Background -
Tonga has 115,000 people and 163 islands. Tonga is the only surviving monarchy in the South Pacific and the only country in the region that was not colonized in the 1800's. Like all Pacific Islands, there was no written language before the first missionaries arrived (mid 1800's) yet Tongan people can trace their history back over 1000 years.
In Tonga, hardship and poverty are becoming daily concerns for many due to increasing needs for cash, emigration from the outer islands to urban areas and overseas, and crowded conditions in some urban areas. Based on an analysis of the 2001 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, about 23% of households were estimated to be living below the basic needs poverty line of $13 (US) per person per week.
Although missionaries arrived in Tonga and the South Seas and converted many islanders in the 1800's, the Tonga people were soon left alone. Mormon missionaries soon followed, and for many years the Tonga people have been oppressed by religious legalism and old fashioned teaching that leaves little room for a personal relationship with Christ.
In 1986 UCB Pacific Partners began seeking a law change in Tonga to open up the airwaves for a privately owned radio station that can reach the people of the islands. In 1991 Calvary Chapel of Kingman Arizona teamed with UCB Pacific Partners to build the first radio station in the Kingdom of Tonga, and Letio Faka-Kalisitiane 93FM came on air - the first local Christian station anywhere in the South Pacific Islands. With just four paid staff members, and many dozens of volunteers, the station has now grown into a model of effective and affordable local radio ministry for other Pacific nations to copy.
The Tonga radio station has also developed as the model for listener follow-up with many small home-based Bible study groups being established by volunteer staff. The staff does community outreach by visiting and bring Bibles and the Gospel to people in prison, the handicapped, the poverty stricken and infirm people. They also teach weekly Bible classes in local schools, and integrate the school pupils into our youth and children's programs on the radio.
Our mission team will be assisting the radio station in all these efforts, as well as helping them build the new building they need for the radio station expansion.
UCB Pacific Partners -Christian radio for every Pacific Islander
The mission of UCB Pacific Partners is . . .
to equip and encourage the people of the South Pacific to live life as Jesus taught it, demonstrated it, and made it possible.
Radio is extremely effective to reach even the most isolated Pacific Island community , so UCB Pacific Partners are primarily a Christian radio ministry , but they are different from western styled Christian radio.
That's because, generally . . .
* the Islands are very poor, and there are few resources to run a radio station (of any kind)
* most area churches are very traditional and put heavy (un-biblical) loads on their people
* there is little understanding of biblical teaching and few resources for Christian ministry
Re-broadcasting western radio programs won't work either, because . . .
*Pacific people are oral people (who do not use written language but learn through story, song, and drama). Oral people think and learn differently to westerners. Therefore, they do not easily follow the logic and linear thinking patterns assumed in western teaching styles.
*Most Pacific people have English as a second or third language, and therefore have to translate the message as they listen.
*The English language that is spoken has a very limited vocabulary, and many words are understood differently. Even common English words do not translate directly and require a descriptive phrase in the mother tongue.
*Life values and applications assumed by western teachers in their messages are easily misunderstood by people living in in rural, third-world, village settings.
As well as local Christian radio, UCB Pacific Partners is also heavily committed to the follow-up and discipleship of their radio listeners, to help them apply the Bible to life in the Islands and become fruitful followers of Jesus Christ and to build a pool of people who are gifted to use the radio to reach their own nation for Jesus.
The liberation of people from religious observance into a joyful relationship with our living Lord and Savior cannot be hidden in religious, village communities (where people are used to dictatorial leadership, and salvation through adherence to church rules).
The individual's new relationship with Jesus Christ is also very contagious. Listeners hear the joy and passion of their neighbors talking over the radio about learning to follow Jesus, and they can see the changes in their lives. This way, listeners are themselves drawn in to seeking fellowship with these "people who are different" outside of their own church's lifeless programs.
UCB Pacific Partners’ workers are trained to foster this, by running new believer's classes and planting bible studies in people's homes. And so they have a growing pool of local believers, reaching out to their neighbors, finding their place of Christian service in their community , and some of whom are trained into ministry on the radio.
What makes UCB Pacific Partners Christian radio different
Important reasons why the UCB Pacific Partners style of Christian radio is so different and why it's proving to be so effective in the Islands . . .
1) Pacific Partners radio is very interactive with its listeners
This is particularly important in Pacific countries where there are many (mostly formal and traditional) churches but very little pastoral care.
The radio hosts are trained to make friends with their listeners. Encouraging them to visit the station and offering to visit the listener in their home. Each week the radio station hosts non-denominational public events (like Bible studies and prayer meetings) that are run by the radio hosts who are all lay people from various churches. And, the hosts (along with many of our keen listeners) are also trained to visit homes with practical helps, and to plant home Bible studies in response to people contacting the station.
UCB Pacific Partners has found many opportunities to plant Bible studies even with non-Christians who are interested in finding out more about Jesus Christ. This is usually as simple as asking "Would you like some of our people to visit you and show you what else God has to say about this in the Bible?"
As the radio listeners find Christ, UCB Pacific Partners encourage them to join a small non-denominational home fellowship study and to become part of the ongoing station interaction with other listeners and new believers.
2) Pacific Partners radio is strongly tied in to the local community
Each primary station (not the relay stations) in each country employs a maximum of four paid, local staff to manage the volunteers who keep the station programmed and follow-up on the listeners. A well established station like Tonga's Letio Faka-Kalisitiane 93FM , for example, has 15 regular volunteer staff who work most days of a week alongside the four, full-time paid staff.
There are also dozens of 'extra' volunteer workers who contribute to radio programs, answer the phones, disciple new believers, teach Bible classes at local schools, visit listeners in their homes, help at home Bible studies, tidy the property, etc. Our mission team will be involved in helping UCB Pacific Partners in these efforts to spread the Gospel to the people of Tonga and the South Pacific.
UCB Pacific Partners Contacts:
Graham Carter, President
Cora Montano-Peredo, Office Manager
Mailing addresses (for all donation processing and correspondence)
* PO Box 6253, Kingman, AZ 86402, USA
* PO Box 8116, Symonds St, Auckland 1150, New Zealand
* PO Box 285, Springwood, QLD 4127, Australia
Head Office phone numbers
* USA free phone 1-866-644-7763 (or 928-328-8190)
This connects to our New Zealand office which is 1 day ahead and 5 hours behind Pacific Time.
Please be prepared to leave a message unless you call between 2:00pm and 7:00pm Pacific Time.
* New Zealand phone (09) 815-0223
* International phone +649-815-0223
UCB Pacific Partners Christian radio station in Tonga:
Letio Faka-Kalisitiane 93FM - PO Box 478, Nuku'alofa, Tonga.
Phone (+676) 27-328
Kingman, Arizona Contact:
Pastor Ron Lee
Calvary Chapel Kingman
P.O. Box 843
Kingman, AZ 86401
Phone: (928) 753-3730
Mission Trip Organizer:
Dianne Ronnow
2765 N. Alpha St.
Kingman, Arizona 86401
928-279-2736
mohavepublishing@gmail.com