The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 68, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 1, 2011 Page: 21 of 35
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FROM THE SECOND FRONT
22 THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
JANUARY 2011
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FROM PAGE 3
Twenty-four years after his baptism,
soft-spoken, 70-year-old Misa says he is
still a sinner — though he’s no longer
a drunkard. He’s also an elder of the
Tafuna Church of Christ.
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CROSS-CULTURAL MINISTRY
Today, Misa serves a congregation of
about 80 souls that meets in a rented
building. Christians of American and
Samoan descent worship together in
English and the Samoan language. The
FAITH-BUILDING AND CHURCH-PLANTING
American Samoa, a small group of
islands in the South Pacific with a popu-
lation of about 65,000, is an unincorpo-
rated territory of the United States.
Misa grew up in the Independent State
of Samoa, another island group west of
American Samoa with its own govern-
ment. He first came to American Samoa
in the 1970s.
Missionaries helped plant the first
Churches of Christ in American Samoa
in the 1960s. Today the territory has four
congregations with a combined member-
ship of about 250, said David Willis, a
missionary who has served as minister
for the Tafuna church since 2005.
Misa said his wife’s Christian
example played a significant role in
his conversion. But church leadership
is not a role he envisioned in the days
after his baptism. He grew up in the
Congregational Christian Church but
rarely attended or studied Scripture.
Martin, the missionary who invited
him into the church, gave Misa a Bible
and studied with him. Martin challenged
him to help serve communion.
“I was shaky a little bit of the time,
Misa said.
Later, Martin encouraged Misa to
preach a sermon.
Misa and his wife helped launch
the Tafuna church in 1994. Their first
meeting place was the home of Lynn
Ashley, a lawyer from the U.S. mainland.
As Misa’s faith has grown, so has his
role in Samoan culture, Ashley said.
“Both Tia and Pua are ‘matai’ (chiefs)
in their families,” Ashley said, “and Tia
was often called on by his employers
to serve as ‘tulafale’ (orator chief) on
ceremonial occasions. Or he would be
called on as a ‘faifeau’ (minister) to lead
prayers on those same occasions.”
In 2000, the Tafuna church gave Misa
a new role. He and Ashley became the
church’s first elders.
FROM MOCKER TO BROTHER IN CHRIST
In American Samoa, many Christian
converts move to other nations for jobs,
Ashley said. Often, the church’s young
people leave home after high school and
don’t return.
“Even though we have converted
quite a few, it is very difficult to grow a
congregation,” Ashley said.
Though growth is slow, Misa said he
has seen the Gospel penetrate the hearts
of Samoans over time.
For years after Misa’s conversion, his
father-in-law looked at him with “the face
of mockery — laughing at me when I go
to church,” he said. But Misa continued
to attend. Eventually, his father-in-law
started asking him difficult questions
about the Bible, and Misa answered.
“Finally, one day he said, ‘Son, I see
you going to church, and we are left
out,”’ Misa said. Soon after, his father-
and mother-in-law were baptized.
Misa said that his dream for the church
is to see young Samoan Christians
become evangelists, “hammering the
pulpit for the Word of God.”
He hopes that the Tafuna church will
one day have a building that will accom-
modate from 250 to 300 members, and
he prays that the church will outgrow it.
“We are doing the groundwork for
other people to come,” he said.
ELDER: Misa teaches, preaches, translates
church has purchased land and plans to
build a facility.
The congregation sponsors an annual
South Pacific Lectureship, attended by
Christians from western Samoa, New
Zealand, the U.S. and other locales.
During the five-day lectureship, Misa
translates from English to Samoan —
and, occasionally, vice-versa.
Kent Hartman, a missionary in resi-
dence at Oklahoma Christian University
in Oklahoma City, spoke at the lecture-
ship in 2009. Misa translated.
“I was worn out with one lesson, and
he was doing at least three,” Hartman
said. “And he really did a great job.”
Ashley described his fellow elder as
“a great Bible teacher and preacher, as
well as translator.” And his wife “is one
of the best at inviting people to come to
church,” he added.
“In our ‘Cross-cultural’ congregation,
they help us understand one another —
not just the words, but also the cultural
points of view.”
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McMillon, Lynn. The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 68, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 1, 2011, newspaper, January 1, 2011; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1509300/m1/21/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.