Second Samoan Church

Second Samoan Congregational Church started in the mid 1970's by immigrants that settled in the Long Beach area seeking employment opportunities. The group started with weekly prayer meetings in member homes and they purchased their first worship space in 1976. It maintained ties with the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa until 1995 when it became a founding member of the EFKSA- a denomination of Samoan Congregational Churches in the U.S.. It still maintains ties with other Samoan Congregational Churches as well as the Congregational Churches in Samoa, but she has now taken on a more ecumenical stance in response to the current religious landscape. In 1994 Second Samoan under went a major re-organization to better reflect its mission and to better witness the gospel it espouses. Responding to the need of the immigrant community in diaspora and to surrounding neighborhoods, the conversation grew to include social, economic and governance components. Care was taken to map out the whereabouts of Pacific Islander communities, and to become sensitive to their needs, while staying faithful to the Christian gospel. Second Samoan was organized into several closely related conversations, which sought to interpret living in the U.S. for immigrant and ethnic Americans