Over the week of Christmas, longtime Fountain Hills resident Jackie Miles visited the City of Mililani, on the Island of O’ahu to spend the holiday with her son, Dr. Jeffrey Douglas Miles and his family.

An elder at the Fountain Hills Presbyterian Church, Miles made a point of visiting the Mililani Presbyterian Church.

Known to its congregants as “The Church of the Open Doors,” the church holds regular church services on Sundays. However, to Miles’ delight, she found that the Mililani Presbyterian Church held services for a variety of congregations throughout the day.

Every Sunday morning, the Presbyterian congregation meets at 9 a.m., followed by a second worship service in Korean at 10:30 a.m. The Rainbow House Church of Christ worship service is held at 3 p.m. followed by a Micronesian worship service at 5 p.m.

For its Christmas Eve service, Miles said all the congregations worshiped together at 7 p.m. which began with messages from the Presbyterian ministers Ron Pfeifer and Kho-Hun Kim, who invited the congregants to say the Lord’s Prayer as one, in the language of their choice.

“It was just very pleasant,” Miles said, who attended the Dec. 24 service with her son Jeffrey and his family.”

Miles was enthralled not only by the multicultural aspect of the church but also by the church itself, taking time to observe the strong timber and floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open to the four compass points.

“One can see through all four walls, with windows and glass doors on all four sides of the building,” Miles wrote in a letter following her trip.

The worship center was constructed in 1980, designed by the pastor at the time, Rev. Taylor Potter who was also an architect, according to current pastor, Rev. Ron Pfeifer.

Special music was provided by Violist Andrew Kim and Hula Dancer Paige Nakashima. The Samoan Congregational Church Choir also performed, followed by the Rainbow House Choir.

The message for the evening was titled, “A Place at the Manger,” where the various pastors participated in the lighting of the Christ Candle and candles of the congregants as they sang, “Joy to the World.”

Miles has taken several trips to Hawaii to visit her son, however, it was her first time visiting the Mililani Presbyterian Church and likely not her last.

“There is a very diverse population there; Japanese, Chinese, of course the native Hawaiians and those stateside,” Miles said. “What a wonderful and memorable multi-cultural event this was.”

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