The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 68, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 1, 2011 Page: 22 of 35
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THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE 23
JANUARY 2011
BY LYNN McMILLON ITHECHRISTIAN chronicle
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A conversation with
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What attracted you to the
South Pacific?
As I returned to the U.S. after
the Campaign for Christ in New
Zealand in 1963,1 briefly trav-
eled through Polynesia. I found
Samoans and other Polynesians
to be so endearing, highly
responsive and genuinely inter-
ested in my work as a minister
and matters of church and the
Gospel.
A group of ministers and I
took a tour on an old truck
around the island of Tutu’ila in
American Samoa and stopped
by the tropical seaside village
of Lauli’i. A Samoan lady by
the name of Tolua Tavai invited
us into her beautiful thatched
home for refreshments.
Immediately after telling her
of my hope to do mission work
in Samoa, she said, “Come
back to Samoa with your family.
You make Jesus’ church in my
home.” And we did.
What was the response of
the islanders?
One of the truly heartwarming
experiences was the open-
How did you establish new
congregations in Samoa?
At the outset of our mission
work, we constantly met people
and invited them to join us to
worship, pray and study the
Bible in homes.
By our second Sunday in
Samoa, we were using Tolua
Tavai’s large thatched house for
church services. Our numbers
were small at first, but within
three years the church had
grown so much that we began
searching for land to build a
church building.
In the Tongan islands, the
men converts built jungle-style
thatched huts that immediately
became our church buildings. We
always sat on mats placed on the
ground and worshiped there.
An unexpected and effective
method was my camera and slide
projector. The Polynesians loved
to see pictures of themselves
on the screen and would come
anytime there was a showing,
so I often showed slides after a
service so they would attend.
armed, welcoming attitude of the
Polynesians toward our family.
Our children were great
missionaries because they made
so many wonderful contacts
through their friends. The
Tongans were so poor and lived
in such a remote part of the
South Pacific that they were
attracted to us partially because
of their fascination with our
family.
Tolua Tavai and all of the
people of Lauli’i immediately
accepted us as family and treated
us with affection and kindness.
Polynesians do not require a
blood connection to establish
t- T".
What challenges does mission
work put on a family?
The greatest challenge is
adjusting to a very different
culture, language, environment
family bonds. Where there are
feelings of love, day-to-day rela-
tionships and a sharing of life,
there is family.
As for acceptance of the Gospel
and baptism, the Samoans
unquestioningly accepted Jesus
Christ Within just two years
many Samoans were baptized.
And in the Tongan islands,
there were even more converts
numbering in the hundreds.
What reflections do you have
on your years in the Pacific?
What made our mission work
so successful was the enduring
support of the people at the
Northeast Church of Christ
in Indianapolis. The North-
east church was our financial
sponsor and continued to
support the mission work in
Samoa after my family and I
returned to Hawaii.
The people of the Northeast
church were so loving and
emotionally supportive that it
helped us through difficult times.
Additionally, we received
support from the Culver Palms
Church of Christ in Los Angeles
where I had served as the
minister from 1960 to 1964.
Numerous individuals also
made our mission work possible,
and one was my late uncle
Johnny Owen of Amarillo, Texas.
The greatest feeling of
gratification is knowing that,
after 40 years, the Churches of
Christ have thrived and grown
in Samoa. At the Maui Church
of Christ, where I currently
serve as associate minister, we
have young Samoan-American
members in their 20s and 30s
who are such fine, dedicated
Christians.
Sometimes, I dare to wonder
that if I, along with my family,
hadn’t gone to Polynesia in early
1964, whether I would now know
these fine Samoan members of
the Church of Christ who are
children of the original members
of the church in Samoa and
other locations in Polynesia.
and hot, humid climate.
The lack of privacy was a
major challenge. The thatched
houses often are shared with
other families and offer little
privacy. Sometimes people
would actually stand outside just
to watch this curious American
family. At first there was no
running water and only an oil
cook stove.
Other challenges are
emotional — facing long periods
away from loved ones and
friends back home, a sometimes
difficult feeling of isolation or
remoteness.
E
WAILUKU, Hawaii
ob Harp, 82, spent much
of the past half-century
teaching the Gospel in
the South Pacific. Born in
Floydada, Texas, he first
visited Japan as a soldier stationed
there from 1946 to 1947.
Harp returned to the U.S., where
he began youth ministry work with
the Manhattan Church of Christ in
New York. For the next 15 years,
he served churches in four states:
New York, Texas, California and
Maine. The congregations included
the Broadway Church of Christ in
Lubbock, Texas, and the College
Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas.
In 1963, while serving as a min-
ister for the Culver Palms Church of
Christ in Los Angeles, Harp traveled
through the South Pacific on a gos-
pel campaign in Wellington, New
Zealand. He was struck by the need
for Jesus to be taken to the U.S. ter-
ritory of American Samoa, a group
of islands in the South Pacific Ocean
about halfway between Hawaii and
New Zealand.
With the help of their spon-
sors — the Northeast church
in Indianapolis — Harp and his
wife, Jackie, along with their three
small children, Scott, Eric and Vicki,
moved to Lauli'i, American Samoa,
in 1964. Under difficult physical
circumstances, they remained there
forsix-and-a-halfyears. During
that time he began the first Church
of Christ among the islanders in
Lauli'i. Three years later he built the
first church building for the Church
of Christ in the village of Nu'uuli.
Periodically, Harp rode freight ships
to Tonga and Fiji, where he helped
plant churches.
During the 1970s, he worked as
a minister, counselor and social
worker on the Hawaiian island of
Oahu. Today he serves as the associ-
ate minister for the Church of Christ
on the island of Maui.
GARYSWATZEL
Bob Harp serves as associate minister for the Maui Church of Christ.
Bob Harp
MISSIONARY REFLECTS on 40 years in the South Pacific.
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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/m1/22/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.