Toe Timata le Ūpega: Recasting the Net for a Living Church (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781991027986)

This book offers a bold and hopeful vision for revitalising the Congregational Christian Church Samoa by reconnecting with its youth through transformative preaching, affirming cultural identity, and Spirit-led innovation.

Reading this book will help you:

• • Understand the cultural tensions facing CCCS youth in Aotearoa New Zealand
  • Reimagine preaching as a life-giving, relational, and bilingual act
  • Integrate Samoan and New Zealand identities in worship
  • Engage youth meaningfully in planning and leading services
  • Reflect theologically on tradition as a dynamic and flowing river
  • Foster intergenerational conversation and trust
  • Equip ministers and lay leaders with practical tools for spiritual renewal.

Features

• • 10 insightful and readable chapters based on doctoral research
  • Real-life quotes from youth, ministers, and elders
  • Accessible theological reflection grounded in Samoan values
  • Appendices with sermon outlines, group questions, and interview insights
  • Includes a glossary and bibliography.

Description

The author's groundbreaking research invites us to faithfully reinterpret tradition, restore intergenerational trust, and reconnect the Church with the hearts and hopes of its youth.

Dr Maulolo explores the tensions between Samoan and New Zealand cultural identities, the struggles young people face in understanding and participating in worship, and the untapped potential of preaching when it becomes a relational, bilingual, Spirit-led practice.

He draws from personal interviews, theological insights from respected Pacific thinkers like Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, and real-life examples from CCCS congregations trying new approaches.

Each chapter builds toward a vision of a living church - one that listens to its youth, values its elders, and casts the net again with courage. The book blends storytelling with theological depth, cultural wisdom with practical action, and traditional values with innovation.

Whether you are a minister, youth leader, elder, or church member who longs for renewal, this book offers hope, challenge, and a faithful path forward.

This is not a call to abandon what is precious, but to reimagine the church - for the sake of the gospel, for the love of the next generation, and for the life of the CCCS to come.