| Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated | |
| Samoan Assemblies of God Worldwide | |
| Classification | Protestant |
|---|---|
| Orientation | Pentecostal, Evangelical |
| Polity | Congregational-Presbyterian polity |
| Geographical areas | New Zealand |
| Founder | The Late Pastor Fereti (Fred) Ama |
| Origin | 1960's Vivian Street, Wellington |
| Branched from | Assemblies of God in Western Samoa |
| Separations | Assemblies of God in New Zealand (separated 2005) |
| Congregations | 58 |
| Members | 10,000 |
The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated (SAOGNZ) are a group of Pentecostal churches predominately made up of Samoan people. Established in New Zealand in the early 1960s by a group of Pentecostals from Samoa bringing the message of Pentecostalism to their Samoan people living in New Zealand. In 2005 some in the Samoan fellowship felt the need to be a self governing body and formed its own constitution which split the Samoan Assemblies of God National body in two, some left the AOGNZ umbrella and formed a break-away group.
Currently under the leadership of Pastor Samani Pulepule who has served as their Superintendent since the 1960s and was recently elected as the General Superintendent of the World Samoan Assemblies of God Fellowship.
It was this Samoan fellowship that contributed to the growth of the Assemblies of God in New Zealand making it the Nations fastest growing church. By 2005 there were 89 Samoan Assemblies of God Churches throughout New Zealand.
The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated should not be confused with the Assembly of God Church of Samoa in New Zealand who are group of 27 churches that had left the Samoan Assemblies of God in 1974 due to the dissatifaction of one local minister of having the Samoan churches align with the European or the General Assemblies of God, wanting the Samoan churches to be run by the Samoan people. He formed an independent group of churches known informally as the "Lotu Mesako" to the Samoan Assemblies of God adherents, or formally as the Assembly of God Church of Samoa in New Zealand. This group of churches serve under the leadership of Pastor Mesako Sanerivi who formed and encouraged this break away group. They have 22 churches in Australia, and only one in Samoa.
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The Samoan Assemblies of God movement in New Zealand is made up of a grouping of local churches the members of which who are predominately migrants from Samoa and their New Zealand born families, who share the religious beliefs of the Assemblies of God movement worldwide.
The Samoan Assemblies of God is an affiliated part of the Samoan Assemblies of God worldwide.
They work co-operatively with the Samoan Assemblies of God churches of Samoa, American Samoa, Australia, Alaska, Hawaii and of Mainland USA, and with any other religious organisation in New Zealand that shares the same Christian beliefs as the Assemblies of God movement worldwide.
The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand believe in the power and person of the Holy Spirit, a belief that reaches back over two thousand years of Church history to the day of Pentecost when the Christian Church was born.
The 20th century Pentecostals movement was born when students at a Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, came into the conclusion that the Biblical evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit was speaking in other tongues. From that time, there have been spiritual revivals accompanied by Pentecostal phenomena, as in the Welsh Revival of 1904 and at Azusa St, Los Angeles in 1906. Pentecostals found it necessary to set up their own Church structures, one of which, is the Assemblies of God, now found in most countries throughout the world.
Whilst the religious belief is the foundation cornerstone of the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand, the members and local churches forming the Samoan Assemblies of God acknowledge that daily administration of local churches requires the observance of legal, ethical, social, and cultural values of the societies in which the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand operates.
The Samoan Assemblies of God movement in New Zealand started at Vivian St, Wellington in 1962 as a Pentecostal movement. The movement commenced in Auckland in 1964 by foundation members who were members of the Pentecostal movement from Samoa.
In 1964 the foundation Congregations in Wellington and Auckland adopted the name Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand and worked closely together.
The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand and the Assemblies of God in New Zealand share the same faith and worked cooperatively since 1967. With the consent and assistance of the Assemblies of God in New Zealand, the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand used some of the structures of the Assemblies of God in New Zealand, such as provision of Pastor’s credentials. Some of the local churches of the Samoan Assemblies of God paid tithes and made financial contributions to the Assemblies of God in New Zealand to assist with administration costs
The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand worked independently of, but cooperatively, with the Assemblies of God in New Zealand. The cooperative relationship of the two parallel fellowships led to a mistaken belief that the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand were governed by the Constitution of the Assemblies of God in New Zealand.
The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand are a group of individuals who are predominately Samoans by birth or descent, in presently unincorporated local Churches, who share a common interest in Pentecostal Christianity and the fundamental philosophy of Assemblies of God movements worldwide as one of cooperative fellowship between local Churches
Two years after the church's founding, the pioneers of the Assemblies of God adopted a set of core beliefs for the Fellowship, which remain virtually unchanged. These are known as “The 16 Fundamental Truths.” The Assemblies' doctrines are summarized in its Statement of Fundamental Truths.[1]
Numerous Christian groups share some or all of these tenets—and some positions (like the Trinity) are considered more central to the faith than others. Of these sixteen, four are considered “core beliefs of the Fellowship”, or “Cardinal Doctrines.” These are:
- Salvation Through Jesus Christ
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit
- Divine Healing
- The Second Coming of Christ
These statements of belief are considered to have a biblical basis and are thus considered non-negotiable.
The church was under-going court cases and was fighting for assets, mainly the Samani Pulepule Centre the Samoan Assemblies of God Headquarters in Mangere, Auckland which seats up to 4,000 and contains the General Superintendent's office, and the offices of the General Secretary and Treasurer of the Samoan fellowship.
In 2005 when the Samoan Assemblies of God formed an incorporated society, AOGNZ suspended all pastors credentials, and stripped their membership as an Assemblies of God fellowship. That same year in December, the Samoan Assemblies of God had a special service at the Samani Pulepule Centre with World leaders of the Assemblies of God. All pastors that had suspended credentials as ministers of AOGNZ, and churches that had their memberships stripped from them, were again formally ordained as Assemblies of God members and minsters, an afilliated part of the Assemblies of God worldwide. 45 Pastors were ordained and 45 churches were officially registered as the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated.
In 2006 the church had a World Conference in Samoa, which saw New Zealand represented by both Samoan fellowships, this had showed the division amongst the New Zealand churches as both groups performed separate items. During the World leaders meeting, Pastor Ailaulau had walked into the conference room where the meeting was taking place, but was then told to leave. The other World leaders stated that there is only one Samoan fellowship in New Zealand, and that it was the fellowship directed by Pastor Samani Pulepule. This was also the conference where Pastor Samani Pulepule was ordained as the General Superintendent of the Samoan Assemblies International
In 2007 a group of Samoan pastor's from AOGNZ had broken into the Samani Pulepule Centre and changed all the locks, this was witnessed by the daughter of the Samoan Assemblies of God caretaker who was confused as to who these people were and phoned the police. Immediately the Samoan Executive Council was alerted, and arrived at the Convention Centre finding the group of Pastor's with a court document saying they were permitted to do this, through Police investigation they found that the court document was signed by one of the Pastor's themselves, and ordered the group of pastor's to immediately leave the premises, and if they were found on the property again, they would be arrested.
Both parties of the Samoan Assemblies of God have come to an agreement and have stopped all court cases. Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated will gather in Auckland on the 8th of November 2009 to celebrate the end of the court cases, and to give thanks to God. See Samoan Assemblies of God Video
There are now 72 Samoan Assemblies of God churches in New Zealand under the leadership of Pastor Pulepule. Since the split in 2005 the church continues to grow.
List of the Samoan Assemblies of God Churches in New Zealand
The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand have General Council (or National Conferences) once every year, it is held in the three main New Zealand centres of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. These conferences only last 3 days and are always during the Easter Weekend break. Every two years, the church's have General Elections where those in attendance of the General Council are to vote for change in the Executive Council. Pastor Samani Pulepule has been nominated and ordained with a vote of 100% since 1968 (the first Samoan Assemblies General Council).
Since the beginning of the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand, they have had the honour of hosting four past World Conventions. The first World Conference that New Zealand hosted was in 1982 known as the "Jesus' the Saviour - Iesu le Fa'aola Conference" which was attended by over 1,000 members of the church, and also members of the Auckland City Council, the Manukau City Council, the then General Superintendent of the AOGNZ and World Leaders.
The 1992 World Conference was the beginning of a Revival never seen in New Zealand before, the churches numbers had tripled since the last World Conference in New Zealand, and the new SAOG headquarters that seated up to 3,000 people was officially opened. This was the first time the Samoan Assemblies of God churches from Germany were in attendance.
In 2003 the Samani Pulepule Convention Centre was renovated and extended to seat over 4,000 people this time and in 2004 the number of churches in New Zealand had grown to 89 with a membership of 15,000. During the "Pray and Obey - Tatalo ma ia Usita'i Conference" in 2004, there were over 10,000 people in attendance at this conference, with over 2,000 members from Samoa, 2,000 members from Australia and 800 members from Mainland USA, and larger proportion of members from American Samoa, Hawaii and Alaska, the 2004 conference has been the biggest World Conference ever hosted in New Zealand, and traffic was at its peek before and after every service, (the City Council was told prior to the event about the conference and the need for cars to park along Robertson Road, so they opened up nearby schools and parks for parking, and a team of traffic police to help with the flow of traffic).
By 2008, the churches in New Zealand had split, bringing the numbers of adherents from 16,000 to 9,000. New Zealand was asked to host the World Conference during the World Leaders Meeting in Samoa 2007, Samoa had just hosted it the previous year, Australia and Mainland USA had no venues for such a Conference, and the Samoan AOG Convention Centre in American Samoa was too small. There were doubts on hosting the Conference in New Zealand, because the Samani Pulepule Centre was then undergoing court cases, and the fear of losing the Centre when it came to the time of the Conference had people doubting whether New Zealand was able to host the Conference, however the "Revive the Spirit of Pentecost - Toe Fa'aolaola le Agaga o le Penetekoso Conference" went ahead in December 2008 and New Zealand had hosted the 16th World Conference, although not as big as the 2004 "Pray and Obey Conference", it showed the world that although the membership numbers had dropped dramatically due to a national split, everything and anything could be achieved if they were able to work together.
There have been numerous events the church has, such as the Katinas Concert (who are members of the Samoan Assemblies of God in Mainland USA). Also numerous Youth Rallies the Church hosts, and other community events.
Youth Conferences have been held at the General Superintendents Church in Mt Roskill, known as Auckland Samoan Assembly of God (formerly Grey Lynn Samoan Assembly of God) which is a church that seats 1,200 people. Also, Otara Samoan Assembly of God has hosted these Youth Conferences.
During Queens Birthday Weekend, each region has their own conference like events, which includes the National Bible Exam. Those that qualify for the National prizegiving receive honourary gifts at the National Conference. At the end of each month, most regions would have a combined service.
The Executive Council is made up of ordained Pastors who have served for more than two years at their local church. Elections are held biannually at the National Conference which is always held during the Easter break at the Samani Pulepule Centre, the churches headquarters.
These are the current Regional Leaders of the Samoan Fellowship in New Zealand
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