Greetings and Talofa! I am Najon Saina Tuiolemotu. I was born in the Bay Area but was raised in the beautiful islands of Samoa and my current hometown, Stockton, CA. I am a first semester M.Div. student at Pacific School of Religion. I am a mother to a wonderful daughter and a wife to an amazing husband.
All my life, I have grown up in the Christian church. My father is a Pastor and led our home congregation for 20 years until his recent passing in 2019. Since the age of 16, I have served in several positions in our church and currently serve as the Board Secretary of our congregation. I always knew my calling was to advocate for the underserved, and I first took up this calling as a social worker after I attained my bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento. Recently, I married a lay leader who is also a former graduate of DSF/PSR and is now in the Ph.D. program at Berkeley School of Theology. Working with my husband in the church as youth leaders, I realized that my spiritual calling has always been to serve the church and decided to finally put my whole life’s work into the church. This is what brought me to seminary. My belief is that to better serve the ministry means to be made more aware of the history of Christianity, its ethics, its social transformations, and to develop a deep understanding of how to better minister and reach people.
My home church is the Puna o le Ola Congregational Christian Samoan Church of Stockton. We are affiliated with the DOC, as a part of the CCNC-N Region. I am most passionate about working with our youth. There has been a decline with the youth over the last decade, and I am passionately working towards increasing attendance, youth outreach programs, and inspiring our youth by meeting them to hopefully become future leaders of the church. I would be honored to serve anywhere in ministry, and one day, God willing, my husband and I will be called to serve a church as pastors.