Church of Tuvalu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Christian Church of Tuvalu, in Tuvaluan Te Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu is the national church of Tuvalu. It comprises 92% of the 12,000 inhabitants of the archipelago.

In 1861 Elekana, a deacon of a Congregational church in Manihiki, Cook Islands, received permission to begin evangelism in Tuvalu. He was trained in a London Missionary Society school in Samoa before attempting to start the Church of Tuvalu. In 1969, the Church acquired its independence from the LMS, since which time it has sent some missionaries to serve Tuvaluan migrants in Fiji, New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia, and the Marshall Islands.

The church is Calvinist in doctrine and congregational in organization. Being the de facto established church, the Church of Tuvalu dominate most aspects of social, cultural and political life in the country.

The church is a member of the World Association for Christian Communication, the Bays Brigade International Fellowship, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the World Council of Churches and the Pacific Conference of Churches.

The church publishes a bulletin in the Tuvaluan and English languages and operates a school in the capital city Funafuti.