Rev. François Pihaatae, from the Maohi Protestant Church, in French Polynesia, is the WCC President from the Pacific. He shares his thoughts on the changing nature of faith in the Pacific.
Across the Pacific, a growing theological and cultural movement is calling communities back to their foundations—not as an act of nostalgia, but as a pathway toward resilience, justice, and renewal. Increasingly described as the “Pasifika household of God,” this vision reflects a deeply rooted understanding of faith, identity, and community that has long existed across Pacific societies.
At its heart, the Pasifika household of God is not simply a theological concept. It is a lived reality shaped by relationships: between people and the land, between generations, between humanity and creation, and between spiritual belief and everyday life. Rather than separating faith from culture, the movement recognizes that Christianity in the Pacific has often become intertwined with Indigenous languages, customs, and systems of meaning.
For many Pacific communities, this understanding emerged through centuries of adaptation and survival. Even amid colonisation, displacement, militarisation, and ecological destruction, communities retained strong reservoirs of cultural memory and spiritual knowledge. Churches became more than places of worship; they became spaces where identity, language, resistance, and hope could endure.