Māngere Samoan Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Whispers of controversy surround the Māngere Samoan Seventh-Day Adventist Church. This church, located on Tidal Road in Māngere, Auckland, has a story far removed from quiet hymns and Sunday sermons. The Māngere Samoan Seventh-Day Adventist Church, specifically the Samoan Independent Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SISDAC), faced intense scrutiny. This led to its removal from the Charities Register in February 2021. This wasn’t a simple disagreement over doctrine. It was about millions of dollars. Church employees, including family members of church officials, were found to have stolen and mismanaged vast sums of money from the church’s largely Samoan congregation. The Māngere Samoan Seventh-Day Adventist Church, under SISDAC, saw its former treasurer, Elizabeth Papu, sentenced to prison for stealing over $1.6 million. Later investigations revealed she misappropriated even more. Another treasurer, Joseph Stowers, also took church funds as undeclared income. Pastor Willie Papu and his son, Pastor Willie Papu Junior, were also implicated in financial wrongdoing. The Māngere Samoan Seventh-Day Adventist Church’s story takes another twist with risky investments. Pastor Papu spearheaded investments in OneCoin and WFE Capital, both flagged as potential scams. The church lost all its invested funds. OneCoin, in particular, targeted vulnerable Samoan families, leaving them devastated. The Māngere Samoan Seventh-Day Adventist Church’s financial woes continued. While Pastor Papu made reparations, the money came from donations from overseas SISDAC churches. The church also received further donations to recover from the investment losses. This story of the Māngere Samoan Seventh-Day Adventist Church isn’t one of spiritual upliftment. It’s a cautionary tale of financial mismanagement and the devastating impact on a community’s trust.