Through two large loudspeakers the singing of Christian songs tells residents of the quiet neighbourhood that it’s time to come to the evening gathering on July 13. The sun has just set in that unassuming corner of Nuku‘alofa, the capital city of the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific. A gentle breeze from the ocean moves the early arrivals to the venue to put their shawls and light jackets to good use.
Vunivesi Taione, elder of the Houmakelikao Seventh-day Adventist Church, smiles broadly as he welcomes the first families arriving for the meeting. The speaker, a Tongan visiting from his current residence in Tahiti, has not yet arrived.
Growing Big and Tall
Mr Taione is proud of the group accomplishments. After creating a core group out of a mother church and moving to the area, the fledgling group rented a property where they met for a few years. When the owner told them he needed the plot, they were happy to find the current plot, where they soon built a simple church building. The group soon gained company status.
As space inside the current sanctuary is limited, they added an outside, wall-less structure to welcome neighbours to the “Mysteries Revealed” evangelistic series. “Our company currently has 27 adult baptised members and many children,” Mr Taione shares. “And we want to keep growing.”
Behind the current structure and before a line of banana trees, a grassy plot remains unused. “Here’s where we are planning to build a new church building,” Mr Taione reports. While there are no concrete plans to start soon, he thinks that the most important part is already taking place. “We are dreaming and praying about it,” he says. “We know God will do the rest.”
Dreaming of Something Better
Across the island of Tongatapu, where Nuku‘alofa is located, Seventh-day Adventist churches are springing up, growing and extending their reach. The focus is on accessibility, local church leaders say.
Instead of putting all their efforts on big structures for hundreds of members, the idea is that every village or section can soon have a congregation at walking distance from where people live. “An Adventist church in each town,” they say.
Time after time, however, local church members reveal that small church buildings are just the beginning. The idea is to keep growing, building better and, if possible, eventually adding more Adventist schools to various compounds.
Adventist TV in Their Own Tongue
Closer to downtown Nuku‘alofa, the generous Nuku‘alofa Adventist Church premises also hosts the Hilliard Adventist Memorial School. By the church building, another Adventist ministry is developing. From those humble headquarters, Hope Channel Tonga is spreading a message of hope in Tongan, the people’s native tongue.
In Tonga Adventist TV is a one-person job. At the studio Filipe Fifita produces and helps host several shows for Hope Channel Tonga.
“There’s so much to do . . . producing online content, hosting the shows and answering questions,” he said. “But our church members and others really appreciate what we do.”
Mr Fifita is also in charge of translating the weekly mission story into Tongan and sending it to the outer islands of Tonga, where many people can’t communicate in English. “They also pose questions about the Sabbath school guide,” Mr Fifita reported. “Often they have a hard time understanding it.”
Recently Hope Channel Tonga launched Voice of Youth, a new show during which hosts discuss topics of interest to a younger generation. “It’s a lot of work, but the show has received a positive response,” Mr Fifita said. “And we would like to keep growing.”
And a School as Well
A half hour from downtown Nuku‘alofa, a new congregation has sprung up not far from the airport. Pelehake Seventh-day Adventist Church began after Adventists living in the area requested a piece of land and eventually were granted access to a plot much larger than they had anticipated, reported local church elder Evaleti Schaaf. “The plot is in a prime location and is extremely large,” he shared. “It’s definitely a blessing.”
The congregation still lacks a permanent structure. For the July evangelistic meetings they put a tent up and placed a podium, scores of chairs and a proper sound system. Every evening local church members and neighbours came to listen to a biblical message.
For the series in July at Pelehake, a choir of Tongan women living in New Zealand sings in English and Tongan. Through the speakers their melodious voices resound beyond the plot and into the night.
“We dream of building a church here,” Mr Schaaf says. “It would be lovely!”
But Pelehake dreams do not end there, he adds. “Then, who knows?” he says. “We could also build a church school. Why not? There’s more than enough space for it!”
