The Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa (CCCAS) or the "Ekalesia Faapotopotoga Kerisiano i Amerika Samoa" (EFKAS) is a theologically Calvinist and congregational denomination in American Samoa.
It was established in 1980 with Galea'i Peni Poumele as its first Chairman. Poumele was instrumental in the establishment of the church in the early 1980s.[1]
Background and history
Zion Church in Leone, founded by the London Missionary Society
The church was established by the missionaries of the London Missionary Society in the 1830s. American Samoa had been a naval dependency of the United States, in 1950 it became an American dependent civil territory. The way opened for a gradual emergence of the American Samoan Church from the Congregational Christian Churches in the USA. Later when the United Church of Christ was formed the United Church Board of Foreign Missions supported the churches in Samoa. Now Samoan Congregational Christian congregations were established in the United States and in New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii besides American Samoa. In 1980 the Congregational Christian Church in American Samoa was established. The church maintains the Kanana Fou Theological Seminary, the Kanana Fou High School, and the Kanana Fou Elementary School.[2][3]
Statistics
In 2004 the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa had 15,000 members, 100 congregations and 180 house fellowships in the world. The official languages are English and Samoan.[4]
Today there are more than 60 congregation of the Samoan Congregational Church in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii many of them are related to the UCC through Conferences and regional Associations.[5]
The denominational headquarters located in Pago Pago.[2]
References
^Sunia, Fofō I. F. (1998). The Story of the Legislature of American Samoa: In Commemoration of the Golden Jubilee 1948-1998. Pago Pago, AS: Legislature of American Samoa. Page 262. ISBN9789829008015.
