Aloha Friends,

We are filled with joy to share some exciting news about our journey back to our church site on Front Street. After much waiting, prayer, and hard work, we have finally started preparing our property for the next steps in our rebuild process. Work is now underway to restore our duplex so that two of our families can return home, to complete the parsonage, and to begin building our worship pavilion. The last hurdle in our permitting process has been cleared, which means we can soon return to our property. Please see the pictures below:

New plumbing

New water filtration

New Meeting Space in the Parsonage

Figure i: Staging Material for the Pavilion Installation

Figure j: Future Children and Youth Ministry Building

When we return to our property, we will once again be able to worship in Lahaina Town. Our parsonage will serve not only as the pastor's home but also as the church office and a gathering place for meetings and fellowship. We are currently working on requests for proposals to rebuild our church and preschool. During the reconstruction of the church, we will hold our worship services and meetings in a designated area away from the construction site. Since our church is located in the Lahaina Historic District, we will rebuild it to resemble its former beauty before the fire, while also making modifications to improve accessibility and updating it with modern facilities and technology.

On Saturday, October 4th, we will be teaming up with Citizen Church and the Lahaina Town Action Committee for a Day of Service. Volunteers will be working on our property, distributing food to members of our community, and celebrating our imminent return to our home on Front Street.

We are currently collaborating with our county council members and the zoning administration to change our zoning designation to "public." This change will enable us to expand both our housing and ministry facilities. Council Member Tamara Paltin plans to submit this request at the next council meeting. Once it is approved, it will be forwarded to the planning commission for review.

We are grateful to partner with UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief), the Hawaii District, and UMVIM (United Methodist Volunteers in Mission) to build a bunkhouse on our property. This facility will allow us to welcome up to 24 volunteers from churches across the country to assist fire victims in rebuilding their homes and in our rebuilding efforts. Thanks to the Mayor’s Emergency Proclamation following the fire, we will soon be able to begin construction while we await a change in zoning designation that will enable us to continue expanding our ministry.

Figure k: Proposed Volunteer Dorm Design

We hope to begin worshipping at our property in a temporary structure by the beginning of next year. During this time, we will also be working on building the volunteer bunkhouse and completing the necessary permits and plans to reconstruct our church and preschool.

Even as we wait to return, God has been faithful in sustaining us. In our borrowed spaces, we have started three wonderful new ministries:

Wednesday Study Class: Meeting at a condo complex where two of our members live, this hybrid class recently studied the Sacraments from a United Methodist perspective. Inspired by the class examples, members felt called to form a visitation group and initiate an Eucharistic ministry. We will share more about these ministries in future updates.
Children & Youth Ministry: Thanks to a grant from the Foundation for Evangelism, we have purchased a new curriculum for our Children and Youth Ministry, and new families have joined the ministry. On September 17th, we hosted our first Children’s Movie Night, where we watched The Prince of Egypt. Before the movie, Vanessa and Promis led a Bible trivia contest on the Book of Exodus, and, after the movie, the kids asked questions. It was a fantastic time!
Ongoing Fellowship and Growth: Our hybrid Wednesday class has been a success, and from it, as I shared above, we are creating new ministries. We have our next study this week, titled "Embracing the Uncertain: A Bible Study for Unsteady Times." When we return to the parsonage, we plan to start an evening study.

We are deeply grateful for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support. Your faithfulness has sustained us during this challenging season, and we give thanks to God for each of you. The best is yet to come, and we look forward to welcoming you back to our property soon.

With gratitude and hope,

Pastor John

Aloha Beloved Ohana,

On behalf of all of us at Lahaina United Methodist Church, I want to express our deepest gratitude for your ongoing support of our church. Your prayers and donations have given us great hope for our future. I would, therefore, like to share some updates regarding our progress and the exciting plans ahead.

Maui County has finally opened up our area, allowing access to our property once again. We have already submitted a permit application to set up our pavilion and portable office and have the materials ready. We have also found a general contractor interested in the project, who will provide a bid soon.

Water and electricity have been reconnected at our campus. We are currently cleaning out the parsonage and making necessary repairs, and we hope to move back in by the end of May or early June. This space will serve as our base of operations, allowing us to host Bible studies, leadership meetings, prayer gatherings, and fellowship events in the large living room.

We anticipate resuming services on our church property sometime this summer, marking an important milestone in our return home.

We have applied for a FEMA grant to help fund the reconstruction of the church and preschool. We continue to meet with representatives from FEMA and the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) every two weeks to monitor the grant status and provide any additional information they require. While the grant is currently on hold, it remains in process, and we are praying for good news soon.

If we don’t receive the grant from FEMA (and with the current federal austerity measures, this is a possibility we should prepare for), we have received money from our insurance settlement, and with the donations we have received from you, we believe that we will be able to rebuild our church and start restoring our campus. With your continued support, we have faith that we can make our sacred space a place of hope for our entire Lahaina community in the following ways.

We are working with our consultant, Kim Willenbrink, to identify dependable surveyors and architects to develop plans for our church and preschool. We had a very successful preschool on our campus, Children of the Rainbow Preschool, which was beloved by our Lahaina community for many years. We are working on ways to bring the preschool back for classes while we are rebuilding their school.

Meanwhile, we are working with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and Ho’ōla iā Maui Long Term Recovery Group (Maui LTRG) to provide temporary lodging space for volunteers who will help Lahaina residents rebuild their homes. Many residents have found that their insurance payouts are insufficient to rebuild fully, and these volunteers—working alongside Habitat for Humanity, Mennonite Disaster Services, Samaritan’s Purse, and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance—will help put up walls, hang doors, mount drywall, and paint at no cost to help lower construction costs and make reconstruction more feasible. We will need funding to help support this effort.

When we return to our church campus, we will begin Sunday School classes for children, youth, and adults. We will have a base of operations to host worship services, fellowship gatherings, bible studies, children and youth ministry, and outreach ministries. With the return of our preschool, volunteers on our campus, and a place to hold meetings and outreach ministries, we will be a vibrant space of hope in a rebuilding town, and we are excited to see all the ways God will use us.

Your continued donations to Lahaina UMC will help us thrive and play an important role in the rebuilding efforts in Lahaina.

Future Plans: Three Phases of Our Rebuild

We envision our campus rebuild taking place over three phases.

Phase I:

Our first phase focuses on preparing our site for ministry. This includes setting up our temporary pavilion and office and repairing and cleaning the parsonage. We are optimistic that we will be able to return to our property this summer, at which point we will resume worship services, Bible studies, ministry gatherings, and church meetings on-site. This phase also includes securing a temporary space for Children of the Rainbow Preschool and renovating the duplex to allow the Hemaloto and Pasikala families to return. We are also looking at portable housing that will provide temporary housing for kupuna in our church ohana who might need to move soon.

Additionally, through a partnership with the California-Pacific Conference, we are working with Maui LTRG and UMCOR to build bunkhouses for UMCOR volunteers helping with long-term recovery efforts.

Temporary church structures with volunteer lodging in blue.

While this work continues, we are seeking additional funding through a FEMA grant and other sources.

Phase II:

Once permits are finalized, Phase II will begin with the reconstruction of the church and preschool. We aim to rebuild a church that maintains its historic exterior while creating a versatile and accessible interior to serve the community’s needs. We also plan to share our space with other churches that have lost their sanctuaries. We will restore the surviving front steps and sign while making the church more accessible with an elevator and other enhancements. Meeting spaces will be established on the first floor to support ministry and community activities.

Phase III:

After rebuilding the church and preschool, we will focus on constructing a fellowship hall and kitchen, which will serve as a venue for church celebrations, wedding receptions, preschool graduations, recovery group meetings, and other community gatherings. Additionally, given Maui’s housing crisis, we plan to develop affordable housing on our property to address the severe housing shortage in Maui.

Mahalo!

Throughout this journey, we have seen Christ's steadfast presence in our community, and your support continues to remind us of his faithfulness. Thank you for being a part of this effort as we rebuild our church and community.

Please reach out if you have any questions, wish to contribute, or want to get involved. We would love to hear from you and continue this journey together.

Mahalo nui loa for your support of our church community. If you would like to support our efforts, we can receive your financial donations in the following ways:

Send a Check: We receive checks sent to our address at PO Box 10253, Lahaina, HI 96761, payable to Lahaina United Methodist Church. If you want, you can write how you would like your donation to be used in the memo field.

Online: You can donate by clicking the button below.

With heartfelt thanks and blessings,

Pastor John