Samoan AG District On Target To Encompass 100 Churches By End Of Year

Many people of Samoa left the island of their homeland and migrated to the United States decades ago with the fire of revival burning in their hearts. Today, that fire is rekindled as the Samoan District Council of the Assemblies of God experiences unprecedented growth.

Samoan District Council Superintendent Tu’ugasala L. U. Fuga, 65, credits the exponential increase to the “long-waited dream and prayer request among Pentecostal Samoans.”

“Pentecostal Samoans essentially began gathering around 1960 when they left the island and came to Hawaii and then to California,” Fuga says. “They left amid some wonderful revivals back in the island, and when they left, they left with that hunger to be close to God.”

However, once in the States, Fuga says the church fellowships became more of “cultural gatherings” void of the missional and evangelical emphasis needed to be healthy churches.

“They carried that fire with them here, but after a few years, they began missing the mark,” Fuga says.

As the newly formed congregations began to sense the need for organization and leadership, they started praying for order and a sense of purpose among the churches.

That prayer was answered in 2013 when the Assemblies of God General Presbytery approved the formation of the Samoan District Council.

Fuga had left the island of Samoa and had come to the U. S. in 1990 to pursue his education, joining the Assemblies of God Northwest Ministry Network the same year.

After serving six years as the ethnic presbyter for the Northwest District, Fuga was released and blessed to become the first superintendent of the Samoan District Council.

“I saw all the training I had received from the district was very applicable to solve the problems that my people had been complaining about,” Fuga says. “When I came on board, I was deep in missions and evangelism and wanted the local congregations to be healthy.”

Fuga says that the Samoan District Council currently has eight to ten congregations “in the pipeline to join the district.”

“Five are AG church plants, and the others are independent congregations coming in,” Fuga says. “I can only sit back and be very awed at what God is doing. This is momentum of people praying to God.”

Fuga says most of the growth within the district comes from routinely inviting several pastors of independent Samoan congregations to join him at the annual Assemblies of God Leadership Conference and other Assemblies of God events.

“We just take them to the river and let them drink,” Fuga says.

Alexander Ledoux, treasurer of the Assemblies of God Samoan District Council, has been pastor at Samoan Christian Fellowship Assembly of God in Fairfield, California, for 29 years. He served as sectional presbyter for nine years and as general presbyter for two years.

Ledoux, 63, applauds the older generations of Samoan pastors who held in their hearts the dream of a Samoan District while they still served in the Assemblies of God as part of the National Fellowship of Ethnic Churches.

He also appreciates the exceptional resources offered by the Assemblies of God which have facilitated the growth of his district by opening the opportunity to serve in leadership roles to younger members.

Ledoux explains that before training from the Assemblies of God became available, these roles were reserved for people in their 50s and older because they had more experience and maturity.

“Superintendent Fuga and the Samoan District Council presbytery team have opened up opportunities to our 40 and under young people who were never considered to be lead pastors or even encouraged to seek credentials with the Assemblies of God,” Ledoux said. “Now, we have a balance of older and young men and women that are eager and willing to serve God in their local churches and the Samoan District Council.”

According to Ledoux, Fuga’s provision of training with the Church Multiplication Network to sectionals presbyter and leadership has also played a vital role in the Samoan District Council’s expansion.

“Church planting is the main topic of discussion in our meetings and our gatherings,” Ledoux says. “We believe with all of hearts in the importance of the mission of the local church in their community and in the city where they are planted.”

Starting with 35 congregations in 2013, Fuga says he believes that as church leaders see the fortitude and solidarity of the Assemblies of God platform, the Samoan District Council will encompass 90 to 100 churches by the end of the year.

Unlike other AG Networks, the Samoan District Council isn’t defined by a geographical region but includes all the Samoan congregations in the Assemblies of God Fellowship.

“We have done some surveys, and there are about 100 independent Samoan congregations across the nation, and it’s our mission to bring them into the AG because we want them to be healthy congregations, and by that, I mean missional and evangelistic,” Fuga says. “That is the mission field we are working on now.”

Amy Lynn Smith

Amy Lynn Smith lives in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with her pastor husband, W. Kevin Smith and the two youngest of their six children. She has served in various aspects of ministry with the Assemblies of God for 27 years, including worship leader, deacon, and youth pastor. She is currently office manager at Radcliff First Assembly.