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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Saturday, August 24, 2002

WHERE WE WORSHIP
Essence of New Life found in its children

By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer

Pastor Peter Louis of New Life Christian Fellowship said basic beliefs of the church include reaching out to the world, peace with mankind and commitment to Christ.

Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

• Name of church: New Life Christian Fellowship

Our denomination: Mennonite

Where we are: Moanalua Recreation Center

Our numbers: Between 65 and 70 attend weekly worship services at 10:15 a.m. every Sunday

Our pastor: Peter Louis, a licensed minister who received training through the Lancaster Mennonite Conference in Pennsylvania. Louis plans to become an ordained minister within the next year.

What's special about us: The children of New Life Christian Fellowship "are the heartbeat of the church," Louis said.

The families of the church have an average of at least four children. "The children outnumber the adults ... so everything revolves around them," he said.

The church puts emphasis on the children, Louis said, through its various youth ministries, such as Sunday school, Bible study and prayer groups, and mission work.

Our history: The word "Mennonite" is derived from the name of an early church leader, Menno Simons. The Mennonite or Anabaptist (to re-baptize) movement began in 1525 during the Protestant Reformation. In Europe, a group of believers in Jesus Christ and the Bible felt that Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli had not taken the Reformation far enough, Louis said. Their desire was to recover the New Testament understanding of Christianity.

New Life Christian Fellowship began when a missionary named Gary Morris came to Honolulu from Lancaster in 1987 for a five-year church-planting term. "His vision was to raise up local leaders and to have us go out to reach the local people," Louis said.

Morris did "door-to-door" evangelism, started Bible studies at his home and eventually started Sunday services in his house until the congregation grew to about 20 people. To accommodate the growing numbers, members met at Palama Settlement in 1988, and in 1992, they moved to the Moanalua site. Morris stayed with the church until 1999. An acting senior pastor stepped in until 2000, when Louis became the new pastor.

What we believe: "At the center of our ministry's teachings is the need to believe in Jesus Christ as the model for life, and as the one who died and rose from the dead in order that people could live in union with God," Louis said.

Basic beliefs of the church, Louis said, include reaching out to the world, peace with mankind, a New Testament pattern for church life, voluntary membership and commitment to Christ, and discipleship growth.

Members also believe that the Bible is central and it is interpreted literally through expository teaching. The two sacraments are communion, which is celebrated every six weeks, and believers baptism (rather than the baptism of infants). The Mennonite church ordains those who are married, but does not ordain women or gay people. But Louis noted that gay individuals "are welcome as members," he said.

"The heartbeat of our ministry is abiding in Christ, caring for others, teaching the world and proclaiming the gospel," Louis said.

What we're excited about: For the past two summers, New Life Christian Fellowship has sent youth members — students in high school through college — to Ensenada, Mexico, to do mission work. During their most recent trip, Aug. 1 to 10, 10 students went to a local church in Ensenada and held a vacation Bible school with the children, and helped the pastor fix his house and church.

The church also has an all-ages surf camp ministry, in which participants go to a beach to surf or learn how to surf. "Recently we did one up in San Diego (in August)," Louis said. "Basically what it is is gathering the youth and having a time of fellowship and Bible reading. It's almost like a vacation Bible school."

• Contact: Call 847-6308 or e-mail nlcfc@juno.com.

If you would like to recommend a faith organization for a Where We Worship profile, e-mail faith@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8035 or write: Where We Worship, Faith Page, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.