Introduction
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.
In 1967, Dr. Samani Pulepule the former Chief Apostle, migrated permanently to New Zealand and he was the first Pastor officially called by founding members to lead the Samoan Assemblies of God churches in New Zealand.
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 pastors' 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.
By voluntary agreement, local churches of the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand have collectively formed an umbrella national body known as the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated, for the benefit of all local churches.
Read more about this topic: Samoan Assemblies Of God In New Zealand Incorporated
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