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The Star Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi<br />
Thursday March 9 2017 13<br />
Pastor issues challenge to congregation<br />
• By Gordon Findlater<br />
FIJIAN Seventh-Day Adventist<br />
Pastor Jesel Royokada is<br />
challenging his congregation to<br />
step up and enter this month’s<br />
The Star City2Surf with Mike<br />
Pero Real Estate.<br />
Pastor Royokada was inspired<br />
by the Tongan SDA Church’s efforts<br />
at the Summer Starter late<br />
last year, and is being supported<br />
by Healthy Families Christchurch.<br />
“I thought ‘we can do that’.<br />
I’d love to see our church<br />
leading the way, taking exercise<br />
seriously too,” said Pastor<br />
Royokada.<br />
“So when I was talking to<br />
Healthy Families Christchurch<br />
they said ‘if that’s what you want<br />
to do, why don’t you just give it a<br />
try and see what happens?”<br />
Not to be outdone, the Tongan<br />
church matched their entry<br />
numbers, and together they’re<br />
throwing the challenge out even<br />
wider, hoping to inspire other<br />
community and faith-based<br />
organisations.<br />
“It would be great to see<br />
other churches and community<br />
groups taking part,” said Pastor<br />
Royokada.<br />
“It was a great idea, it’s a great<br />
step to combine together and<br />
then maybe we might inspire<br />
the Samoans or other ethnicities,”<br />
said Teuila Saafi, Tongan<br />
SDA youth leader.<br />
The two Pacific churches have<br />
already started preparations for<br />
the March 19 event by exercising<br />
together on Sunday mornings at<br />
Hagley Park – combining prayer<br />
and walking.<br />
“It was good, because we<br />
talked about it before, I said to<br />
Jesel next time bring the Fijians<br />
and now they’ve joined us. It’s<br />
great,” said Ms Saafi.<br />
“I found the Sunday morning<br />
walk fulfilling, by building up<br />
my faith, while also building my<br />
body,” said Pastor Royokada.<br />
Both agreed that physical<br />
health and spiritual health<br />
are linked, but all too often<br />
other things can get in the<br />
way. Combining the two was<br />
INSPIRED:<br />
Teuila Saafi and<br />
Jesel Royokada<br />
are challenging<br />
community and<br />
church groups<br />
to get together<br />
and take on<br />
this month’s<br />
City2Surf. <br />
an important step to leading<br />
healthy lives.<br />
As part of challenging other<br />
churches to enter the City2Surf,<br />
the duo have opened the door<br />
for anyone to join them in their<br />
prayer walks.<br />
“We meet at 6.30am at the car<br />
park in the south end of Hagley<br />
Park and we’d love to have anyone<br />
join us, it would be great to<br />
see some new faces.”<br />
CHALLENGE: Participants at<br />
the start and finish of last year’s<br />
City2Surf.