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

This is a true family of God - I wish we could come here more often. Since I was here last time,…read morethe congregation has been busy maintaining and upgrading their facility so now it is beautiful and welcoming.

I visited this church a few years ago when I was working an undercover assignment on the Islands…read more The family of God here are just that, they treat you like a family. I only wished that I had had more time to get to know the pastor and congregation. If your in Hilo on Sunday, go there and join them for the service.

A very warm welcoming community with the church preaching the word of God mixed with lots of…read morelocals. I would definitely go there again next time I'm in that area.

there's a lot to like about this church (see my previous review)... so I was greatly saddened to…read moreattend service here in late June and have the Pastor (Kahu) start the service grumbling about what a difficult week it had been.... since the Supreme Court struck down DOMA , giving federal recognition to same-sex marriages. This was not what I expected to hear coming from the pulpit of a UCC church. As I left, I told him I disagreed, and that I knew in my heart Jesus would have been celebrating the decision. Kahu Brian, your words are important. Your words are not going to change someone's sexual orientation... this is how God created them. But your words can drive the LGBT kids in your school to feelings of alienation, desperation, running away, running off-island, and even suicide. Some studies estimate gay and lesbian kids are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual kids http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_among_LGBT_youth. If you have several hundred kids attending your summer program, statistically speaking you have several dozen LGBT kids in the program whether you know it or not.... do you really want them to be hearing the message that they are not welcome in your church? Also, Kahu Brian, it seems quite likely to me that you have at least one LGBT person leading your worship service... maybe they are not openly LGBT... but how do you think they feel when they hear your words? Do you really think Jesus would not love them just as they are? That Jesus would not be willing to celebrate and affirm their loving, comitted relationships through marriage? If you want to learn about the DOMA decision in the words of the 81 year old woman who filed it, please watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blcHIfTkHRs ....favorite quote from this video: "there is no wrong time to seek justice" To quote Bishop Desmond Tutu's recent remarks: ""I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this" Yes, some Christians still choose to pick phrases from the Bible that justify their discrimination and rejection of LGBT people.... just like ignorant bigoted Christians of previous generations used the bible relentlessly to justify their denials of equal rights to women, and to justify slavery and oppression of other races, and fight against interracial marriage (illegal in many states just 45 years ago!). Jesus never said a word against gays. He was however willing to break the rules of the old testament to bring justice and healing (Luke 13:10-17) and rightly called out those who chastised him hypocrites for picking and choosing which old testament rules they would keep or break, when the need for healing was obvious. He also said "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." (John 10:16). I know calmly and fully in my heart that Jesus would have (did!) welcome lgbt people to his church. We too are his other sheep. Yet do many of today's Christian churches never connect the dots between their staunch upholding of last century's proudly ignorant and discriminatory viewpoints and their declining memberships today. If you are still with me down at the bottom of this review, I close with this simple message: please watch this beautiful short video by Macklemore titled "Same Love" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVBg7_08n0

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.

Love love love pastor Renee pastor Dan and so many people from this church, they are in a beautiful…read morefreshly renovated place, awesome God, services and friends God bless everyone at glad tidings.

Thank you Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church for bringing an energy of diversity back into…read moreworship, and reminding me of dear friends from the past. I've known about Open Arms MCC for a while, but today was the first time I've attended a service. They meet on Sundays at 10 am at the Ainaloa Longhouse, which is a temporary worship location while they grow towards a permanent home. Basically the Open Arms MCC premise is "Serving ALL God's children with Aloha!!" .... a church for people who can't take the rank hypocrisy of so much organized religion; a church for people who have been actively pushed away from other churches because they demanded equality for themselves, for women, and LGBT minorities. Wikipedia has a good read about Metropolitan Community Churches and all their "firsts" in equal rights here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me... . "No matter who you are you are welcome -- and equal--- here." THIS is the teaching of Jesus. So easily overlooked by the divisive haters who call themselves Christian in our nation today. Pastor Pressley Sutherland arrived recently to lead the church, and he delivered a thoughtful and powerful service.... he preached, he played keyboards, and he sang--- he's got a great voice and seems like a really good musician in addition to being a good preacher. His message --- like all the good messages--- somehow seemed to speak directly to me and the issues I am currently struggling with participating in the music program of a much more conservative (and discriminatory) local church. Overall the service was comfortable contemporary Christian, yet also included beautiful poetry from an Islamic woman poet and an amazing India Arie song. The message topic today was "Cynical and Tired of Religion? Me Too !" A man I chatted with after the service told me they're about 50% heterosexual and 50% LGBTQ. So basically it was a super diverse congregation. I could feel a real sense of caring and welcome and community.... and concern for social justice.... EXACTLY what you SHOULD find at a church. They don't have all the formality and assets of your more established churches, but guess what, neither did Jesus, and it didn't hinder his message. My only minor criticisms are that I'm a bit of a germophobe, and while I applaud their open communion, I would probably prefer if there were less people touching my bread as part of that ritual. Also, plenty of bibles but no hymnbooks in sight at all (I would prefer a hymnbook over just trying to guess the melody of unfamiliar praise songs). Anyway, overall I LOVED the service, and am really looking forward to going back. You should check them out also. FINAL NOTE-- MAKUU MARKET IS RIGHT DOWN THE STREET SO AFTER CHURCH YOU CAN HIT THAT UP FOR SOME AMAZING FARMER'S MARKET FINDS AND GRINDS. A PERFECT PUNA SUNDAY MORNING.

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.

Who doesn't like a bazaar? Especially one with lots of grandma made quilts and craft work, home…read morebaked goodies, piles and piles of second hand clothes, sushi rice, preserves, local veggies, books from the 70's, bags of cinder and all kine of miscellaneous knick knacks. I walked away with a 1968 French provincial and northern italy cookbooks, got my recipe to make cassoulet! Just watch out for the grandmas as they fight their way towards the bargains!

This is a temple and activity center for the village of Papaikou. We just attended the Hawaii…read moreBamboo Society annual Bamboo festival there. Amazing view, tons of useful info and many nice folks.