Kailua Community Church meets on the windward side of Oahu in the town of Kailua, where its sanctuary sits on Oneawa Street just a short walk from the neighborhood's residential streets. The church belongs to the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) and traces its roots to 1975, when a small group of Spirit-led Christians from a C&MA church in the Philippines began gathering in a Kailua home. Half a century later, that house gathering has grown into a multi-generational congregation whose motto is "Loving Jesus, Making Disciples" and whose calling is to be "a family for you" in Kailua and beyond.
Born from a Mission Movement in 1975
The church's name, Christian and Missionary Alliance, is more than a denominational label; it is a description of identity. Kailua Community Church was born from a mission movement, founded by Filipino believers from a C&MA church on Oahu who simply wanted to see their neighbors come to know Jesus. The local congregation partners with the C&MA's Great Commission Fund, which supports more than 700 missionaries among the least-reached people groups in the world, and supplements that wider work with its own launched missionaries and ministry partners.
More than fifteen years ago, Lead Pastor Perry Alexander began a partnership with local believers in Uganda to feed, educate, and house hundreds of children living in poverty. The partnership has expanded to include child sponsorship, short-term trips, and the construction and funding of five Christian schools in East Africa. The congregation has also sent teams to Cambodia and Mexico, and continues to look for new ways to share the gospel both locally and globally.
Sunday Mornings at the Sanctuary on Oneawa Street
Worship happens twice each Sunday morning at 8:30 and 10:30 AM, both in person at the sanctuary on Oneawa Street and online through a livestream broadcast in Hawaii Standard Time. Each service runs about an hour and fifteen minutes and follows a familiar rhythm: families worship together in the sanctuary with their children, a children's sermon invites kids up on stage, and then the children are dismissed to age-appropriate classrooms while the adults hear an expository, Bible-based sermon. Worship music blends hymns and contemporary songs led by a rotation of more than fifty volunteers on the worship and tech teams.
On the first weekend of every month the entire congregation, including the children, celebrates the Lord's Supper together before the children head to Sunday school. Communion is open to anyone walking in faith with Jesus, and families who want guidance about their children participating are invited to talk with a pastor ahead of time. As a guest there is no pressure to give during the offering; the offering box is near the main doors, and giving is also available online through Tithe.ly, by text message to (808) 202-2659, or by mail to the church office.
The sermon archive stretches back several years and is freely browsable online, organized by date, series, speaker, scripture, and topic. Recent teaching series have walked through Revelation, the attributes of God, end-times prophecy, marriage and family, and a long arc through the whole Bible.
A Family-Focused Children's Ministry
Children's ministry is built around the conviction that the family is the best context for children to learn about Jesus. Kids begin in the sanctuary each Sunday for "Big Church," where the joyful noises of little ones are welcome; if a child needs more wiggle room, families can sit out on the lanai or step into the air-conditioned nursery in the Sunday School building. After the children's sermon, kids are walked to classrooms where trained and background-checked volunteers teach age-appropriate lessons. The curriculum is The Gospel Project for Kids, a Christ-centered, chronological journey through Scripture that covers Genesis to Revelation in three-year cycles.
AWANA runs on Wednesday nights for children from age 3 through high school, helping kids know, love, and serve Christ through Bible memory, games, and small-group time. Every summer, the campus transforms for Vacation Bible School, with volunteers staging a scene from Scripture and leading children through an adventure into truth and history. Annually, more than 100 volunteers serve in KCC Kids across Sunday school, AWANA, and VBS.
Beyond the church campus, Kailua Community Church also partners with Kainalu Elementary School to host the Good News Club, a free after-school Bible club for kindergarten through sixth grade. The club meets on Tuesdays in Room #1 and includes snacks, games, memory verses, and a Bible story, and is open to every student regardless of church background. Drop-off and pickup happen at the courtyard stage in front of Room #1.
The Branches: Youth Ministry
The youth ministry takes its name, "The Branches," from John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit." The group is for middle and high school students and is structured around worship, teaching, small groups, and a lot of fun.
Middle schoolers in seventh and eighth grade meet on Tuesdays from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The night opens in the sanctuary with games, then moves to the youth garage for worship, announcements, and a lesson, and ends in huis (small groups) where students talk through the lesson or whatever else is on their mind. High schoolers in ninth through twelfth grade meet on Thursdays from 5:30 to 8:00 PM. They begin with a family-style dinner on the lanai (meals are provided by youth families and church members), then move into games, worship, teaching, and huis. The teaching track for the 2025-2026 school year walks through "A Year with Jesus." The year also includes a baccalaureate service for graduating seniors in May and a high school formal held on campus.
Parents are often the most natural youth leaders, and the ministry invites adults to step in as big brothers and sisters to walk alongside students through their teenage years. Meal providers, event chaperones, and small-group hosts are all ways to serve.
Ohana Groups: Doing Life Together
Kailua Community Church is intentional about life beyond Sunday mornings, and the primary way members do that is through Ohana Groups, the Hawaiian word for family. Ohana Groups meet weekly or every other week in homes, on campus, and occasionally online. Groups are made up of singles, couples, families, students, "uncles and aunties," and children, and most include a shared meal, discussion of the sermon or a Bible study, and prayer for one another. Some groups also sing, share communion, or serve together in the community.
Beyond Ohana Groups, separate men's and women's ministries provide additional ways to connect. Women's groups meet on campus, in homes, and virtually for Bible study, encouragement, and prayer. Men's groups gather for Bible study, fellowship, surfing, accountability, mentorship, Iron Man groups, and fatherhood groups, with some meeting early before work and others on weekends. A young-adult community for those roughly 18 to 29 meets for monthly dinners, Bible studies, beach gatherings, and hikes, and is open to college students, career-track young adults, military members, and anyone "still figuring it out."
Prayer Ministry
Prayer is woven through the life of the church. Pastors, elders, and the prayer team pray weekly for the congregation and for individual requests submitted online, all kept confidential. Anyone can request prayer online, ask to be prayed over in person after a service, or join the prayer team, which meets on Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 PM. The teaching team also regularly preaches through prayer, treating it as the place "where the eternal touches the temporal and the ordinary changes into glory."
Missions and Uganda's Living Hope Christian School
Beyond giving to the C&MA's Great Commission Fund, Kailua Community Church directly supports a roster of missionaries and ministries. Locally, the church partners with River of Life Mission, a homeless ministry, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (Callen Coleman). Across the globe, the church supports Pastor Chris and his wife Sylvia at Living Hope Christian School in Nateete, a suburb of Uganda's capital city of Kampala; Martin and Joanna, who minister among a European Muslim diaspora; and the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), which trains African physicians in surgical residency programs at Christian hospitals. The church also partners with All About Jesus Ministries, a prison gospel outreach, and Harvest Family Life Hawaii (Brad and Esther McDaniel).
The Sponsor a Child program is one of the most tangible local-to-global connections. A gift of $30 per month provides a child at Living Hope Christian School with admission to a Christian school, a nutritious daily meal, educational materials, and daily supervision by trusted adults in a community where most families are among the poorest citizens of Uganda. Sponsors can write to their sponsored children using letter templates designed for kids and adults.
Serving in the Body
Members and regular attenders are invited to join one of several servant teams. KCC Kids, KCC Youth, the Worship Band and Tech Team, Sunday Serving Teams (greeters, parking, ushers), Facility Care, and Meal Trains all serve on rotations and welcome new volunteers throughout the year. Background checks are required for children's and youth ministry volunteers. The church also fields a Homeless Ministry Team and a Street Evangelism Team for those who want to take service beyond the campus.
Giving to the church supports all of the ministries above. Members and friends can give in service, online through Tithe.ly, by texting (808) 202-2659, by mail, or in the offering box at the sanctuary's main doors. Additional giving is directed toward the Sponsor a Child program, the Great Commission Fund, and other supported ministries.
What Kailua Community Church Believes
Kailua Community Church holds to the historic, orthodox Christian faith as part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. The church confesses one God, infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It teaches that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, who died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for the unjust, rose again according to the Scriptures, and now sits at the right hand of the Father as the great High Priest. The Holy Spirit is confessed as a divine person who indwells, guides, teaches, and empowers believers and convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
The Old and New Testaments are regarded as the inerrant, verbally inspired Word of God and the complete revelation of His will for salvation. Salvation is offered through Jesus Christ to all who repent and believe; believers are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive eternal life, and become children of God. The church also teaches the importance of Spirit-filled, sanctified living as both a crisis and a progressive experience after conversion, and it affirms provision for healing of the mortal body through prayer and anointing with oil.
In matters of last things, the church confesses a bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the Rapture of the Church prior to a seven-year Tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ at the close of that period, and a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. The ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper are observed, and the church is described in classic terms as the body of Christ, commissioned to make disciples of all nations.
Pastoral Team and Leadership
Perry Alexander serves as Lead Pastor. He holds a B.S. in Biology from San Diego State University, an M.Div. from Talbot Theological Seminary, an S.T.M. (ThM) from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a DMin. from Westminster Theological Seminary. He has taught theology and spiritual formation courses for more than thirty years and has long led the church's AWANA Cubbies program for three- and four-year-olds.
Jacob Butters serves as Associate Pastor. A graduate of the University of Hawaii with a B.B.A. in Entrepreneurship, he is working toward a Master of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. Josh Ley directs the youth ministry; he is a husband, father of seven, and a U.S. Marine captain with more than twenty years of service. Nicole Harbottle directs the Sunday School program, and Michelle directs the broader children's ministry. Peter Keizer ("Pastor Pete") serves on the pastoral team and oversees the Good News Club, and is also a member of the church's Governing Board. Don Bache serves as Business Administrator and Facilities Manager, Connie Bache as Treasurer, and Kara MacPherson as Ministry Assistant, with all three having served the congregation for many years.
The Governing Board, which meets monthly for prayer and discernment, also includes Tom MacPherson, Daniel Covert, Trevor Grant, John Mileham, Leanne Phillips, Ben Rayburg, and Lisa Wilson.