Fiji's interim government has cancelled a Methodist church choir competition.

Regional choir contests were to be held next Saturday after the church agreed not to hold a full choir festival in Suva, the capital.

But now the government has revoked a permit for area festivals to be held.

Reverend Kerry Enright, from Australia's Uniting Church, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat the interim government has also refused a permit for an induction service to be held for Methodist office-bearers in Fiji.

"We believe the Fijian government is out to cripple the Methodist church in Fiji," he said.

The Australian church believed a "deliberate strategy is being followed" to wreck the church's operations, he added.

He said one reason may be that the Methodist church is the largest in Fiji - about 70 per cent of indigenous Fijians are members.

"And it has been expressing concern in the past about the [Fijian] coup and some of the recent decisions."

But the Fijian Methodists had been careful in their statements and had worked with the government as far as possible, Mr Enright said.

The church there had even thought an agreement had been reached and "there was to be a process of dialogue" with the authorities.

Mr Enright says it is of concern the interim government is interfering with "the life of a church".

He has spoken to the Methodist leadership in Fiji about the decision.

He said the church learned about the interim government's decision in the media and was unaware of the reasons behind it.

"They're mystified. They're deeply troubled," he said.

"There have been tears shed because they just do not understand what is going on."

He said it was difficult to comprehend how a government would take such a step, adding that the Australian church would work quickly on making a submission to the United Nations human rights commission about the choir ban.

Mr Enright said concern among church leaders spread further than Fiji and Australia.

"Across the Pacific, they are deeply, deeply troubled by what is happening in Fiji and the government's approach to the Methodist church."