Beliefs and Practices
The SSEC is strict with regard to behavior of its members, who are not permitted to drink alcohol, chew betel nuts or smoke. Both men and women are active in all aspects of the church's activities. The SSEC discourages performance of traditional forms of music, such as 'Are'are panpipe ensembles, because they are seen as related to the traditional ancestor worship, the spirits of which are considered "devils."
In the Solomon Islands there are a number of schools sponsored by the SSEC, which, like other religious schools in the Solomon Islands, receive subsidies from the government. In their missionary work, they have used a few Europeans, but they primarily train natives as Bible teachers, and arrange to have them teach their home community.
The SSEM publishes the work Not in Vain (originally, in the days of the QKM, Not in Vain: What God hath wrought amongst the Kanakas in Queensland), which includes annual reports, financial statements, and SSEM Letters.
Read more about this topic: South Seas Evangelical Church
Famous quotes containing the words beliefs and/or practices:
“If we cannot find a way to interpret the utterances and other behaviour of a creature as revealing a set of beliefs largely consistent and true by our own standards, we have no reason to count that creature as rational, as having beliefs, or as saying anything.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)
“Of all reformers Mr. Sentiment is the most powerful. It is incredible the number of evil practices he has put down: it is to be feared he will soon lack subjects, and that when he has made the working classes comfortable, and got bitter beer into proper-sized pint bottles, there will be nothing left for him to do.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)