ANGLICAN TAONGA
SPRING SPRING2017 2017
PEOPLE
‘Preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season...’ Tonga’s first as-of-right bishop has shown innovative ways to fulfil that command.
Polynesia elects
‘Afa for Tonga
A
A door which had always been locked – has now been swung open.
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Top: Bishop-elect 'Afa Vaka. Above: Standing in front of the mobile pulpit are: Bishop-elect 'Afa, Archbishop Winston, Rev Hepisipa Tohi, and Mr Maka Tohi.
1950, and comes from a family with deep Anglican roots – four members of the Vaka family have been priested, and two more will be ordained soon. ‘Afa graduated from St Andrew’s High School (Tonga’s Anglican college) as head boy in 1970 – and immediately returned to help out as a volunteer woodwork teacher. He left St Andrew's for good, as principal, in 2002. Along the way, ‘Afa picked up qualifications in woodwork and industrial arts from the Waikato and Christchurch Technical Institutes – he set up an industrial arts department at the school – and his Bachelor of Education from the University of the South Pacific. In 1993 ‘Afa began part-time study towards a Master’s in Divinity from Tonga’s Faith Seminary, which he completed when he resigned from St Andrew’s. In 2003, he took up a scholarship to St John’s College in Auckland. He was ordained a deacon at ‘Ofa ki he Laumalie Ma’oni’oni Anglican Church in Otahuhu (Holy Trinity Otahuhu) later that same year, priested in 2004, and graduated with his Bachelor of Theology (Auckland) in 2005. On his return to Tonga in 2006 ‘Afa was appointed Enabler for Tonga’s Anglican Training Centre. He completed his doctorate through Faith Seminary in 2009, and since 2010
he’s served at St Barnabas Church in Mataika. Bishop ‘Afa has a zeal for evangelism – “we should participate in evangelism on a daily basis”, he wrote in his candidate statement – and he expresses that passion in innovative ways. For the last two years, for instance, Fr ‘Afa has broadcast weekly sermons. He’s not afraid to preach in the front lines, either. For years, Tonga has been plagued by violence after school rugby matches. ‘Afa’s response? He’s screwed a big red loudspeaker to the roof of his car, and had: ‘mobile pulpit’ sign-written on his car doors. He regularly heads out to the highways and hedgerows to proclaim the Good News – and if he hears that trouble has broken out between schools, ‘Afa drives straight into no-man’s land, hops out of his car, grabs his microphone, and begins preaching. That’s a practice he intends to continue as bishop. “My heart is warm,” says Archbishop Winston. “I can’t think of any other bishop in the world who would do that. “But that’s ‘Afa. I salute him.” Fr ‘Afa’s wife Seini died in 2010. They have five children and six grandchildren – who were on hand to see their grandad ordained and installed as Bishop in Tonga on September 17 at St Paul’s Nuku’alofa.
Shutterstock / M88
t his episcopal retreat in July, Bishop-elect ‘Afa Vaka hunted for words to describe how Tongan Anglicans felt about the decision to establish Tonga as an episcopal unit: “It’s like a door has been locked for a long time,” he told Archbishop Philip Richardson . “And now that door has been swung open.” ‘Afa Vaka, who is a student of the Anglican story in the Kingdom, says that synod resolution is the fulfilment of a decades-long yearning among Tongan Anglicans for greater autonomy – and for greater mana in their kingdom, which is the world’s only constitutionally-Methodist monarchy. Once the Diocese of Polynesia finally resolved to establish Tonga as a bishopric – at its diocesan synod in early May – it didn’t muck around. The diocesan standing committee met as an electoral college on June 18 and it nominated ‘Afa for Tonga and Henry Bull for Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Both names sailed through the approval process – and Archbishop Winston declared both men elected on July 5. ‘Afa, who was most recently Vicar of St Barnabas, Mataika, was born in July