How Tokaikolo started – the Scripture Union

One of the foundational elements to the story of how Tokaikolo Christian Church began is the Scripture Union (SU) organisation. This began in Tonga in 1965.  The principal aim of the SU was to promote daily Bible reading and application of the scriptures into the daily lives of its members. At the time, this was a new concept to many Tongans since there had not been an emphasis on individual daily reading of the Bible up until then nor had there been daily notes available in the Tongan language to help people understand the scriptures.

Work began amongst the children and youth and quickly spread to the adults. An inter-school student committee was established to help the SU groups in each school work together.  The committee held monthly rallies which were new to Tonga where schools had not previously met for religious gatherings. In 1970, Reverend Senituli Koloi was chosen to be the president of the Tongan Scripture Union. He continued in this position for 10 years.

SU’s membership continued to grow in Tonga. The members’ enthusiasm for reading the Bible daily and for finding God’s will for their individual lives also grew. The same year that Reverend Koloi was chosen to lead the Scripture Union he was gifted from God with a healing ministry and with the wisdom to counsel people.

Under his Godly leadership the influence of the Scripture Union spread and its membership grew rapidly. Many new Bible-reading groups were formed in the villages throughout Tonga. In 1978 when Tokaikolo Christian Fellowship branched off from the mainstream Methodist Church, many of the new members of the Scripture Union who had recently accepted Christ as their Saviour joined the newly formed group.

Tokaikolo Bible College in 1979, Auckland NZ