Woven Together In A Context Is Not Yours
Workshop Description: Woven Together (Lalanga Fakataha in my Native Tongan language) is a rich cultural, communal work that our people still practice on my island back in Tonga in the South Pacific. Our small rural town in Tonga is very rich in familial connections which provides a strong opportunity for building community and calling for unity among diversity. I bring this image of communal weaving from where I was born and raised to apply to a context that is totally not mine in rural ministry here in Missouri. My approach is using what we called in Tonga “lalanga fala” weaving of mats together. We are invited by God to this communal work in the mission field as we journey to build and bridge gaps of diversity in God’s Kingdom on earth.
Biography: Rev. Poese Vatikani attended seminary in Tonga and graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. He came to Hawaii under an Asian Pacific Islanders Scholarship to attend Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu in 1997. He graduated with a BA in History in 2000 and a Graduate Teaching Certificate of Languages in 2003. He worked in Finance until 2013 in Honolulu. In 2013 he was appointed by the Missouri Annual Conference to start a Pacific Islanders Ministry. He graduated from Saint Paul School of Theology with a MDiv in 2019. He serves as the Senior Pastor of Archie UMC.
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