In June of 2022 we began discussions in our Bishop’s Committee, our governing board, on a resolution stating that all people are welcome as members at St. Stephen’s. The Bishop’s Committee began to discuss and develop the following resolution and to bring it to the membership in January 2024. Here is the resolution we will discuss at our January 2024 Annual Meeting.

“We the People of St.Stephen’s Episcopal Church strive to seek, love, and serve God, welcoming all to gather in worship, serve those in need, affirm our Hawaiian historic culture and trandiions, care for the environment, and listen and respond to each other.

• If you are Asian, Hispanic, Native, Black, White, or Other; If you are a child, a youth, an adult, or an elder;
• If you are male, female or transgendered;
• If you are straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning;
• If you are single, married, partnered, divorced, separated, or widowed;
• If you’re a life-long Christian, have never set foot in a church, or if it’s just been a while; If you are conservative, liberal, in-between or undecided – politically or theologically;
• If you are healthy or if you walk the road of ill health, mental illness, or addiction; If you have a squeaky-clean record or have gotten crosswise to the law;
• If you have a graduate degree, an elementary education, or neither; If you are wealthy, poor, or somewhere in between;
• If you live in a house, an apartment, a room, a car, or on the street; If you are fully-abled, disabled, or a person of differing abilities;
• If you recognize yourself in this list or wonder whether you fit:

You are welcome here. We seek to extend the radical hospitality of Jesus Christ by inviting all to full participation in the life of His Church. In faithfulness to the Gospel; the holy, catholic, and apostolic tradition; and our Anglican and Episcopal heritage, and to the best of our ability, we pledge ourselves to sharing our life of worship, fellowship, service, and mutual care with all who seek God in this place.”

Juneteenth Statement on Racial Justice 6.19.21

The St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wahiawa strives to be a place of unconditional welcome and a beacon of God’s love in the heart and soul of Hawaii, the Pacific, and the world. Our mission is to nurture a community of courageous followers of Jesus and to inspire the love of God and love of neighbors. We work and live to bring peace, justice, and reconciliation to a troubled world, to all peoples and all creation.

Following the commandment of Jesus Christ to love our neighbors as ourselves, and living into our Baptismal Covenant we pledge to respect the dignity of every human being, we dedicate ourselves in earnest to promote racial justice & reconciliation, healing, understanding, and forgiveness, within our parish and the communities where we live and serve, and the world.