Kihei Lutheran Church was officially organized as a congregation of the Pacifica Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), in October 1988, under founding pastor George Bement. Since then the congregation has grown and has finished the first phase of its building program. On March 11, 2006, a nineteen year old dream of Kihei Lutheran Church became reality. By the grace of God, after worshiping in a local grade-school cafeteria since 1987, the congregation moved into their own church home. Many of the strengths in this church are found in the area of music. The congregation boasts a thirty-seven member choir, a hand-chimes group, a hula group (which offers hula within the worship service), a mixed-voice quartet, and men’s quartet. The style of worship varies from week to week. Some Sundays the traditional liturgy is used, while on other Sundays a more contemporary service incorporating praise music or a more loosely worded liturgy can be experienced. Each Sunday the local Hawaiian culture is brought into the service in a variety of ways – from the blowing of the conch shell as a call to worship, to the speaking of the Aaronic Benediction in Hawaiian. All who attend worship at KLC are treated to a large measure of the Aloha Spirit because of the congregation’s true sense of “ho‘okipa”, or hospitality. If you have a chance to visit Maui, please come and join Kihei Lutheran Church for worship, or simply stop by to say ALOHA!
