Over 1,000 people attended the 23rd World Conference of Assemblies of God (A.O.G.) churches in Apia which concluded last Friday after five-days of meetings.

A.O.G. pastors and church representatives from the  American Samoa, New Zealand, the U.S. and host Samoa attended the week-long conference. 

Reverend Aifa Tanuvasa, who is a secretary with the A.O.G. church in American Samoa, told the Samoa Observer that the gist of their discussions emphasised the need for them to work together and to have a better fellowship globally.

As part of the conference, new appointments were also made by the church for their different congregations, Reverend Tanuvasa said he is the new church secretary in American Samoa for the next four years.

The only thing we were talked about during this five days is we need to work together to make it larger and work together for the better of this fellowship in the world," he said.

In terms of the total number of churches in the different countries, the American Samoa church secretary said Australia and New Zealand each have 54 A.O.G. Samoan churches, while the U.S. has 78, following by Samoa with 74 and American Samoa 33.

Auckland resident Reverend Muavae Mika, who also attended the five-day conference, said this year's conference was packed and he attributed the high attendance to the removal of COVID-19 restrictions.

"It was good to be in this event and also to be back in Samoa. There is a meeting in Australia next year and after four years we will come back here [to Samoa] to have this conference again which is in 2026."

Reverend Tuugasala Fuga, who is based in the U.S. and was the Chair of the World Conference of Assemblies of God, wrapped up his term in the position last Friday with successor coming from New Zealand.

Reverend Tafuna'i To'oseu Muaiava from New Zealand, who is the new Chairman of the World Conference, said he is looking forward to working in the Samoan A.O.G. fellowship for the next four years.

The theme of the discussions at the five-day conference was "Don't look back to normal" with representatives from five countries in attendance. The countries included American Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and the U.S.