Members of the Samatau SDA church - Malia, Teleiai Pepa and Pa'u Fereti Puni.

(Source: eventpolynesia.com) Samoa’s shift to the west to align with days in New Zealand and Australia also saw a change in the sequence of days of the week according to the new calendar being adopted by the Seventh-day Adventist church in Samoa, with Monday becoming the first day of the week to Sunday starting in 2012.

The new version by the SDA church in Samoa will differ from the normal weekly sequence starting with Sunday to Saturday. Saturday being the seventh day of the week is fundamental to the reason why Seventh-day Adventists worship on Saturday as their Sabbath.

Last week, the Samatau SDA church rejected the direction of the Samoa church administration to keep Sunday as the new Sabbath; whereby confirming a division in beliefs and convictions of Seventh-day Adventists not only in Samoa but also overseas regarding the new Sabbath day in Samoa.

According to Pa’u Fereti Puni, a member of the Samatau parish, “We remain Seventh-day Adventists. But the Samatau church worships on Saturdays of the new reckoning and not Sundays in 2012 as per decision of the Samoa church adminsitration”.

A huge number of Samoans who worship on Sabbath, the seventh day of the weekly cycle or Saturday belong to the Samoa Independent Seventh-day Adventist Church or SISDAC as they are better known. It has been confirmed that SISDAC will be keeping the Sabbath on Saturday in the new reckoning and not Sunday according to the position of the main church.

The change in Samoa’s position according to the International Dateline will not result in a change in the sequence of days in a week. This differs from the position of the Samoa SDA church with its new sequence of days, making Sunday their new Sabbath in 2012 and into the future; the reason why the Samatau SDA church have rejected the new calendar.

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