Six weeks ago, Gateway, Kaua‘i’s newest Christian ministry, began as a Bible study group meeting at Pastor Mark Randolph’s home. “We quickly outgrew that,” said Randolph. Now the growing parish meets weekly at the Aloha Beach Hotel at 10 a.m.
Six weeks ago, Gateway, Kaua‘i’s newest Christian ministry, began as a Bible study group meeting at Pastor Mark Randolph’s home.
“We quickly outgrew that,” said Randolph. Now the growing parish meets weekly at the Aloha Beach Hotel at 10 a.m. on Sundays.
Randolph has been in ministry for 20 years, as well as having been reared in it.
“I see a lot of good people hurt unintentionally by religious people,” he said. “Some churches are more about rules than relationships. The Gateway philosophy is to ‘come as you are.’”
Randolph’s intent is to encourage those who have had a bad experience with a church to return to Christianity. “Jesus didn’t come to establish Christianity — he came to repair our relationship with God.”
It is in the spirit of repair that Randolph reaches out to the community. “We are not focusing on building a ministry, we are simply reaching out to those who are disconnected from God.”
Randolph’s concerned about Christianity on a national level. “Christians are being made out to all be Republican,” he said. “Even God is being made out to be a Republican. Let God be God and not what we try to make him out to be.”
He described Gateway as, “a group of people who are growing in their faith and reaching out to those who have yet to experience the aloha of God.”
“We need to recapture the essence of Christianity,” he said, “which is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.”
Gateway also airs it’s service on Ho‘ike, Channel 52 on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and on Fridays at 9 a.m.
