Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated

Samoan Assemblies Of God In New Zealand Incorporated

The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand (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. 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 and in that same year some members in the Samoan fellowship felt the need to be a self-governing body and formed its own constitution which split the SAOGNZ National body in two, most left the AOGNZ umbrella and formed a break-away group, while some remained under the AOGNZ movement, although this was the end result, both Samoan fellowships still work alongside one another.

This movement was under the leadership of the Most Reverend and Chief Apostle Dr. Samani Pulepule who has served as their General Superintendent since the 1960s and was recently elected as the Worldwide Chairman of the World Samoan Assemblies of God Fellowship. Dr. Pulepule was a member of the General Executive Council in the AOGNZ, and also the senior pastor of the Samoan A/G in Grey Lynn who officially changed their name to Auckland Samoan A/G in 1998, which had weekly attendance of over 800 people. On Sunday 29 September 2011, Dr. Pulepule formally retired from his posts in the Assemblies of God movement and was commended for the service of over 40 years in the movement. It is now under the direction of the new general superintendent, the Chief Apostle Pastor Motu Matia who now leads 126 Samoan A/G churches in New Zealand.

The Samoan Assemblies of God movement who remained under the AOGNZ umbrella, elected Aila'ula'u Faletutulu as the new general superintendent. Pastor Faletutulu served as the National Christ Ambassadors Department president since 2001, He is the senior pastor of the Samoan A/G in Napier, which has a weekly attendance of 400. There are over 70 Samoan A/G churches under the direction of Pastor Aila'ula'u Faletutulu.

The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand 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 Assemblies of God movement, wanting the Samoan churches to be run by the Samoan people. He formed an independent group of churches formally known as the Assembly of God Church of Samoa in New Zealand. This group of churches served under the leadership of the late Pastor Mesako Sanerivi who formed and encouraged this break away group. They have 22 churches in Australia, and only one in Samoa.

Read more about Samoan Assemblies Of God In New Zealand Incorporated:  Introduction, Controversy, List of The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand, Past Church Events, The Executive Council, People From The Samoan AOG in New Zealand, Pentecostal Denominations Birthed From The Samoan Assemblies of God

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