Pukaʻana Congregational Church traces its story to the great turning of Hawaiʻi’s history, when the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) arrived in 1820 to share the Gospel and support literacy and community flourishing. Hawaiian leaders and families soon embraced Christianity in ways that honored both ancestral identity and newfound faith, creating a distinctly Hawaiian expression of church life. Founded in 1849, Pukaʻana emerged from this movement—built not by missionaries, but by the Hawaiian people themselves, stone by stone and prayer by prayer, forming a congregation whose very name, Pukaʻana (“Exodus”), speaks to a journey of liberation, faith, and communal resilience.

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The congregation became anchored by two sanctuaries: the mother church, built in 1849 along the Hoʻokena shoreline, and the keiki church, built in 1900 on the main road in Kealia. For many decades they served side-by-side—one by the ocean, one in the village—until a major earthquake in 1950 severely damaged the mother church, leaving only three walls standing. While the keiki church became and remains the spiritual heart of the congregation, the ruins of the mother church endure as a symbol of steadfast faith and a quiet pilgrimage site where many still come to reflect, pray, and remember.

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Through the 20th century, Pukaʻana continued to walk in step with the broader movement of mission-founded Hawaiian churches, ultimately joining the Hawaiʻi Conference of the United Church of Christ. When the UCC was formed nationally in 1957, Pukaʻana stood firmly within that legacy—rooted in Congregational polity, committed to aloha, and devoted to living the Gospel in ways that honor both Christ and Hawaiian identity. Today, the church continues its exodus journey as a beacon of hope on the Kona coast: grounded in Christ, connected to community, and faithful to caring for creation and neighbor alike.