More and more members of the Methodist Church Samoa have moved overseas raising the demand for more synods in Australia, New Zealand, United States and American Samoa.
The General Secretary for the Church, Rev. Dr. Eteuati Epa Tuioti told the Samoa Observer after the recent Annual General Conference last week that the growth was highlighted with the increase to 10 synods in overseas countries.
Samoa has only 7 synods.
Rev. Tuioti said the numbers have grown overseas due to people migrating there, adding that the church missionaries overseas also assist with setting up new churches to cater for them.
He explained that while there are Methodist churches in these countries like the New Zealand Methodist Church, in Hawaii and America, as well as the Uniting Methodist Church in Australia members who have moved abroad still want to remain members of the Samoan Methodist Church.
Rev. Tuioti said that’s why they established their own Samoan churches overseas because some want to remain members of the church with church customs and traditions that they’re used to, such as the Samoan language, tradition, culture and so forth, which is practiced in the Samoan Methodist.
He also stressed that these European-led Methodist Churches are not part of the Methodist Church of Samoa’s annual conferences held every year.
