Our Story So Far

Harbor is the result of a unique partnership between Faith Baptist Church in Kailua and the Evangelical Free Church movement. God brought the new congregation to life through his work in the lives of Matt Dirks & Tony Kawaguchi. In the Spring of 2004 God gave Matt & Tony a strikingly similar vision for a new church in Hawai‘i.

In summer 2005, Faith’s congregation in Kailua (where Matt served as an associate pastor and Tony as worship director) enthusiastically sent a team of people to Hawai‘i Kai to begin the church with the help and guidance of the Evangelical Free Church association, a movement that seeks to multiply healthy churches among all people.

We met in a living room until we could no longer fit, and held our grand opening service at Koko Head School in spring 2006. As we grew, we established community groups across the island, offering a place for people to be encouraged and equipped as they reached the people in their own neighborhoods. Our community groups quickly became the heartbeat of our church.

After meeting on Sunday evenings for three years, in 2009 we shifted our gatherings to Sunday mornings in Kaimuki. We’re stoked to be in a central place where we can bless the city and the island.

In 2010 we became part of the Acts 29 network, a movement of churches who plant churches. Our desire is to help launch many new, reproducing, gospel-centered churches across the islands and around the world. As part of this goal, we are also partnered with other island churches for the expansion of gospel-centered ministry through The Gospel Coalition Hawai‘i.