthened the conviction that Pacific voices must continue to shape global ecumenical discussions with confidence and clarity. 

Launching the Ecumenical Decade for Climate Justice 

The Pacific launch of the Ecumenical Decade for Climate Justice gave further depth to the meeting’s reflection. The climate and ecological justice sessions called the churches to move from stewardship toward custodianship and guardianship, recognising that creation is not an external object to be managed but a living reality within which we belong. This shift was linked to indigenous knowledge, rights of nature, accompaniment of communities, and the church’s responsibility to resist extractive and harmful systems. The launch in Togoru, Navua, connected theological reflection to community life and reinforced the call for climate justice to be woven into worship, formation, policy, public witness and everyday church practice. 

The Church and Challenges Inside the Household 

Migration, diaspora and belonging were named as major pressures on the Household. Leaders heard how climate displacement, labour mobility, visa pathways, urban migration and social stress are reshaping families, identity and church life across the region. The question was not simply how people move, but how the church accompanies those who live between homes, cultures and futures. Participants spoke of the need to preserve worship, language, culture, kinship and pastoral care among diaspora communities, while also deepening regional solidarity so that larger churches and host contexts walk more intentionally with those who are scattered. The meeting therefore treated belonging as both a pastoral priority and a theological issue requiring deeper reflection toward the 2027 General Assembly. 

The meeting also gave serious attention to the strains and wounds within the Household itself. Sessions on leadership and inherited conditions, rising authoritarianism, religious nationalism, Christian Zionism and the regional drugs crisis all highlighted that the Pacific is no longer standing beside these pressures, but increasingly within them. Leaders named fragmentation, corruption, violence, exclusion, youth dislocation, social breakdown, HIV risk in the context of methamphetamine use, and the erosion of moral trust within communities. Yet the overall response was not one of despair. The meeting called the churches to become a more truthful and healing household through prevention, accompaniment, rehabilitation, public witness and renewed courage in the face of systems that diminish life. 

Deeper spiritual engagement 

A strong theme throughout the discussions by leaders was the call for deeper spiritual engagement. Church leaders expressed a clear desire for more time in future Pacific Church Leader gathering processes for Bible study, prayer, silence, worship and genuine spiritual conversation, not only presentations and issue analysis. This was not a retreat from public witness, but a recognition that prophetic clarity and moral courage must be rooted in spiritual depth. Participants stressed that the Pasifika Household of God must be carried not only in documents and resolutions but in a disciplined life of prayer and discernment. The meeting therefore affirmed that future gatherings should be shaped more intentionally around Scripture, shared devotion and collective listening to the Spirit. 

Theological formation 

Theological formation was also a recurring concern. Participants called for PCC to engage more intentionally with local theological colleges across the region, and for Pasifika Communities University to centre its future engagement in PCLM more clearly through the School of Theology and Ecumenism while continuing collaboration across its other schools and institutes. The discussions made clear that the Household framework has given the churches a strong theological language, but that it must now be interpreted more pastorally, translated more accessibly and connected more directly with the lived realities of congregations and communities. Theological education must remain grounded in Pacific realities, local languages, indigenous knowledge and the practical concerns of churches facing social strain, migration, ecological disruption and intergenerational change. 

Meeting outcomes 

Collectively, the meeting affirmed several outcomes.

1. First, it renewed a shared understanding of the Pasifika Household of God as the central theological and relational frame for the churches’ common life. 
2. Second, it identified a strong call for greater spiritual depth in PCLM processes, including more intentional space for prayer, Scripture, silence, and discernment. 
3. Third, it affirmed the need for stronger theological formation partnerships between PCC, local theological colleges, and PCU, with particular attention to the School of Theology and Ecumenism. 
4. Fourth, it strengthened the integration of climate justice, migration, public ethics, youth belonging, self-determination, safe and healing communities, and the regional drugs crisis within one whole-of-life understanding of church life. 
5. Fifth, it reinforced the need for wider participation, better continuity between meetings, and stronger communication of outcomes back into member churches and communities. 

Way forward 

The meeting also clarified a number of collective process learnings for PCC. Leaders asked that future discernment include more direct discussion, communal prayer and careful theological reflection. They urged that outcomes be taken home, shared intentionally in member churches, and translated into the pastoral life of congregations. They also stressed that the whole Household must be heard more fully, including youth, women, ministers’ spouses, national councils, First Nations communities, diaspora churches and those whose voices are often limited by cost, language or ecclesial boundaries. 

Looking ahead, the road to the 13th PCC General Assembly in 2027 should be shaped by wider consultation, deeper research and stronger collective preparation. The proposed Working Document for the General Assembly will need to carry forward the themes of the soul of the Household, belonging and accompaniment, ecological guardianship, leadership formation, public witness, self-determination, the church-state relationship, and the pressures of drugs, violence, migration and geopolitical change. 

As a concrete next step, PCC is proposing a joint Pacific Church Leaders and Regional Ecumenical Youth Council Retreat in the third week of April 2027. This intergenerational retreat will provide space to pray together, discern together through spiritual conversation on the soul of the Pasifika Household of God, and contribute to the finalisation of the Working Document for the 13th General Assembly. In this way, the meeting closed not only with gratitude for what was shared in Suva, but with a renewed commitment to continue reweaving the relational mat and voyaging faithfully together. 

PCC acknowledges, with deep gratitude, the partnership with the Pasifika Communities University in the co-hosting of this year’s meeting and the presentations from the various Bilums (Schools) and programmes at PCU.

Appendix: Topics, Key Points and Discussion Summaries 

This appendix provides a concise synthesis of the main topics discussed during the meeting. It sits alongside the communique by naming major insights, key examples and matters requiring follow-up toward the 13th PCC General Assembly. 

Re-grounding the Household: signposts, foundations and the soul of the House 

• Participants revisited the PCLM journey from 2006 to 2025 and read previous statements as signposts along the voyage of Pacific ecumenism. The meeting reaffirmed the shift from the language of the Body of Christ toward the Pasifika Household of God, not as a rejection of earlier ecumenical language but as a deeper Pacific framing grounded in relationality, responsibility and common life. 

• Discussion repeatedly returned to the image of the Household as a moving vaka: not static, but voyaging, adaptive and held together by relationship. The soul of the House was distinguished from its structure. Leaders stressed that policies and institutions matter, but without relational memory, shared ethics and living faith, the house can remain standing while losing its heart. 

• Key points raised included the need to revisit the church as mediator and intercessor for the people; the need to hold together laity and ordained, women and men, elders and youth, culture and Christian faith; and the need to name truthfully the tears already present in the relational mat. 

• Participants also emphasised that mission matters more than preserving structures, that the Household is an ethic rather than a slogan, and that Pacific ecumenism must remain grounded in our own story, symbols, theological language and memories of struggle, hospitality and public witness. 

Spiritual discernment, theological formation, and the role of colleges 

• One of the clearest collective messages from the meeting was that future PCLM processes need more time for spiritual engagement. Delegates expressed appreciation for the worship life of the gathering and asked for future meetings to include deeper Bible study, prayer, silence and spiritual conversation. The concern was not procedural only; it was theological. 

• Participants believed the discernment of the Household must be shaped by communion with God, not only by programme logic or issue management. This was repeatedly linked to the language of the soul of the Household and the need for leadership that is spiritually credible as well as administratively competent. 

• Alongside this was a strong call for richer theological formation. Theological reflection was valued when it connected clearly with the realities of village life, youth experience, migration, gender relations, ecology and public witness. There was concern that some theological language can remain distant from local congregations if it is not translated into practical and pastoral forms. 

• Discussion therefore pointed toward three linked priorities: stronger PCC engagement with local theological colleges across the region; more intentional future engagement by PCU through the School of Theology and Ecumenism; and broader collaboration with the other 6 

schools and institutes of PCU where their expertise strengthens the Household’s whole-of-life vision. 

• Participants also highlighted the value of Pacific languages, indigenous knowledge and community-based learning, noting that theological education should not move away from grassroots wisdom but deepen its conversation with it. 

WCC visit and orientation into the Pasifika Household 

• The presence of the WCC General Secretary was received as both a sign of solidarity and an opportunity for mutual learning. The meeting offered an orientation into the Pasifika Household of God through worship, keynote responses, talanoa and the wider conversation on relational ecumenism and the ethics of restraint. 

• Leaders appreciated the recognition that the Pacific contributes more than regional concerns to the global ecumenical movement. The Household framework offered language for relationality, restraint, hospitality, truth-telling and public witness that resonated beyond the region. 

• The visit also strengthened the sense that Pacific churches should continue to speak into global debates not defensively, but with theological confidence rooted in their own context and in the lived realities of their peoples. 

• Discussion underlined that ecumenism must be understood not only institutionally, but as a way of life. The Household is therefore not simply a governance arrangement. It is an ethic of mutual responsibility shaped by the triune life of God, by accompaniment of communities, and by a willingness to negotiate difference without abandoning one another. 

Climate and ecological justice: from stewardship to guardianship 

• The ecological justice sessions marked one of the strongest theological developments of the meeting. Speakers called the churches to move from stewardship toward custodianship and guardianship, challenging anthropocentric approaches that assume humans stand above creation. The Pacific whole-of-life perspective instead recognises land, ocean and all living beings within networks of sacred interdependence. 

• Indigenous concepts of relational protection were shared from across the region, including examples of sacred places, taboo systems and legal recognition of rivers and ecosystems. These examples helped participants reflect on how Pacific concepts can shape both theology and public policy without simply borrowing external frameworks. 

• Discussion insisted that the shift is not only semantic. It asks the churches to move from management language toward reverence, reciprocity, accompaniment and courageous protection of life. Creation was spoken of not as something outside the Household but as part of the Household’s wider life with God. 

• The Pacific launch of the Ecumenical Decade for Climate Justice gave practical expression to this discernment. It linked climate theology with community accompaniment and public witness, and reinforced the call for PCC and member churches to embed ecological justice more clearly in worship, policy, formation and constitutional life. 7 

• Leaders also recognised that climate change cannot be treated in isolation from migration, youth dislocation, public health pressures, economic pressure and the search for resilient local livelihoods. 

Migration, diaspora and belonging 

• Migration and diaspora were discussed not only as demographic trends, but as matters of faith, identity and pastoral accompaniment. Leaders reflected on climate displacement, PALM labour mobility, urbanisation, visa pathways and the scattering of families and churches across the region and beyond. 

• The key concern was belonging: how the church accompanies people who live between homes, languages, cultures and uncertain futures. Contributors stressed the importance of preserving worship, language, kinship and identity among diaspora communities. 

• Larger churches and host churches were asked to accompany smaller or displaced communities with greater intentionality so that people do not lose connection with their culture, faith or sense of home. Internal migration from village to town was also recognised as a serious pressure on family life, intergenerational relationships and church participation. 

• Practical concerns raised in relation to labour mobility included isolation, wage deductions, safety, alcohol and drug use, gambling, abuse of women, accidents and the vulnerability of workers far from their support networks. 

• The discussion suggested that belonging should become a major theological and pastoral theme toward the 2027 General Assembly. It requires reflection not only on migration policy and pastoral care, but on what it means for the Pasifika Household of God to remain one when many members of the household are scattered. 

Leadership, global pressures and the household under strain 

• Sessions on leadership and inherited conditions highlighted the need for adaptable, spiritually grounded and ethically credible leadership. Participants named concerns around weakened trust, inadequate continuity, insufficient communication back to local churches, and the need to orient successors more intentionally so that commitments are not lost between meetings. 

• The panel on authoritarianism, religious nationalism and Christian Zionism widened the meeting’s horizon beyond regional issues alone. Leaders recognised that global ideological pressures are shaping church life in the Pacific and can narrow the relational and justice-centred vision of the gospel. 

• The discussion therefore called for clearer theological reflection on public ethics, church-state relations, self-determination and the church’s responsibility to resist harmful forms of power. Several comments linked this to decolonisation, dignity and the courage to challenge imported frameworks that distort the Gospel or undermine Pacific values. 

• Across these sessions, the repeated theme was that the Household must not become silent or reactive. It must cultivate truth-telling, restraint, solidarity and courage so that the churches can remain faithful in contexts marked by polarisation, colonising pressures and competing political loyalties. 8 

The rising drug crisis and the call to become a healing household 

• The session on the regional drugs crisis brought one of the most urgent conversations of the meeting. Presentations emphasised that drug use is not only a law-enforcement issue but also a health, family, community and moral concern. Participants heard how organised crime, economic vulnerability, shame, secrecy and social breakdown are converging in ways that deeply affect Pacific families and congregations. 

• Particular concern was raised about methamphetamine, HIV risk, stigma, violence, and the fragmentation of community life. Speakers warned against both panic and avoidance and called instead for truthful, calm and courageous action. 

• Discussion welcomed evidence-based and human-centred approaches while also insisting that the church offers something distinctive: truthful belonging, mentoring, family support, worship, reconciliation and the possibility of restored life. The church’s fourfold response was framed as prevention, accompaniment, rehabilitation and public witness. 

• Leaders also heard that family skills programmes, community options, strong local relationships and public-health approaches are all essential. In this sense, the question was not only what churches should do, but who the Household must become if it is to be a healing and truthful presence in the midst of the crisis. 

Intergenerational participation and the wider Household 

• A recurrent discussion point was that the whole Household must be heard more fully. Participants welcomed the growing visibility of youth and women in regional processes, but also noted the need for stronger inclusion of ministers’ spouses, national councils, First Nations communities, smaller churches and other underrepresented contexts. 

• Leaders spoke positively about worship in mother tongues, cultural diversity in the gathering and the wider recognition of indigenous voices. These were experienced not as symbolic additions, but as signs that the Household is becoming more spacious and more honest about who belongs within it. 

• The meeting also recognised that young people are not only the future of the church but part of its present discernment. This shaped support for more intentional intergenerational processes and for deeper links between church leadership processes and the Regional Ecumenical Youth Council. 

• The proposed Pacific Church Leaders and REYC Retreat in April 2027 was therefore understood not simply as an event, but as a method of preparation for the General Assembly: praying together, discerning together and allowing the Working Document to be shaped by a more intentionally intergenerational conversation. 

Collective outcomes, research priorities and next steps 

• The concluding discernment sessions pointed toward several collective outcomes. The meeting renewed the Pasifika Household of God as the central framework for Pacific ecumenical life; strengthened the call for spiritual depth and practical theological formation; and gathered a wide range of pressures into one whole-of-life account of household life, 9 

including ecological justice, migration, youth belonging, public ethics, self-determination and the drug crisis. 

• Participants also identified unfinished work. These included weak continuity between meetings, uneven representation, the need to widen participation, the need to communicate outcomes more intentionally to member churches, and the need for more visible follow-through on previous commitments. 

• Priority areas for deeper reflection toward the 2027 General Assembly include: the soul of the Household and spiritual discernment; belonging and accompaniment; ecological guardianship; youth and intergenerational leadership; public witness in contexts of political and ideological strain; self-determination and dignity; safer and healing households; and the relationship between theological education and lived community realities. 

• As next steps, the meeting pointed toward broader consultation, more intentional involvement of local theological colleges and grassroots communities, stronger continuity in representation, and development of the Working Document for the 13th PCC General Assembly. 

• PCC’s proposal for a joint Pacific Church Leaders and Regional Ecumenical Youth Council Retreat in the third week of April 2027 was affirmed as a helpful next step for intergenerational spiritual conversation, theological deepening and preparation for the General Assembly.