Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated - Past Church Events

Past Church Events

The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand have General Council (or National Business Conference) 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 fellowship have General Elections where the General Council are to vote for change in the Executive Council. Dr Samani Pulepule has been nominated and ordained with a vote of 100% since 1968 (the first Samoan Assemblies General Council) right up until his retirement in 2011.

Since the beginning of the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand, they have had the honour of hosting four past World Conferences which is now known as the churches Holy Convocations. The first World Conference that New Zealand hosted was in 1982 known as the "Jesus the Saviour 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 Holy Convocation 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 Samoan Assemblies of God 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 Holy Convocation" in 2004, there were over 15,000 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. This conference also made national news headlines due to the traffic it had caused on the motorway as parked cars had reached the south-west motorway causing huge delays all week long.

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 convention 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 Holy Convocation.

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 honorary gifts at the National Conference. At the end of each month, most regions would have a combined service.