Siasi ʻo Tonga/en

The Church of Tonga is one of the churches in Tonga.

It was established in 1928 by those members who did not agree to the unification in 1924 of the Wesleyan mission and the Free church into the Free Wesleyan church of Tonga, and they also did not agree with the schism of 1928 when the Free Church of Tonga broke away. So they broke away too, and were fully established the year after, 1929.

But perhaps in reality it was only political intrigue. The new president, the noble ʻUlukālala, that was Siaosi Fīnau Mīsini, wanted to have power for himself and this was a gesture he could make to frustrate queen Sālote, who had been the main motor behind the unification and was the symbolic head of the Wesleyan church. As such, to avoid confusion with the Free Church of Tonga, this church is colloquially known as the Church of the lords, and the former as the Church of the president.

After the death of Siaosi Fīnau Mīsini in 1938, his son, Siaosi Tangata ʻo Haʻamea became the next pesident, until he died too in 1960. It is remarkable that despite that Vavaʻu is the estate of ʻUlukālala, the Church of Tonga is only very small there (not big anywhere for that matter).

They do not have any schools. FOKI