Samoan Assemblies of God

Samoan Assemblies Of God

The Sāmoan Assemblies of God Fellowship (Sāmoan: Le Fa'apotopotoga a le Atua Samoa) or SAOG is a Pentecostal fellowship of churches. Established in 1928 on the Islands of American Sāmoa, it reached the Western Islands and outer countries with large Sāmoan communities, such as New Zealand, America and Australia. It has over 530 churches worldwide with over 97,000 adherents.

The Samoan Assemblies of God fellowship is a registered movement under the Assemblies of God Worldwide, which together forms the largest Pentecostal movement worldwide. This Samoan fellowship of the Assemblies of God has over 300 credential ministers, over 10,000 lay preachers, and has 11 national fellowships worldwide which are Samoa, American Samoa, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Hawaii, USA, Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Fiji.

As an international fellowship, the member denominations are entirely independent and autonomous; however, they are united by shared beliefs and history. The Assemblies originated from the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century. This revival led to the founding of the Assemblies of God in the United States in 1914. Through foreign missionary work and establishing relationships with other Pentecostal churches, the Assemblies of God expanded into a worldwide movement. It was not until 1976, however, that the world fellowship was formed. As a Pentecostal fellowship, the Assemblies of God believes in the Pentecostal distinctive of baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Unlike other evangelical and charismatic Sāmoan groups, the Sāmoan Assemblies of God has rejected many traditional Samoan cultural practices. It was under the leadership of General Superintendent Pastor Max Haleck Jr. of American Samoa from 1976 to the year of his death in 2006, from there it was under the direction of the Most Reverend and Chief Apostle Dr. Samani Pulepule, who has been the superintendent of the New Zealand Samoan Assemblies of God for over 40 years. In 2011 Dr Pulepule resigned from all his posts, and his son Pastor Onesemo Pulepule is his successor, the new Samoan Assemblies of God World Chairman.

There are similar sounding organizations which are distinct from the SAOG. These include the following: Sāmoan Independent Assemblies of God, and Assembly of God Church of Sāmoa.