A Parish Story from Honolulu | Hawaii

What happens when you take a tiny circle of faithful disciples of Jesus and tether them to their neighborhood?

This is what Ma Ke Alo o (MKAO), which means “presence” in Hawaiian, has been discovering in the city of Honolulu. They believe in the presence of God and arrive to be present to one another and to the community around them. 

When people become present to their neighbors, they start to learn the history of oppression to the indigenous people. They start to know their unhoused neighbors by name, they bring their kids to community dinners, they do beach cleanups and take trips together. They start to have staying power.

“Formation in the neighborhood asks the question, ‘How are we going to live like Jesus in our neighborhood?’ The answer has to include how you’re going to live your formation out among your neighbors.”

- Eun Strawser, co-vocational lead pastor of Ma Ke Alo o 

One such outcropping of this kind of discipleship happened when Kelci, a hospice care nurse, allowed God’s dream to grow in her heart. She lives in the part of the city near three low-income senior living residences. “Kapuna” is the Hawaiian word for “seniors or honored elders.” These people are often nameless, faceless, and family-less. 

For years, Kelci led a group of people to learn how to love their neighbors together. She asked her discipleship core to go to the Kapunas in their neighborhood. Half of the people couldn’t commit and didn’t want to engage, but those who remained started doing bingo nights with pizza.

When Covid hit, Kelci and her small core of disciples stayed committed to the Kapunas. During the pandemic, their group started providing one-month’s worth of groceries to each of the 500 residents in the three buildings, checking in on the residents weekly. Because of this, the impact of faithful, practical presence is growing. They now have discipleship cores within the residencies led by Kapunas.

To learn more about Rev. Dr. Eun Strawser's community, Ma Ke Alo o, you can take a look at www.mkao.community or her new book Centering Discipleship (IVP).