Pacific Islanders fill pews to hear service in Samoan
Young adults perform a traditional dance during the Samoan worship
service at Calvary United Methodist Church in Tacoma, Wash. UMNS photos
by Heidi Robinson. |
A UMNS Feature
By Heidi Robinson*
Feb. 19, 2009 | TACOMA, Wash. (UMNS)
Two young boys dressed in white clothing dash down snow-lined
sidewalks. They join families climbing the church steps in Sunday
clothing more often associated with tropical temperatures than soggy
Washington state winters.
“Talofa,” says the smiling greeter at the door of
Calvary United Methodist Church. While some residents of Tacoma might
not immediately recognize the friendly greeting, families entering this
100-year-old sanctuary smile and hug the woman who offers a warm
welcome in her native language.
The greeting, the church bulletin, the hymnals, the worship service and
even the attire of congregants celebrate the language, culture and
faith of Samoan people.
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Youth learn about their heritage through
dance and song.
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“When you come here, you forget your problems … the stress of daily
life,” laughs Joyce Taufetee, a mother who commutes more than 45
minutes with her family to attend worship services.
“Everyone is smiling. That’s the Samoan way,” she says. “They smile,
they give you hugs. And, you just say, ‘Oh Lord, I am home.’ ”
It’s a powerful and almost universal sentiment shared by members taking their seats in the crowded sanctuary.
Statistics show that there may now be more people of Samoan heritage
living away from the islands of Samoa than their current populations.
Many of these Samoan families have settled along the West Coast.
Despite distance from the tropical temperatures, the culture of the
Samoan islands remains a strong community bond and helps explain the
enthusiastic support for this Samoan-speaking service at Calvary.
Celebrating heritage
“Excuse me, excuse me,” 48-year-old Kalolo Krause calls in Samoan,
as he carries in folding chairs to accommodate the crowd for Sunday
services. The lay leader within the church, Krause helps visitors and
families find seating before the service begins.
A member of the Samoan-speaking congregation since 1984, Krause has seen tremendous changes from the early gatherings.
“We used to share a worship service and a building with an
English-speaking congregation, but our elders could not understand a
word,” he says, “They wanted to worship, but they wanted to understand
the sermon and to sing hymns in their own language.”
Even beyond language, members wanted a church experience that honored
the customs and values they remembered from the Methodist Church in
Samoa. From traditional clothing to early childhood church experiences
and musical style, Calvary recreated tangible reminders of Samoan
worship.
“We have strong feelings about preserving our faith and tradition,”
Krause says. “We believe in keeping little ones in the service, not in
a nursery. So, in our service, you will hear babies crying or wiggling,
sometimes little children. It is one of the other reasons we wanted our
own place to feel comfortable worshipping our way.”
Church members enter the cozy sanctuary wearing traditional Sunday
clothing for Samoans: Women wear white dresses or long skirts often
with white hats; and for men, white wraps called lava-lavas with white button-down shirts and ties, or white suit coats.
Many congregants accent their Sunday white with long necklaces of
wooden beads or flowers, similar to the well-known Hawaiian lei. The
sanctuary takes on a reflected glow from the sea of snow-white hats and
shirts.
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The Rev. Michael Seui and his wife Faiilefa have served the church since 2005.
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“In Samoa, it is customary within the Methodist tradition to wear white
to church,” the Rev. Michael Seui explains. “Here we can be a little
flexible.”
Preserving the language
Seui, his wife and their three children have been at Calvary since
2005. Born in American Samoa, Seui not only preaches in his native
language, but also teaches classes to the American-born youth of the
church. Language immersion during worship and summer language tutoring
at the church reinforce home lessons.
“We believe our children must be able to read the Samoan Bible. It is what our families taught us to do,” the pastor says.
A staple of the worship service, the Samoan Bible was translated from
Greek. In many Samoan families, it is a tradition to read from the
Samoan Bible every night. During the service, Seui shares passages from
the books of Isaiah and Romans.
Young adult members, who attend English-speaking American schools, have an appreciation for their heritage.
“We need to preserve our language … other islands have lost theirs,”
says 16-year-old Senai Gasetoto. “My church and my heritage teach me
that women are just as capable as men. I know I’m more confident
because we have our own place to worship in the Samoan way.”
About 10 years ago, a confluence of events offered that opportunity.
Another United Methodist Church in Tacoma with a dwindling membership,
offered the expanding Samoan-speaking congregation their building.
“Most of our members are converts to the United Methodist Church,” Seui
says. “Most did not grow up in our tradition, but now they feel
welcomed as a part of our community. They feel the excitement and
happiness of being with a brother or a sister that is in Christ and
literally speaks their language. In Samoan tradition, we are knitted
together as an extended family.”
Since 2005, the Calvary church has gone from a few dozen families to a
membership well over 100, adding new members each month. Some families
drive great distances to attend worship.
“We have become a regional church as well as a neighborhood church,” Seui says.
Making families strong
Most Sundays, every seat is full, a reflection of the strong ties
within the congregation. Worship music and dance performed in Samoan,
by even the youngest children, is good medicine for the older members,
as evidenced by the smile on the face of 84-year-old Vaigalepa
Schwenke, the church’s oldest member. Schwenke, like several of the
older adults in the sanctuary, does not speak English.
“I’d give myself about an A-minus in learning Samoan,” says
sixth-grader T.J. Gasetoto. “It’s pretty cool, because most kids at
school can only speak one language. I’m getting better at two.”
Hymns fill the sanctuary from a choir that fills almost half of the
pews. The majority, if not all of adults in the congregation, were born
in either Samoa or American Samoa. The preschoolers join the
elementary-aged youngsters at the front of the church offering a series
of four songs … sung completely in Samoan.
“We want our children to comfortably speak Samoan, so we can have full,
complete family communication,” Seui says. “In order to teach our
children our values … we need them to understand the language of their
elders. Church is another way to help families grow closer, while our
church family grows stronger.”
Forty-two-year-old Panisia Gasetoto sits with the other women toward
the front of the church. Gasetoto brings her sons to Calvary at every
opportunity, wanting Samoan heritage reflected in the boys’ growing
faith.
“Our kids speak English at school, but at home we speak Samoan,”
Gasetoto says. “I want our values of respect, modesty and love of
family to be a part of who they are. Discipline is very important to
us, and they can learn our ways here in church, too.”
Expanding to new campus
Sefulu Taufetee drives from Olympia, Wash., to Tacoma with his wife
and children to choir practice, community events and Sunday services at
Calvary United Methodist Church. The grandson of a Methodist minister
in Samoa, Taufetee says this service is a link to his spiritual
heritage.
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The grandson of a Methodist minister in Samoa, Sefulu Taufetee says the service
is a link to his spiritual heritage.
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“We speak English. We understand English. But to me, it’s more
effective when you listen and worship in your own native tongue. You
can feel it with your heart.”
Many others may soon be able to share that same opportunity when the Calvary congregation moves to a much a bigger building.
“We want to provide good support and facilities for this growing
congregation,” says the Rev. Sharon Moe, Tacoma district superintendent.
This year the Calvary congregation will move in to a larger church in
Tacoma that once housed Trinity United Methodist Church. As Trinity’s
membership dropped off, leaders in the district and conference saw an
opportunity to give new life to an empty church.
The Calvary congregation will have a newly remodeled church due to
$900,000 in significant financial support from a team that included the
Pacific Northwest Conference Board of Congregational Development, The
United Methodist Foundation of the Northwest, the Pacific Northwest
Conference and Tacoma District.
The facility will also house a much-needed family-life building.
“You don’t have to be Samoan to come,” smiles Seui. “Everyone is
welcome here. That is the Samoan way, and it is also the Methodist way.”
*Robinson is a freelance producer based in Winston-Salem, N.C.
News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Video Story
Samoan Church
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Resource
Pacific Northwest Conference
United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race |
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