Mission Founded and Mission Serving Congregation in Hawaii
PHOTO: COURTESY AIEA UMC
Aiea UMC has a heart for going into the world and engaging with partners to assist in their outreach. Aiea was first a preaching point of the Japanese Methodist Church in Honolulu. In 1900, the Aiea Japanese Methodist Church was established. The church began as a mission outreach to those working in the sugar cane industry. From that beginning, the church has continued to engage in mission around the world.
Today, we support two missionaries serving in Japan, Claudia Genung-Yamamoto and Ronald Julian, as well as Debbie and Lester Dornon in Nepal, and Ut Tu and Karen Vo To in Vietnam. We are in personal contact with our missionaries. Claudia visited us last summer and other missionary visits are planned.
We have other partners—like Mt. Olives UMC in Uganda, and Shade and Fresh Water (Advance #11580A) in Brazil. The Shade and Fresh Water afterschool program reaches 2,500 children. We also support Wings of the Morning in the DR Congo.
We try to balance local and global projects and serve people of all ages. We partner with Aiea Elementary School locally to make “Keiki Bags” (“Keiki” meaning “children”) to help children who don’t have enough to eat at home on weekends. We do other things with the school as well.
We have a strong outreach to the homeless with Hawaii Human Services in Oahu. They have a kitchen we where we cook and serve once a month.
We support Habitat for Humanity and the “First Life after Prison” ministry. We also partner with St. Elizabeth Catholic Church for a joint food pantry. Finally, we partner with Wesley Ministry at the University of Hawaii for student ministry. We increased our support for that last year.
Aiea UMC reflects the spectrum of the ethnic and cultural heritage of Hawaii, a beautiful blending of Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino, Samoan, Pacific Islander, Asian, and African backgrounds. Our associate pastor, Joseph Siofele, serves a Samoan language ministry as part of our church. For more than 40 years, in our continuing outreach to immigrant communities, Aiea Korean UMC met in our facility until they could purchase land and build their own church.
By Lisa Anderson Lloyd. Lisa Anderson Lloyd serves as chair of the mission committee for Aiea United Methodist Church in Aiea, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.
Copyright New World Outlook magazine, Spring 2018 issue. Used by permission. Email the New World Outlook editor for more information.