St. Peter's Episcopal Church

The Chinese founding families of St. Peter’s Church were Christians in China before arriving in Hawai`i.  Lutherans by denomination through the work of the Basel Mission in China, they migrated to Kohala on the Big Island of Hawai`i in search of work opportunities.  Eventually migrating to Chinatown on Oahu, the families connected with the Anglican diocese within the Kingdom of Hawai`i and founded The Parish of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church of Honolulu in 1887.  Initially meeting in a Chinatown store, Queen Emma invited the congregation to meet at the Pro-Cathedral on the Cathedral grounds.  With the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Bishop Henry Bond Restarick arrived from the United States, encouraging and supporting the congregation to build its current church building on the Cathedral Square, dedicated in 1914. 
For sixty plus years, the congregation worshiped in Hakka, a dialect of Chinese.  While St. Peter’s remains one of the oldest historically Chinese congregations among Asian American Episcopal churches, the congregation today is reflective of the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, cosmopolitan dynamics of Honolulu and Hawai`i.  The congregation reconnected with its ecumenical roots with its current rector, an ELCA pastor serving under “Called to Common Mission.”

Over the decades, families in the church have worked with artists to design and contribute brilliant stained glass windows and koa wood pews and reredos.  The congregation welcomes you and hopes that you find the beauty of St. Peter’s worship space to be an aid to your worship of God and the contemplation of your faith and the community to be a source of fellowship, support, and care as we live out our faith as disciples of Jesus Christ in this world!