Party: Jehovah's Witnesses

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Religion

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The earliest influence of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the Solomon Islands dates back to 1948, when Clement Fa'abasua, a young Malaitan, was sent to prison for eighteen months for his part in Maasina Rule. He was a member of the SSEC, but a Fijian plantation worker had given him a copy of the Jehovah's Witness publication Let God Be True, which he studied in gaol. After his release he wrote to Australia for more information and was appointed as a Jehovah's Witness 'special pioneer'. He began the standard Jehovah's Witness house-to-house visitation programme and converted some seventy to one hundred people. The first Circuit Assembly was held in 1961 at Kwainaketo village. For many years there was a ban on the church magazines Watchtower and Awake, but this was lifted in 1974. In 1977 the Jehovah's Witnesses were registered as a Charitable Trust, and for the first time its missionaries were allowed into the Solomons. (Ernst 2006, 188)

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Published resources

Books

  • Ernst, Manfred, Globalization and the Reshaping of Christianity in the Pacific Islands, Pacific Theological College, Suva, 2006. Details