View from the Pew
A look inside Hawaii's houses of worshipBy Mary Adamski
Saturday, May 19, 2001
IT was a typical Waikiki evening: window-shopping tourists dodging each other, incessant traffic sounds and, inside, a small cluster of folks singing hymns to a rollicking piano. Waikiki church a haven
in the neighborhoodThe Wednesday prayer and Bible service at Waikiki Baptist Church drew about 30 people; a few more had skipped out after enjoying the pre-service potluck supper. A visit to the homey church with its adjacent social hall was a reminder that Waikiki is also a neighborhood.
Neighbors are apparently what some visitors seek amid the glitter of the tourist mecca. The Rev. Bill Duncan said there are about 60 local members, but at a Sunday service in winter, the place will be filled with an additional 300, and "200 of those will be Canadians."
Visitors accounted for half the crowd Wednesday, most of them returnees, among them, Patty and Richard Strickland of Peoria, Ariz., in the classic matching muumuu and aloha shirt, who came forward with little prompting to harmonize on a hymn she wrote. The septuagenarian singers make the rounds of the Waikiki worship scene, which also includes Aloha Hotel chapels and the Waikiki Beach Chaplaincy, whenever they're in town.
24 Kuamoo St.; 955-3525 WAIKIKI BAPTIST CHURCH
Sunday School, 9:30 a.m.
Services, 10:50 a.m., 6 p.m.
Wednesday prayers 7 p.m.
Abe Suarez said he first attended the church as a tourist from Chicago 18 years ago. Now he and wife Judy live in Ewa Beach. They drive in for services at least once a week because "this feels like family."
It was truly family night for Duncan, who has served in Hawaii churches for six years since retiring from 26 years of ministry in Alaska. He introduced his grandson Jeremiah Camarata, a recent college graduate charged with starting a youth ministry this summer before entering the seminary. The congregation answered Duncan's call for a "laying on of hands" for Jeremiah and his wife, Crystal -- charging their spiritual batteries for the work ahead. "Youth are hurting today. So many things keep them from church and push them down," he said. "My goal is to reach them and bring them to the gospel."
The prayer list was neighborhood in a nutshell -- individuals and their specific needs detailed in categories of "health needs" and "spiritual comfort." Well intentioned as it might be, the "Salvation" column struck an outsider as insensitive: Would the petitioner's Jewish friend want to be on the list?
The church is neighbor to more than its worshippers. Its Kahi Kokua mission provides an ongoing distribution of donated food, clothing and household goods to homeless and low-income people.
>> Message: "Through these doors, we enter the mission field all around us, Waikiki," the pastor told the crowd.
>> Participation: The pastor encourages involvement by stepping aside. No one in the small gathering sat back as audience.
>> Welcome: Accustomed to the returning snowbird crowd, "Where are you from?" was the greeting to any newcomer.
Mary Adamski covers religion for the Star-Bulletin.
Email her at madamski@starbulletin.com.
