Where We Worship
Wellspring emphasizes 'healthy family'

By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer

• Name of church: Wellspring Covenant Church.

Pastor Gerald Chinen, center, leads the musical group in a song during a church service at Wellspring Covenant Church on Iwaena Street in 'Aiea Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

• Where we are: 99-860 Iwaena St., 'Aiea.

• Our numbers: about 150 members.

• Our pastor: Dale Vallejo-Sanderson, senior pastor; Mary Ellen Azada, Gerald Chinen and Randy Furushima, pastors.

• What we believe: The church's vision statement reads: "Wellspring endeavors to introduce people to Jesus Christ and to welcome all people into a healthy family shaped by a biblically informed devotion to God, with life-changing friendships and shared experiences that impact the course of our community, islands and world, person by person."

• Our history: Wellspring is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church, a Christian denomination of more than 700 churches in the United States and 1,600 churches worldwide, which was formed by Swedish immigrants in 1885, Vallejo-Sanderson said.

Wellspring Covenant Church, the first and only Evangelical Covenant Church in Hawai'i, was established in February by Vallejo-Sanderson, Azada, Chinen and Furushima, all of whom have been friends for more than 20 years. During the first several months, members gathered at private homes, then at Maunawili Elementary School in Kailua and finally at the church's present site in Halawa Valley. Their "official, grand opening service," Vallejo-Sanderson said, was on Sept. 9.

• What we're excited about: "We're gathering those who are seriously interested in Wellspring, and we're having what we call 'Our Strategic Vision Night,'" Vallejo-Sanderson said. "We'll talk about where we are and where we see ourselves going."

The event, which is aimed at developing ideas to help shape the future direction and ministries of Wellspring, will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the church. "We're excited about that because we think these next six months (are a) really vital time to establish ourselves as a church," Vallejo-Sanderson said. "For us, it's really important to be a healthy, vibrant, self-sustaining church."

• What's special about us: One of the unique features of the church is that it offers personal trainers for those in need of improving, enhancing or better understanding their spiritual life. Trainers and members come up with a plan of action for a particular area of growth, such as learning to establish habits of praying effectively for others or learning better patterns for communicating with loved ones, then they work one-on-one for six weeks to reach that goal.

Other ministries include "Wednesdays at the Well," a weekly Bible study series known by members as W2, as well as a children's ministry that includes Bible study and games, cooking lessons, music and drama.

"We call it WaveMakers," Vallejo-Sanderson said. "We have this idea of seeing the kids making waves in this world with the goodness of who God is because their hearts have been nurtured."

• Contact: Call 484-8880 or visit wellspringhawaii.org

If you would like to recommend a faith organization for a Where We Worship profile, e-mail faith@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 535-8174 or write: Where We Worship, Faith Page, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.