The Congregational Christian Church of Samoa's (C.C.C.S.) Annual Conference has started at Malua, attracting scores of people to the church's headquarters in Samoa.  

Guided by the theme "Sanctified by the Holy Spirit to build the Church of Christ", Reverend Faatulituli Setu led the opening service on Sunday at the Malua Jubilee Church.

The Chairman of the General Assembly (Fonotele), Reverend Auatama Esera will declare the main conference officially open on Monday. The delegation will first go through the resolutions from last year's conference before they proceed to various pending issues raised by various districts and sub-districts in Samoa and aborad.

Meanwhile, members of the different committees within the biggest denomination in Samoa before Sunday's opening, have met to deliberate on issues to discuss and to be submitted to the main conference which will commence on Monday.

The conference is the biggest event in the church's calendar year, with its membership gathering at Malua for two weeks to discuss developments and issues facing the church.

Members of the church from all over Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, the United States of America, Hawai'i and American Samoa are congregating at the Malua Theological College compound for the event.  

The report from the Committee will be deliberated during the conference on whether any proposed amendments and other issues will be approved by the different committees and sub-committees as well as members of the Fonotele.

The C.C.C.S. is the biggest church denomination in Samoa and has a membership of over 70,000. The church celebrated 192 years of the arrival of Christianity at Sapapalii over a year ago which was a milestone that attracted thousands of church followers from abroad and locally.

Meanwhile, participating members of the conference were kept busy including students of the Leulumoega School of Fine Arts showcasing their artwork at Malua, while some were assisgned to different responsibilities including cleaning up the rubbish, cooking, and attending the meeting.