Sunday Mornings Along Kailua Road
Kailua United Methodist Church sits on a 4.5-acre campus along Kailua Road in the heart of Windward Oahu, a few minutes inland from Kailua Beach. Founded in 1928, the church welcomes roughly 150 people each Sunday morning and has spent nearly a century weaving Methodist tradition with the wider Christian faith and the aloha of its Hawaiian setting. A pu shell sounds at the start of every service, the choir and a contemporary praise band share the platform, and Holy Communion is shared on the first Sunday of each month. Pastor Brian Belting, the lead pastor, is a Minnesota native who graduated from Azusa Pacific University and Duke Divinity School and previously served Kilohana United Methodist Church on the Honolulu side of the Koolaus. He and his wife Ashley have three children.
Blended Worship with a Hawaiian Pulse
The Sunday morning service begins at 9:30 and draws a multi-generational congregation. The worship style runs from new praise songs to traditional hymns, with the choir and praise band taking turns carrying the liturgy. The service occasionally moves into hula, and visitors from every background are invited to the table when Communion is celebrated.
After the service, fresh locally roasted coffee, cold brew, green tea, and soda waters are poured on the front lawn under the church's mature monkey pod trees. Visitors are encouraged to walk the campus, sit in the Meditation Garden, and take in the view across 800 acres of Kawainui Marsh, the largest wetlands in the Hawaiian Islands. The ancient Ulupō Heiau is visible just to the left, and the grounds back up to land used by Kauluakalana, a community nonprofit founded in 2019 by kamaʻāina of Kailua to replant ancestral foods and care for sacred sites in the ahupuaʻa.
Keiki: Where Faith, Hope, and Love Come to Play
Children are woven into the rhythm of Sunday mornings at every age. Brittany Daigle, a military spouse and mother of three, leads the Youth Ministry and develops programming for the church's younger members. At the youngest end, complimentary nursery care is offered for infants and toddlers up to about 24 months in a room just around the corner from the sanctuary, with the live service streamed onto a television so parents do not miss a moment.
Sunday School
Children in preschool through fifth grade begin the service alongside their families in the sanctuary before Pastor Brian dismisses them to age-appropriate classrooms. Each class includes a short lesson, an activity, a craft, and time to play.
Youth Group
Students in grades 6 through 12 gather on the KUMC campus every other Sunday from 11:00 to noon for Youth Group. The hour is filled with games, snacks, and Bible discussion, with youth from other United Methodist churches on the windward side often joining the fun. Summer brings a week-long themed Vacation Bible School for ages 3 through 8, and older youth are encouraged to attend Camp Mokuleia on the North Shore, where Pastor Brian serves as host chaplain each summer.
An Open Ohana Across Every Difference
From the welcome printed in the pews to a statement adopted by the church council at the 2019 Charge Conference, Kailua UMC has long made its welcome explicit. Single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, straight, rich, poor, Japanese, Tongan, Hawaiian, Caucasian, and everyone in between is invited to commune with God and with one another. The church commits to include all persons in every aspect of its life and ministry, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, nationality, class, history, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ability.
Eating, Laughing, Growing: Small Groups
Small groups meet through the week to share meals, conversation, and Scripture. Members and visitors eat, laugh, explore God's word, and encourage one another to grow as followers of Jesus in everyday life. Church Center, the church's online app, is the central hub: it lets people sign up for events, register for small groups, give online, opt in to the church directory, and watch sermons.
#ForKailua: Local Outreach on Windward Oahu
For nearly a century the KUMC ohana has cared for Kailua and the wider island, a campaign the church calls #ForKailua. Three priorities guide the work: caring for the less fortunate, education, and sustainability.
On the last Tuesday of every month, Kailua UMC joins several churches and community partners at the Windward YMCA to provide a constellation of services to people experiencing homelessness: healthcare, a shower, a hot meal, a haircut, food stamp assistance, and hygiene items. The church signs up regularly to supply snack packs, collect travel-sized hygiene products, and serve a hot meal once a year.
When food insecurity in Hawaiʻi grew by more than 50 percent, the congregation responded with food drives for the Hawaii Food Bank, the Windward Community College student food pantry, and the family resource centers in Windward schools. Sue Pignataro, who leads the Care ministry, brings nursing and healthcare experience to her work visiting sick, recovering, and aging church members.
The S.U.R.F. group (See, Understand, Reduce, Follow) hosts a beach cleanup every month, with the rotating location announced in advance. Volunteers see the problem of coastal plastic, understand its impact on marine life, reduce single-use plastic, and model stewardship for friends and family. The church also hosts outdoor movie nights on the lawn for families, supports blood drives, and each fall stocks the classrooms of every teacher on the staff of a nearby Title I elementary school.
From Cambodia to Mali to Ecuador: Global Missions
Beyond Oahu, the Outreach Team has built long-term partnerships across the Pacific and around the world. In Cambodia, members have traveled to support programs for houseless children and continuing education for youth, while learning about sustainable agriculture projects run under the CHAD banner. In Mali, the church partners with four women-owned businesses and entrepreneurs, supports a school garden for students and their families, and helped bring fresh, clean water to a rural community. In Ecuador, scholarships have long supported students who wish to further their education. The church also contributes to the global United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).
A quote from founder of Methodism John Wesley hangs over the outreach page, and over the church's own sense of mission: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."
The KUMC Foundation: A Legacy Since 1987
The Kailua United Methodist Church Foundation was established in 1987 as an IRS-qualified 501(c)(3) charitable foundation. It offers members and friends an avenue for planned giving and legacy gifts, separate from the church's regular budget. A board of six financially experienced members, nominated by the KUMC Nominating Committee and elected on three-year staggered terms, manages the foundation without fees. Each year the foundation awards several academic scholarships to people associated with the church. Other named trusts support music, mission work, and the long-term care of KUMC facilities.
Finding Your Way to 1110 Kailua Road
The church campus sits at 1110 Kailua Road, with abundant parking along the road and easy access from Kailua town. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Worship begins at 9:30 on Sunday mornings, and the service is livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube for anyone unable to attend in person. Sermon audio is available afterward on iTunes and Spotify. Visitors can fill out a Welcome card in the pews on Sunday or complete a visitor form online through Church Center. Kailua Methodist Preschool, located on the campus, serves the wider community as well.