A SHORT HISTORY OF NATIONAL FORGIVENESS WEEK

Sitting on a faded Persian rug that only part covered the bare concrete floor of his study, Rob Warren was asking God to give him something to do.

As he prayed, he opened an old devotional called Springs in the Valley. He wanted to serve the Lord, but how? What would God have him do? His eyes fell on the story of Forgiveness Week and as he read the simple words, he knew what he had to do.

Forgiveness Week had its origins with an unknown African tribe sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s. The exact times and places had not been recorded in the story.


Fiji NFW

Rob Warren and David Newby picked up the baton and brought the message of National Forgiveness Week (NFW) to the Fiji Islands in the early 2000s. In 2004, the inaugural NFW (which was called National Reconciliation and Forgiveness Week) was held in Fiji in all cities and across 20 regional centres. The Prime Minister endorsed the week and funded it from government coffers with a budget of $700,000. NFW was organised as a collaborative effort of church and state. The eight-day week was heralded as a great success by broadcast and print media who reported daily in a predominantly positive light. NFW was rolled out to the entire nation of Fiji, and is an example of a truly nationwide event.


A Forgiveness Story from Fiji

Captain Shane Stevens was the leader of the elite Counter Revolutionary Warfare commando unit in the Fijian Army. But after leading a military rebellion against the Commander of the Fijian Armed Forces he was incarcerated in Suva Jail where he became a Christian.

Meanwhile, another scenario was being played out in the suburbs of Suva. Shane’s wife and two-year-old daughter had arrived home to find an intruder ransacking their house. The surprised thief drew a knife and held it to his wife’s throat, demanding whatever money she had. After getting all that was available, he ran off, leaving Shane’s wife and young daughter badly shaken by the encounter. Within the next few days, the police caught the thief and put him into the same jail that Shane was in!

Shortly afterwards, Shane confronted the man who had traumatised his wife and daughter. Knowing Shane’s military background, the thief realised he was in serious trouble, but to his amazement, Shane merely took his hand and said, “I forgive you!”

Later that day a prison warder stood at Shane’s cell door. There with him was the thief, with tears running down his face. He had requested to be taken to Shane’s cell where Shane introduced him to the Great Forgiver.

Fiji National Forgiveness Week is an example of the collaborative effort of government and combined churches. It was held for three consecutive years from 2004-6 until the military coup of December 2006 (initiated by Commodore Frank Bainimarama) when it was discontinued.


Vanuatu NFW

In 2010, Vanuatu held their inaugural NFW which they called Vanuatu Forgiveness Week (VFW), also a combined church and state event. It was held on the islands of Efate and Espiritu Santo.

This plaque was placed on a rock in Pango to commemorate the heartfelt forgiveness between Moso and Pango in 2010 during Vanuatu Forgiveness Week

In the village of Pango, on the outskirts of Port Vila, a contingent from the small island of Moso arrived. The two communities had been feuding over the killing of 22 villagers back in 1852! After 158 years, they had come to forgive and to be forgiven. They publicly repented before one another and exchanged gifts. Many tears of joy were shed that day. After sharing a meal together, they formed two lines and progressively embraced, and 158 years of hatred and resentment were washed away.

(l-r) Rev Vuniani Nakauyaca, David Newby, His Excellency Kalkot Matas Kelekele (President of Vanuatu), Rob Warren

There is a clear need for government organisational and funding resources to undergird the implementation of NFW. It remains an example of NFW held at a provincial level.

Vanuatu Forgiveness Week was held in 2010, a collaborative effort of government and combined churches. It was not rolled out to all the islands of Vanuatu because of two key factors: Prime Minister Edward Natapei, the driving force behind VFW, lost office shortly after commissioning VFW and left the organisational aspects to the churches who did not have the capacity to implement VFW on a nationwide basis.


Beswick NFW (Australia)

In Australia, the remote Aboriginal community of Beswick in Arnhem Land, continues to hold National Forgiveness Week annually, effecting localised cultural change from one of payback to forgiveness. NFW is held every year in June/July with the support of the Roper Gulf Regional Council. Here are a few examples of forgiveness in action in Beswick.

An Aboriginal man, crossing the road in Katherine, was accidently killed by an Aboriginal truckdriver. The family met to discuss what they should do to the truckdriver or his family as payback for his crime. On the agenda were many and varied punishments. Someone suggested he should be murdered! Then, as a result of the teachings on forgiveness, a family member spoke up, counselling them to forgive rather than react. They asked him to explain what forgiveness was. After a lengthy discussion, they decided they would exercise forgiveness as their right of payback. So that is what they did, and the truckdriver’s life was spared.

A family held a vendetta against another family. During NFW they knelt down and asked forgiveness for holding offence in their hearts. This resolved a ten-year feud. Afterwards, an Aboriginal elder said, “We all walked around with grateful tears in our eyes for a week or so afterwards.”

Rob Warren, Rex Woods, Ray Ashley, Loretta George (l-r)

A woman from Beswick visited Roper River community where she encountered a woman teaching forgiveness to a group of Aboriginal children. She asked the teacher where she learnt about that. Her reply was, “I was taught this at National Forgiveness Week in Beswick.”

The message of relational forgiveness is gradually seeping out to surrounding Aboriginal communities. Small things can effect social change, eventually having significant impact throughout an entire community.

Beswick NFW is an example of how an insignificant church in a small remote community can practise forgiveness and attract the support of local government.


Details of the history of National Forgiveness Week can be found
in the appendices of When Angry Hearts Forgive available on Amazon.