The following are the people who are the regional representatives for Oceania on the IRCA Leadership Group.
Contact person: Robyn McPhail
Wessley Manasa Vatanitawake, Fiji, currently worships at Anand Methodist Church, a parish for Hindi speaking congregations under the Ba/Tavua Circuit. Currently working with his local community in empowering women and youths, and heavily involved with a group of widow and single mothers, he has worked with NGO’s in the area of peace-building, youth empowerment, care for women and girls (and young boys) and the elimination of gender based-violence.
Manasa worked in radio and television for more than 15 years and public relations and communication, before working in the area of ecumenism, and social justice both under the Pacific Conference of Churches and the Fiji Council of Churches. He is continuing his ecumenical aspiration in Tavua and hopes to further his studies in this specific area in the near future. He joined the IRCA movement in 2018 at the conference in Aotearoa, New Zealand and was instrumental in the organizing of the 2025 Oceania Gathering in Namoli (Lautoka) hosted by the Methodist Church in Fiji, Namoli Division.
Rev Myrah Topo, lives in Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. She is a local church pastor and National Treasurer for the Wesleyan Methodist church of Solomon Islands. In her local church she is a member of the women’s ministry and also an active in church development, building a new church and a pastor’s residential house. Always assisting the local church in fundraising and clean ups, she supports communities in the Islands in recovery from extreme events and building resilience in the face of climate change.
Rev Dr Robyn McPhail, Aotearoa New Zealand, first involved with regional rural ministry at the Trans-Tasman Conference in Myrtleford, Victoria in 1996, guides and encourages the IRCA Oceania Working Group in growing the network and keeping well connected. Her connection with IRCA began through attending the 2002 conference in Chennai, India, and going home as Chairperson.
Robyn grew up on a sheep farm in Eastern Southland in a family in which faith, farming, and community were interwoven. She remained with rural churches throughout her ministry and, although retired from parish work, ministry with IRCA has no required retirement age. She and her husband Neil Chirnside have two sons, and enjoy supporting them and spending time with their grandchildren.
Robyn grew up on a sheep farm in Eastern Southland in a family in which faith, farming, and community were interwoven. She remained with rural churches throughout her ministry and, although retired from parish work, ministry with IRCA has no required retirement age. She and her husband Neil Chirnside have two sons, and enjoy supporting them and spending time with their grandchildren.
IRCA Oceania Working Group
The IRCA Oceania Conference in Namoli, Fiji, in 2025 selected a working group to help ensure we continue to pursue IRCA Oceania’s aims and purpose. The following put their hands up and are participating in ZOOM meetings as they are able:
Solomon Islands: Myrah Topo
Vanuatu: Richard Meleun Simeon
Fiji: Wessley Manasa Vatanitawake, Selai Moapa, Talisa Whippy, Gloria Navuda, Anni Tokalaulevu Ravualala
Aotearoa: Tuhi Taoho, Martin Harrison, Robyn McPhail
Australia: David Shrimpton
If there are others who would like to help with this kaupapa, please get in touch: [email protected]
