James Bhagwan

An ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Fiji, Rev. James Bhagwan, known to many as Padre James, is the General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches, that brings together 32 mainline Churches and 10 national councils of churches across the Pacific, from the Marshall Islands in North, Maohi Nui in the East, Tanah Papua and the land now called Australia in the West and Aotearoa New Zealand in the South. With a large Christian population in the region, PCC members and affiliates account for 80% of the Pacific’s human population.

He is a member of the World Council of Churches, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, the Brot fur die Welt Global Reference Group; a trustee for the Pacific Disability Forum and a board member for the Pacific Network on Globalisation as well Pacific Women Lead.

A strong advocate for ecological guardianship and climate justice, Padre James is a Trustee and Chaplain for Fiji's traditional voyaging society, the Uto Ni Yalo Trust. He is a longtime advocate on addressing plastic pollution, particularly ocean litter, mobilizing communities for coastal and river to ocean cleanups and can often be found picking up plastic waste in Laucala Bay on his Stand-Up Paddleboard with other like-hearted paddlers.