A Witness to Aloha (2020) | Full Documentary | Doug Koehn | Joanne Kurata | Dennis James Lee

For over two centuries, Kawaiaha‘o Church has been known as the “Great Stone Church” and the “Westminster Abbey of the Pacific.” Deriving its name from “Ka Wai a Ha‘o,” the freshwater pool of Chiefess Ha‘o, it was in this pool where the Ali‘i bathed and the site upon which the very first Christian church on Oahu would be built.
On July 31, 1838, Queen Ka’ahumanu, the wife of Kamehameha the Great, commissioned the construction of Kawaiaha’o Church. The Reverend Hiram Bingham was the chief architect and became the first ‘Kahu’ of the church. 14,000 giant slabs of coral, each weighing 1,000 pounds, were transported from the Wai’anae Coast, and after five years of intense labor, the Great Stone Church was completed.
From its beginnings in 1820 as a Hawaiian Mission Company from Boston bringing the Gospel to Hawaiʻi to its legacy of impacting influences that would transform the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Over the next 100 years, the Hawaiian Islands began to integrate with the western world. The Hawaiian royalty accepted the new western religion of Christianity and eventually, the majority of Hawaiians followed their example. Missionary families worked alongside the Ali’i, resulting in a growth of ethnic peoples in the islands while providing the first Bible translated into Hawaiian. At the center of this, Kawaiaha’o Church became the gathering place not only for church services but celebrations and state functions with international dignitaries in attendance.
Director: Dennis James Lee
Writers: Doug Koehn, Joanne Kurata, Dennis James Lee