The Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.) at Faia'ai in Savai'i celebrated a milestone on Friday with a special service to officially bless and open a newly renovated church building.

The Chairman of the C.C.C.S., Reverend Elder Iosefa Atapana Uilelea, and his wife, Tekimatang Uilelea, were among the distinguished guests. 

Reverend Elder Leaso Tupa'i officiated the service and officially blessed the newly renovated building for use by the people of Faia'ai. 

The resident church minister at Faia'ai, Reverend Elder Fa'asavala Leilua, spoke on behalf of the congregation to thank those in attendance and made a report of the project. 

The total cost of the church renovations is $144,289, said Reverend Elder Fa'asavala. 

"We were called to serve this parish back in the year 1986," he said. 

"We saw that the state of the church building the congregation had used back then was in a really bad state. There was a great need to build a new one for the congregation. 

"So construction work commenced in the year 1988, but it was all done by the elders from the congregation. However, even after all the work done by the elders back then, we saw that there were a lot of things that were needed to be done to the church. 

"For example, we needed to fix the windows and roof and the interior of the church. So it has always been something that we had planned to do, but never really got around doing it because of the financial side of things."

Reverend Elder Fa'asavala said they had prayed about the matter and waited for God's timing to execute plans to renew the church building. 

"Over the years, there had been a lot of renovation work done to the building and there was always that desire to fully renovate the church so it would look beautiful both on the inside and outside," he said. 

"So we applied for a loan [to'omaga] from the C.C.C.S. church with the hope that it would assist us with our plans to fully renovate our church building.

"They granted our application and gave us $50,000 and that was the money we used to start this project. 

"That money is included in the $144,289 I mentioned earlier. 

"The carpenter who was responsible for the renovations is someone from our congregation, Fa'asavalu Leilua."

Reverend Elder Fa'asavala took the opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the success of their project. 

He acknowledged the support and prayers of the mother church and its leadership and the sons and daughters of Faia'ai residing and their families and friends from across the world. 

Reverend Elder Uilelea spoke on behalf of the church to congratulate Reverend Elder Fa'asavala and his congregation for what he described as a beautifully finished building. 

He commended the commitment, hard work, sacrifices, and dedication that went into its construction. 

Reverend Elder Uilelea said he understood that completing such a project was not easy, especially for a small congregation at Faia'ai. 

Renovation work on the Faia'ai church's exterior began this year. The project also included the renewal of the building's interior.

A new metal gate was also installed. 

Fai'a'ai is on the Savai'i's southeast coast within the district of Salega.