Jonacani Vakaruru is a campus staff worker with Pacific Students For Christ (PSFC) in Fiji. He leads fellowship groups and helps students engage with Scripture, work which has been greatly helped by training from Langham!
Culture vs conviction
Christianity in Fiji is deeply rooted in the culture, yet according to Jonacani, its practice often lacks depth. This is because when Christianity came to Fiji the faith resonated with their cultural values, and so a respect for Christianity grew connected to culture – not Christ!
“Christianity in Fiji is kilometres wide, but it’s only inches deep in regards to the knowledge of God’s word,” he explains. “Many would claim they are Christian, but if you do ask the questions: who is Jesus, what is your view on the scriptures – the basic fundamentals of our faith- they would be caught.”
This is something Jonacani experienced firsthand as a university student. When he left school and headed to uni Jonacani thought he was a Christian, because he grew up in a Christian home and his parents were pastors. He shares ”I thought that’s all I need to know. But once I came to uni and someone actually questioned me, ‘What do you mean by that? What does the gospel mean to you?’ And I realised I didn’t have an answer at all.”
This was a pivotal moment in Jonacani’s life, and he started to take Christianity seriously, eventually going into ministry himself!
This cultural Christianity still presents unique challenges today, particularly among Jonacani’s ministry to university students, who are navigating a rapidly changing world.
Equipping Students Through Scripture
Jonacani sees his role as guiding students back to the Bible. “The goal is to bring them into the Word,” he says. “Everyone has ideas of what Christianity is but there’s no Bible engagement and no scripture. What the pastor knows is the main source of what they know about the faith. Colossians 1:28 is what we do as a ministry. We proclaim Christ teaching and admonishing everyone with all wisdom.”
Jonacani’s approach encourages students to ask deep, meaningful questions like ‘Who is Jesus?’ ‘What is the gospel?’ and ‘What does it mean for me?’ These push them to take the first steps to really knowing Christ and engaging with the Bible as a resource they can access and learn from.
The Role of Langham Partnership
A turning point in Jonacani’s ministry came when he attended training with Langham Partnership. He credits the program with equipping him to faithfully and confidently preach the gospel.
He shares, “Before, I didn’t really have a structure for my preaching. Through Langham I have learned about the authority of the scriptures and why we must respect them, and it has given me a structure for how I preach. It has changed a lot for me personally also.”
Langham’s emphasis on Christ-centred preaching challenges some cultural norms in Fijian churches. “Fijians, we are very good orators. But unfortunately in regards to preaching, we’ve taken that to the extreme. We talk more about ourselves and our accomplishments rather than what Christ has done,” Jonacani explains.
This difference between what he was used to hearing in church and the way he was being taught to preach through Langham was something that struck Jonacani early on in the training. It made him realise the great need for trained, faithful preachers of the Word in Fiji!
Before doing the Langham preaching training, Jonacani hadn’t done any theological or biblical training to equip him in his ministry.
He explains, “I didn’t have any seminary training or pastoral training. Langham really helped me at least get my grounding on how I go about preaching the word. Namely, they helped me understand faithfulness to the scriptures, relevance, connecting the scriptures from that time to our local time, and clarity also. And I love how Langham was able to just provide me, a basic foundation to go about my preaching to the students.”
The impact of the dedicated seminars has been huge in his work on campus.
Transforming lives through genuine faith
Reflecting on his own journey, Jonacani clearly remembers how hearing expository preaching for the first time transformed his understanding of Scripture.
He shares, “While I was a student, the first time I heard the word preach expositionally, it was amazing. I could finally understand the scriptures like reading a textbook. Understanding the Word really changed learning about the gospel to something so simple but tremendous. I finally understood who Christ is and what he’s done for me and knew I’m a sinner. I have been told these things all my life, but I didn’t really grasp what it truly meant.”
Now, as he preaches and mentors students, Jonacani is seeing the same transformation in others. He shares, “On the other side, now I am in that position of treating God’s Word faithfully and truthfully and opening up the Bible with someone. Recently, I was going through those scriptures with a student, and seeing the same light that was shone on my eyes in theirs, having those kind of light bulb moments of the gospel. And it’s a joy in that sense when finally someone’s eyes are open to the truth of the scriptures.”
For Jonacani, the vision is clear: to raise a generation of students who are deeply rooted in Scripture and equipped to live out their faith. Langham has helped him to be better equipped to do this work and be able to teach others too.