Churches rise with wave of Pacific migration ^Featured

A victorian church in Oamaru was handed over from an English-speaking parish to a Tongan one at the beginning of this year — a moment rich in symbolism for Christendom in the Waitaki town.

On January 24, the Oamaru Union Parish held its last service in the historic 1875 Methodist Church in Eden St and the Oamaru Tongan Methodist Parish shortly afterwards held its first in the premises.

The former parish supervisor, the Rev Colin Hay, now retired to Waimate, first came to Oamaru in 2001.

Then, he says, there were "two or three" Tongan congregations in Oamaru but in his time in the town he had been "quietly aware" that Tongan Christian numbers were growing.

Church politics had played a part in the drop in the number of parishioners, he said, but the congregation was ageing and the parish’s membership had indeed "dropped significantly".

Oamaru Tongan Methodist Parish head steward Tonga Havea, who was the chairman of the Oamaru Union Parish at the time of the handover, was also one of several Tongan members of the English-speaking congregation at the time.

With other Tongan parishioners, he attended the 10am service in English, had tea, and then reconvened for a service in Tongan at noon.

The Oamaru Tongan Methodist Parish, one of the smallest congregations in Oamaru boasting just nine adults and five children, now uses the church at 10am on Sundays.

Another Tongan congregation — the Tokaikolo Christian Church — uses the church to hold noon services.

Tongans are also well-represented in Catholic and Mormon churches, Mr Havea says.

He says his mission is to spread the gospel ‘‘and the Lord will fill up the church’’.

And at times this year the Eden St church has filled with Pasifika people.

Mr Havea, one of three lay preachers who share the duties of leading services, is also the president of the Oamaru Old Boys Rugby Football Club, a club with roughly 95% Pasifika membership, where up to 70% of players are Tongan.

Mr Havea once played rugby in the town, and until eight years ago he was more of a part-time church-goer, with "rugby and a booze-up every weekend" more the norm.

But the church was a centre of family life in the Pacific Islands and Mr Havea, having returned to his roots, suggested to the coach of the rugby club that players might attend a Sunday service — just one Sunday a month.

At the first such service in June, Mr Havea led the worship in English and about 50 members, players, supporters and their families filled the church hall. In July, the second service for the rugby club drew 86 people.

While some at the club already have churches to go to, worshipping together is already a part of life for many Tongans in Oamaru.

Assemblies of God Rev Lawrence Lenati, of Oamaru, said up to 200 people, representing a list of "eight and growing" Tongan Christian parishes in Oamaru, represent the "closely knit" community of congregations of different denominations that share a service once a month, rotating the location through one of the town’s churches.

"We come and we fellowship together, we come and we sing songs, we give thanks together — we may have differences in denominations and also doctrines but ultimately we go back to scripture, we still maintain that," says Mr Lenati.

Tongan culture and Christian values were intertwined "in a lot of ways" and Tonga was one of the few nations where the entire country "shuts down" on Sunday.

The church-going life fostered stability, community and family, he says.

"I think that’s something that our fellow Kiwis could learn from."

-Otago Daily Times