Te Ekalesia Kelesiano Tuvalu | |
---|---|
Classification | Protestant |
Orientation | Calvinist |
Polity | Congregational |
Associations | |
Region | Tuvalu |
Headquarters | Funafuti |
Founder | Elekana |
Origin | 1861 |
Separated from | London Missionary Society, Christian Congregational Church of Samoa |
Congregations | 18 [3] |
Members | 9,715 [4] |
The Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu (Tuvaluan: Te Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu, EKT), commonly the Church of Tuvalu, is a Christian church which is the state church of Tuvalu, although this status merely entitles it to "the privilege of performing special services on major national events"; [5] its adherents comprise about 86% of the 11,600 inhabitants of the archipelago.
Theologically, it is part of the Calvinist tradition. [3]
Section 23 of the Constitution of Tuvalu guarantees freedom of belief, including the freedom of thought, religion and belief, the freedom to change religion or belief, the right not to receive religious instruction at school or to attend religious ceremonies at school, and the right not to "take an oath or make an affirmation that is contrary to [one's] religion or beliefs". [6]
Christianity first came to Tuvalu in 1861 when Elekana, a deacon of a Congregational church in Manihiki, Cook Islands became caught in a storm and drifted for eight weeks before landing at Nukulaelae. [7] [8] [9] Elekana began proselytising Christianity. He was trained at Malua Theological College, a London Missionary Society school in Samoa, before beginning his work in establishing the Church of Tuvalu. In 1865, the Reverend Archibald Wright Murray of the London Missionary Society (LMS) – a Protestant congregationalist missionary society – arrived as the first European missionary where he too proselytized among the inhabitants of Tuvalu. [10] [11] Murray was followed by the Reverend Samuel James Whitmee in 1870. [12]
The first pastors were: Ioane at Nukulaelae and Nanumanga (1865–88); [13] [14] Kirisome at Nui (1865–99); Tapumanaia Kitiona at Niutao (1865); [15] Tema at Funafuti (1870–89); Jeremia at Vaitupu (1880–95); [13] In 1896 the pastor on Funafuti was Simona. [16] The ministers of what became the Church of Tuvalu were predominantly Samoans who graduated from Malua Theological College, [13] [17] and who influenced the development of the Tuvaluan language and the music of Tuvalu. [8] [18]
The LMS Church in the Ellice Islands remained part of the Samoan LMS Church’s congregational system until 1958, and was administered (together with Tokelau and the Gilbert Islands, under the title, the Northwest Outstations of the Samoan Mission. [17] In 1958, the LMS Church in the Ellice Islands became self-governing. [17] Ellice Islander ministers were trained at Mälua, the LMS College in Western Samoa. [17] The Samoan language Bible was used until 1978 when a Tuvaluan-language New Testament was published. [17]
In 1969, the ETK acquired its independence from the LMS, since which time it has sent some missionaries to serve Tuvaluan migrants in Fiji, New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia, and the Marshall Islands. [19] [20]
The former Governor-General of Tuvalu, Rev Sir Filoimea Telito, presided over the Church until his death in July 2011. [21] [22]
The Reverend Kalahati Kilei, President of the ETK and Pastor for the island community of Funafuti, died on 10 September 2019 at Princess Margaret Hospital. [23]
The most prominent building on Funafuti is the Fētu'ao Lima (Morning Star Church) of the Church of Tuvalu.
The Church currently publishes a bulletin in the Tuvaluan and English languages.
As the church is an offshoot of the London Missionary Society, it is Calvinist in doctrine and congregational in organisation. [3] [4] There is an ordination for women which occurred on July 16, 2022, with the first two women, Rev Oliula Kalahati and Rev. Sulufaiga Uota (EKT Head Office, 2022). The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed are generally accepted. Being the de facto state church, the Church of Tuvalu dominates most aspects of social, cultural and political life in the country.
The Church operates Fetuvalu Secondary School, a day school which is located on Funafuti. [24] [25] [26]
The Church is a member of the World Association for Christian Communication, the Boys' Brigade International Fellowship, [1] the World Communion of Reformed Churches, Council for World Mission, the World Council of Churches, and the Pacific Conference of Churches. It also has ties with the Methodist Church in Fiji, the Congregational Christian Church in Samoa, the Kiribati Uniting Church, the Uniting Church in Australia, and the Methodist and Presbyterian churches in New Zealand. [4]
During the early years of the 21st century, urbanization and environmental issues have led to many citizens leaving Tuvalu to start new lives in other countries. [27] [28] Many people have taken their beliefs with them and there are now EKT churches in New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, Marshall Island, and Fiji. [29]
The Tuvalu Community Church congregation of Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand, [30] was established in 1992. [31] In 2021 the congregation opened a new church, which was designed by South Pacific Architecture, which won a Public Architecture Award at the 2021 Auckland Architecture Awards. [31]
Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands, northeast of Vanuatu, southeast of Nauru, south of Kiribati, west of Tokelau, northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna, and north of Fiji.
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians, so the origins of the people of Tuvalu can be traced to the spread of humans out of Southeast Asia, from Taiwan, via Melanesia and across the Pacific islands of Polynesia.
Tuvaluan, often called Tuvalu, is a Polynesian language closely related to the Ellicean group spoken in Tuvalu. It is more or less distantly related to all other Polynesian languages, such as Hawaiian, Māori, Tahitian, Samoan, Tokelauan and Tongan, and most closely related to the languages spoken on the Polynesian Outliers in Micronesia and Northern and Central Melanesia. Tuvaluan has borrowed considerably from Samoan, the language of Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Vaitupu is the largest atoll of the nation of Tuvalu. It is located at 7.48 degrees south and 178.83 degrees east. There are 1,061 people living on 5.6 square kilometres with the main village being Asau.
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony was mainly characterized by phosphate mining on Ocean Island. In October 1975, these islands were divided by force of law into two separate colonies, and they became independent nations shortly thereafter: the Ellice Islands became Tuvalu in 1978, and the Gilbert Islands became part of Kiribati in 1979.
The traditional music of Tuvalu consists of dances, including fatele, fakanau and fakaseasea. The influence of the Samoan missionaries sent to Tuvalu by the London Missionary Society from the 1860s resulted in the suppression of songs about the traditional religions or magic and many songs were lost. As the influence of the missionaries diminished in the 20th century the traditional dances were revived and the siva dance tradition from Samoa also became popular.
Nanumanga or Nanumaga is a reef island and a district of the Oceanian island nation of Tuvalu. It has a surface area of about 3 km2 with a population of 491.
Niutao is a reef island in the northern part of Tuvalu. It is one of the nine districts (islands) of Tuvalu. It is also one of the three districts that consist of only one island - not counting the three islets inside the closed lagoon. Niutao has a population of 582.
Nukulaelae is an atoll that is part of the nation of Tuvalu, and it has a population of 300. The largest settlement is Pepesala on Fangaua islet with a population of 300 people. It has the form of an oval and consists of at least 15 islets. The inhabited islet is Fangaua, which is 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) long and 50 to 200 metres wide. The easternmost point of Tuvalu is Niuoko islet. The Nukulaelae Conservation Area covers the eastern end of the lagoon. A baseline survey of marine life in the conservation zone was conducted in 2010.
Protestants in Tuvalu- Tuvalu is one of the most heavily Protestant nations in the world. In 2019, over 92% of the population belonged to a Protestant denomination.
Funafala is an islet of Funafuti, Tuvalu that is inhabited by five families, with a church also located on the islet. Funafala means 'the pandanus of Funa', the name of a chief, after whom also the group has been named Funafuti.
The Kiribati Uniting Church (KUC) is a united Protestant Christian denomination in Kiribati. With approximately 25,000 members, and 136 congregations, the KUC is the second-largest religious group in Kiribati and accounts for approximately 21 percent of the population of the country.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Tuvalu:
Funafuti is the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 6,320 people, and so it has more people than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with approximately 60% of the population. It consists of a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres wide, encircling a large lagoon 18 km long and 14 km wide. The average depth of the Funafuti lagoon is about 20 fathoms. With a surface area of 275 square kilometres (106.2 sq mi), it is by far the largest lagoon in Tuvalu. The land area of the 33 islets around the atoll of Funafuti totals 2.4 square kilometres (0.9 sq mi); taken together, they constitute less than one percent of the total area of the atoll. Cargo ships can enter Funafuti's lagoon and dock at the port facilities on Fongafale.
The Congregational Christian Church Samoa (CCCS) is an international evangelical Christian Church originally established in Samoa by missionaries of the London Missionary Society.
Motufoua Secondary School is a boarding school for children on Vaitupu atoll, Tuvalu. As of 2000 it is the largest high school in Tuvalu. As Tuvalu consists of nine islands, the students reside on Vaitupu during the school year and return to their home islands during the school vacations.
The fatele or faatele is a traditional dance song of Tuvalu. Dancing songs are the most common type of traditional Tuvaluan song, with other traditional dance styles including fakanau and fakaseasea.
Neli Lifuka was born in 1909 on Vaitupu, he worked as a marine engineer and from 1945 to 1951 he was the magistrate on Vaitupu. He organised the collection of the funds necessary to purchase Kioa island in Fiji in 1946 and in 1956 he joined the Kioa community and became the chairman of the council.
The Reformed Congregational L.M.S. Samoan Church traces its beginnings to the Congregational Christian Church in Samoa (EFKS). It is a group of Congregational Samoan Churches adherents of the EFKS Mother Church in Samoa. Because of minor disagreements with the Church's doctrine, the founder of the church Rev. Elder Tepa Faleto'ese, engaged in forming a newer church that worked to support the spiritual needs of its congregants in a more modern approach. The Reformed Congregational L.M.S Samoan Church shares the same doctrines, rules, and rituals as the mother church EFKS, however, do not hold the annual Fa'amati, Faiga Me or any other monetary events aside from the Aso Sa o le Talalelei Taulaga. The Church maintains the use of the Samoan Bible, the EFKS Tusi Pese, and its Constitution is similar to that of the EFKS. The Motto of the Church is "Fa'afaigofie, Fa'ataugofie, Fa'asa'oloto" which translates to "Simple, Humble, Free Worship".
Elekana was the first person to introduce Christianity to the Pacific islanders in what is now called Tuvalu. He was born in the Cook Islands in the 19th century, although the dates of his birth and death are unknown.
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