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Sapapali'i is simultaneously the historical and commemorative home
of
Christianity and its foundation in Samoa. Since the arrival of the
London
Missionary Society vis a vis Reverend John Williams in 1830, the
Church has evolved from Samoa's "Lotu La Mo Sa" (Church of London
Missionary Society) to its colloquial call name of "Lotu Taiti". The
LMS missionaries taught and proselytized the Christian gospel in the
islands of Tahiti before landing in Sapapali'i in 1830. When they
arrived in Samoa, among the English missionaries were several
Tahitian counterparts who were instrumental in translating the
tenets of the Church and of the Bible to Samoan, hastening
conversions of the Samoan populace throughout Sapapali'i and beyond.
In modern days, the
Church is now the Ekalesia Fa'apotopotoga Kerisiano o Samoa (EFKS).
There are seminary colleges in both Upolu (Malua, Upolu) and Tutuila
(Kanana Fou, AS). Although, the Church has been separated for just
over 25 years into two conferences (one affiliated in Samoa through
Malua and one affiliated in American Samoa through Kanana Fou); both
conferences, without a doubt, honorably and affectionately continue
to acknowledge and regard that Sapapali'i is the historic birth
place of the Christian gospel for the Samoan islands. In nearly all
villages of the Samoas, there is an EFKS church established there
from congregations numbering barely a hundred to one that has
several hundreds. In well-established Samoan communities abroad,
Samoans have also brought over their faiths, founding EFKS
congregations in those cities and townships from the United States
of America to across Oceania (in New Zealand and Australia). This
peaceful emergence of Christianity would not have been possible if
Malietoa Vai'inupo-Tavita had not accepted the faith. (His name was
later anglicized to "David" as a result of his amicable friendship
with Reverend John Williams). That meeting also opened the Samoas up
to the establishment of other Christian faiths (to include the
Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic orders, Seventh-Day Adventists,
The Church of Latter-Day Saints, Assembly of God, and Bahai etc.)
As it has been for nearly two centuries, Sapapali'i remains home to
one faith - the EFKS Church.
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Photo of John Williams
Malietoa
Vai'inupo Monument
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Donation/Contribution 
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