APIA – The Samoan Independent Seventh Day Adventist Church wants a healthier congregation.

This desire is not confined to spiritual health, the Samoa Observer reports.

“If you are healthy, then you are strong enough to carry out the work and do God’s work,” the leader of SISDAC Worldwide, Pastor Willie Papu said last Saturday.

The church leader made the point during an interview at the Church’s new multi-million-tala building which opened recently.

It was where hundreds of church members had congregated at the end of a parade under the theme – Autalavou Mo Iesu or Youth for Christ.

The parade was part of the church’s world conference being held in Samoa.

More than a thousand church members from all over the world were in the country for the event.

Pastor Papu said a number of issues – including pastoral care, evangelism, finances and health – had been discussed at the conference.

“The world is turning towards natural health,” he said. “People are finding that after conventional medicines, they are turning to drugs and it’s killing people.”

“So for us, we want to teach our people how to live healthy because if you are healthy then you are strong enough to carry out the work and do God’s work.”

“Nowadays people just run to the hospital, take drugs and so their life span has been shortened.”

“But we are taking a different approach. In the next four years, we are aiming to set up health centres where people can be taught how to live healthy, or where they can be given natural treatments to help with their illnesses.”

The church’s multi-million-tala building will also house a health centre.

“We are hoping that by the end of this year, we will have some of the latest technologies that have been used outside in terms of natural health.”

“It’s more than just being a vegetarian. There is cutting edge technology in the field of natural health that has never been introduced to Samoa.”

The conference was guided by the theme, The final hour message.

“God has a last message for this generation in which we need and that was the emphasis throughout the whole convention,” he said.

“What is happening is that almost every prophesy in the Bible is now being fulfilled.”

- Samoa Observer