Samoan Assemblies of God
The Samoan Assemblies of God International (Samoan: ) or SAOG is a Pentecostal fellowship of churches. It reached the Western Islands and outer countries with large Samoan communities, such as New Zealand, America and Australia. It has over 530 churches worldwide with over 97,000 adherents. The Samoan Assemblies of God fellowship is a registered movement under the Assemblies of God Worldwide, which together forms the largest Pentecostal movement worldwide. This Samoan fellowship of the Assemblies of God has over 300 credential ministers, over 10,000 lay preachers, and has 11 national fellowships worldwide which are Samoa, American Samoa , Tuvalu, Tokelau, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Fiji. History. The Samoan Assemblies of God had its origins in a mission of the Assemblies of God USA in 1928. It was officially founded in 1928. It was under the leadership of General Superintendent Pastor Max Haleck Jr. of American Samoa from 1976 to the year of his death in 2006, from there it was under the direction of Rev Samani Pulepule. Rev. Samani Pulepule, who has been the superintendent of the New Zealand Samoan Assemblies of God for over 30 years. In 2011 Rev. Pulepule resigned from all his  posts, and his son Pastor Onesemo Pulepule became his successor. In the year 2014, Rev.Siaosi Mageo from American Samoa was elected as the Samoan Assemblies of God Worldwide Chairman and was succeeded by Reverend Joe Amosa from August 1, 2016, to May 31, 2018. There are similar-sounding organizations that are distinct from the SAOG. These include the following: Samoan Independent Assemblies of God, and Assembly of God Church of Samoa. Beliefs. Fundamental doctrines. The central beliefs of the Samoan Assemblies of God are summarized in its Statement of Fundamental Truths. Numerous other Christian groups share some or all  of these tenets, and some positions are considered more central to the faith than others. The following is a summary of these 16 non-negotiable Truths: Core beliefs. The Samoan Assemblies of God considers salvation, baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, divine healing and the Second Coming of Christ to be its four core beliefs. Salvation. The Statement of Fundamental Truths states, "Man's only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God". The Assemblies of God holds the Arminian position on salvation; while it agrees with  the Calvinist position that God is sovereign, at the same time, it believes that mankind has free will—free to accept or reject God's gift of salvation and eternal life. Therefore, the Assemblies of God disapproves of the doctrines of double predestination and the unconditional security of the believer which holds that once saved it is impossible for a person to be lost. Instead, the Assemblies of God believes that salvation is received and kept by faith, if faith in Christ is lost, then salvation is lost. Baptism in the Holy Spirit. According to the Statement of Fundamental Truths , "All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek" the baptism in the Spirit. It also states, "This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church". It is a separate experience from and occurs after salvation. This baptism gives to the receiver an "enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry". There are four experiences listed in the Fundamental Truths that result from Spirit baptism: "overflowing fullness of the Spirit", "a deepened reverence for God", intensified consecration and dedication to God  and his work, and "a more active love for Christ, for His Word and for the lost". The "initial physical sign" of having received this baptism is "speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance". This experience initiates the believer in the use of spiritual gifts. Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues is "not" a requirement for membership or participation in an Assembly of God church. However, it is a requirement for ministerial licensing and ordination. The practical implication of this is that candidates for ministry who have not had  this experience are not eligible for formal ministry. Given the congregational elements of AG polity, the culture of each Assembly of God church varies. In some churches, the practice of speaking in tongues is common while in others it rarely occurs. An increasing minority of pastors has expressed concern that there is a lack of biblical support for the claim that Spirit baptism must always be accompanied with speaking in tongues. This concern corresponds with a decrease in the number of Assembly of God adherents reporting baptism in the Holy Spirit; according to the AG's Office of Statistics as  of 2003 less than 50 percent of adherents had this experience. These challenges to the AG's traditional position were noted in a 2007 report by the AG's Spiritual Life Committee: Despite these challenges, the 53rd General Council in 2009 passed a resolution reaffirming the doctrine of initial physical evidence. Divine healing. The Assemblies of God understands divine healing to have been provided for in the atonement. Looking to scripture, such as and , the AG believes that Christians can pray for healing. Indeed, it believes scripture gives elders of the church the responsibility to pray "the prayer of faith  over the sick. It believes God can and does heal, but believes that God is sovereign and that, whether one is healed or not, a person's trust must be in God. It sees no conflict in trusting God for healing and receiving medical care. Healing testimonies regularly appear in the official publication, the Pentecostal Evangel", and prayer for healing and testimony commonly occur in church services. While adamant that divine healing is a reality, the AG is not dogmatic on the subject of how one is healed. Margaret Poloma summarized this view stating, "Physical healing is not certain, automatic , or subject to formula. At the same time, it remains a tenet and practice of the Assemblies of God". It rejects the view that healing is caused or influenced by positive confession, as found in Word of Faith teachings; nevertheless, given the somewhat decentralized nature of the fellowship, these teachings have influenced some congregations. Christ's Second Coming. The Statement of Fundamental Truths articles 13 and 14 articulate the Assemblies of God's official teaching on the return of Christ to Earth. It is a dispensationalist and premillennialist eschatology which includes the pre-Tribulation rapture of the Church—the "imminent  and blessed hope". The rapture of the Church will be followed by Christ's visible return to earth and his reign of 1,000 years. This millennial reign will usher in the salvation of the nation of Israel and universal peace. The Assemblies of God is specifically opposed to the theologies and practices of universal salvation, setting dates for Christ's return, post-Tribulation rapture, and amillennialism. Position statements. The Assemblies of God has released statements on various issues not addressed in the Statement of Fundamental Truths. These position papers are usually written by the Doctrinal Purity Commission, a standing committee  of the General Council, which reviews and responds to issues referred to it by the Executive Presbytery. Position papers are not official positions of the Assemblies of God unless recommended by the Executive Presbytery and approved by the General Council. Position statements touch on biblical, theological, and social concerns. Statistics. The data shown below are primarily drawn from the World Christian Database (2006 ed) but also contains national denominational data and/or Census where indicated.