Welcoming, warm congregation and sermons are in a quaint historic building. Everyone there has the…read morealoha spirit!

A real gem, and for some reason not what I expected, from driving by…read more This church seems to be known in the community as "the Chinese church" but in fact, in 1956, they changed their name from the "Hilo Chinese Christian Church" to "The United Community Church" in order to express their openness to persons other than Chinese. The building is an older local plantation style structure with a red chinese-type roof with the curved-up temple corners; inside, it's warm and honest Chinese-flavored early century Christian decor, somewhat worn by many decades of service, but clean and modest and very comfortable. On my visit, the small congregation was a very diverse mix of asian, caucasian, and polynesian. I got an AMAZING welcome, where I was warmly led around and introduced to each member of the church in turn. This did not bother me, although I'm somewhat shy, because you could tell how really sincere and warm they were. I loved this church! I like a church with a sense of humor, and at the service I attended, they laughed a LOT... and cried at tender moments... they showed a very sincere love for their fellow church members and leadership. It was very touching and engaging. The main pastor is a really dynamic asian woman, who was both really funny, and very energetic in her prayer style... the type of pastor who does not seem to be reciting things by rote, but really speaking from the heart to Jesus. Another much older male minister delivered the sermon the day I was there... I was a bit skeptical at first because at first he seemed like he was maybe nodding off and pretty deaf, one eye was looking off in another direction, but when he got up to speak he delivered a really terrific, interesting message! One story he included in his sermon was about his time on Guam in WW2 when Guam was captured by the Japanese and they banned all Christian churches! He was great. He said "Christianity is not for cowards!" I liked that they started their service with prayer, instead of announcements. I liked that they did not waste time during the service with walking around and hugging everyone and chit-chatting, they did that before or after the service. They have a pianist who accompanied their traditional hymns... but I didn't see any type of choir. The only thing I didn't like, was that at the end, as soon as she began her postlude, instead of sitting and listening, everyone just jumped up and announced "service is over" and started going off for refreshments. I find that somewhat disrespectful to the musician... I prefer to sit in silence during the postlude, for a last moment of reflection. They're United Church of Christ, which is the coolest contemporary Christian denomination...a much smarter denomination than the "Christians" you usually hear spewing hate on the evening news. On the national level, UCC was the first Protestant denomination to ordain an African-American pastor in 1785, the first woman pastor in 1853, and the first openly gay minister in 1972. This is the first church I've been to on the big island that made me really excited to go back.

I got a nice warm welcome here when I visited…read more Their sanctuary is modern but very attractive; they also host a lot of classical concerts here. Their pastor seemed very cool and smart.... one lady was telling me she first met him while on a pilgrimage or something in Jerusalem and then found him again in Hilo after she moved to Hawaii, she seemed to regard him very highly. Their music was a mixture of traditional organ and piano, with four Praise-type singers who performed up front, instead of a choir. I didn't really like that they do this "passing of the peace" meet-and-greet in the middle of the service where everybody gets up and walks around and hugs people and chit-chats-- to me this is a waste of service time and should be done as part of fellowship before or after the service, not during. They're United Church of Christ, which is the coolest contemporary Christian denomination...a much smarter denomination than the "Christians" you usually hear spewing hate on the evening news. On the national level, UCC was the first Protestant denomination to ordain an African-American pastor in 1785, the first woman pastor in 1853, and the first openly gay minister in 1972.

Unexpected visit created a memory that we will treasure…read more My wife and I saw a sign for a Catholic church while walking to the nearby beach from the cruise port in Hilo. So as we were walking back, we made a small detour, expecting to see the outside only. As we were admiring the Alter of Our Lady garden, we were invited by a genial older couple to admire the inside of the church. They told us about the church and the murals inside. It is the only Catholic church in Hawaii with a Hawaiian name, 'Malia Puka O Kalani' meaning 'Mary, Gate of Heaven'. It is one of two Catholic churches in Hilo, and is part of the Diochese of Honolulu. It's a small chapel, with a mural near the roofline on both sides. We learned that the murals were painted by the local artist, Ken Charon, representing the full cycle to night. It shows as if the viewer is in a Mauloa Canoe, going towards the islands. As we were admiring the inside, the pastor of the church, Father Niko stopped in for an enlightening conversation. We learned the couple (role of music directors) had just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. The priest is of Samoan heritage and had spent parts of his life in the area where we currently live. He mentioned that the parish tries to transport people coming off of cruise port to come to Sunday service at 9am. They also have a 5pm Saturday mass as well. As we were finishing, Father Niko asked multiple times if he could drive us back to the port. We didn't want to take up any more of his time, so we politely declined and said our goodbyes. As we walked back, it began to rain (as it often does in Hilo). We decided to take a different route back, and moved to the side to let a lone SUV drive by. Nope..it was Father Niko, and he had come to give us a ride since it had begun raining. Obviously, we couldn't decline that... That simple act of kindness from Father Niko was one of the main things I will remember from our trip. This church (along with the nearby beach and the general store) really made me want to come back to Keaukaha again. Here's hoping that it's possible.

Whether you are visiting Hilo or you live here, this church is recommended to you as a place to…read moreexperience healing and grace. Mahalo to pastors Kevin and Kimi Hall who have inspired many in their community because of their willingness to serve. Central Christian Church has recently adopted the name 'House of Glory.' May we all know the many blessings that are our true destiny.

Yes! Pastor Kevin and his Wife Kimberly Hill have an excellent ministry. I attend this church for…read moreyears and both have great messages to help you study the Holy Bible and up lift your spirits. Pastor Kevin Hill is an excellent teacher of the Holy Bible and his Wife can really open your eyes to give your mind heart and soul to Jesus. for their is No other way. One of the messages i remember about Pastor Kevin is he read to us Psalm 91, and how we must prepare ourselves to go into battle against the enemy satan and all his evil workers. Thank you Pastor Kevin and Kimberly Hill. God Bless you and your Family, brother's and sister's. And WE ALL SAY Amen to God and Jesus our highest and Savior of ALL

What a gorgeous little church. The interior was all hand painted. Father Damian is a historic…read morefigure in Hilo. The church has been moved several times due to volcano eruptions to save this historic structure. The termites are busy as I day evidence on the wooden benches etc. A nice historic site. Recommended.

While driving we saw the cutest tiny church so we stopped. It's totally adorable…read more Church doors was open. I was able to get on my knees just to say thank you God for everything.

Thank you lord for the carmichael family God knows there was many times in my life they where such…read morea blessing to me and my children, i see how they are building a huge new building, wow! How exciting, keep on doing Gods work! Awesome job.

You should visit this center if you want to feel happy! It has a very positive energy and they're…read morevery welcoming. The membership is primarily people who have sort of lost hope in the traditional church - this teaches you to really believe in things happening...give it a try

They were having a bake sale the first day I went, that was a big plus!!! LOL. Got my first…read moreJaboticaba jelly. I wanted to check them out partly because they're UCC, and their choir director is this amazingly talented local Hawaiian musician who went off and got a music degree from Harvard University and then came back to Hilo. His choir wasn't singing the day I went, though, it was the week for the polynesian church that also worships there to perform. They were sweet enough. I went back to hear the regular choir another day, it was pleasant enough, but it seems like he's probably just getting started building up their music program. They seem to have a good sized membership, leaning toward the asian (Japanese?) side, although with some ethnic diversity. Pastor seemed like a real nice man, not too dynamic the day I was there, in the latter part of his career with the wisdom and steadiness that that implies. I liked him. The people seemed really nice, which is what's really important of course. The church is the people, not the building. Their building is not much to write about, kind of a drab skating-rink type structure. I don't care for the big screen up in the front of the church where they put up the hymn words and then random pictures of Jesus and pretty scenery throughout the service. To me this is distracting, I prefer church to be one of the few places these days where you are not staring at a screen. Finally in my list of nit-picking, I also didn't really like that they do this "passing of the peace" meet-and-greet in the middle of the service where they interrupt the service and everybody gets up and walks around and hugs people and chit-chats-- to me this is a waste of service time and should be done as part of fellowship before or after the service, not during. They're United Church of Christ, which is the coolest contemporary Christian denomination...a much smarter denomination than the "Christians" you usually hear spewing hate on the evening news. On the national level, the UCC was the first Protestant denomination to ordain an African-American pastor in 1785, the first woman pastor in 1853, and the first openly gay minister in 1972.