HONOLULU, Hawaii – When a church the size of Wai‘alae Baptist is following a Great Commission call, one of the constant needs is more workers to reach more people, says Pastor Matt Sanders.
Some might say Wai‘alae Baptist, which averages 107 people at Sunday services, is doing enough, but Sanders sees the need, the opportunity and the challenges to do more for the cause of Christ.
A current example is the church’s weekday preschool, which closes this month after nearly 20 years of ministry.
“We struggle getting qualified, Christian teachers,” Sanders told Baptist Press. “There’s a need. We have the students, but not enough staff.”
Even with the preschool’s closing, the church has plenty to do including a lecture series, arts program, and several local ministries. It’s also involved in Haiti and Japan with plans to resume trips to Japan soon to develop ministry partnerships there.
The church website includes a link to “Maui Send Relief,” nearly two years after fire devastated Lahaina, and mentions the link every Sunday.
“It’s a reminder – people still haven’t recovered,” Sanders said. “I was there a few months ago and it doesn’t look much different from right after the fire. We can’t pray, love or care by the headlines. We pray and meet needs as long as there are needs.”
These ministries are not by accident. The church’s missions team prays for and plans missions locally and globally.
“This team asks: ‘How do we reach, support and connect with people here and wherever God leads?’” he said.
“I would love to have our people serving all over the world, but then no one would be here Sunday morning,” Sanders quipped.
Despite ongoing needs for more teachers, leaders and other volunteers, Sanders’ focus is not on recruiting but on equipping through discipleship and training.
“We are very committed to being who we are as a church,” Sanders said. “That means we unapologetically focus on God’s Word.”
For example, Wednesday nights, there is a Bible study on the text that will be preached the following Sunday. Throughout the next week, different groups meet to discuss how the text affects their lives and the church.
“This week, we will focus for about three hours on five verses of the Bible,” Sanders said.
“It’s trying to help people understand while the Gospel is simple, it’s not easy. We’re not trying to be counter-cultural, but that kind of approach to the Bible is not always attractive.”
Wai‘alae Baptist allocates 13 percent of undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program, the method Southern Baptists use to work together to globally spread the Gospel. In 2024, a typical year, members also supported seasonal missions offerings – Annie Armstrong (North American missions) and Lottie Moon (international missions) – with a total of more than $9,400 in non-budgeted giving.
“We understand and appreciate what the Cooperative Program does and we benefit from it too,” Sanders said. “Could we support even one missionary overseas? Probably not. We understand this: We can do more together.”
Cooperation, however, for Sanders doesn’t mean that Southern Baptists will agree on everything.
“Southern Baptists are a deliberative people,” he said. “We have decided that prayerful deliberation is the best way to understand God’s direction.
“We’re not always going to agree. It’s OK if what is decided is not exactly the way I would do it. I think that’s part of the spirit we have as Southern Baptists. If I’m only going to cooperate with people I agree with 100 percent of the time, I wouldn’t cooperate with anyone!”
Sanders said that when Southern Baptists come to help in Hawaii missions projects they work together agreeably, focused on the task – such as recovery after the Lahaina fires– but back on the mainland those same individuals may differ on theological issues.
“You either buy the whole cooperative spirit – who we are as Southern Baptists – or you don’t,” Sanders said. “When our eyes are focused on the harvest, we find unity. When we focus elsewhere, we are at risk.”
Local missions
Alec and Belle Waterhouse were members of Wai‘alae Baptist in the1990s when they set up a trust that would provide funds for the church “to further the tenets of Christianity.” This has enabled the church to host as many as eight teaching and evangelism events each year. Today it’s three or four a year so as to not wear out volunteer workers.
“We want ministries to grow organically here,” Sanders said. “As people grow in their faith, God brings them together and gives them a heart for a specific ministry.”
In a month, Sanders will have completed 10 years at Wai‘alae Baptist. In recent months, God has taught him to “be even more intentional” about certain things.
“Be intentional about developing teachers, about connecting with other pastors, about leading our church to plan for the short-term and long-term,” he said. “Sometimes we get too busy doing so many good things that important things get left undone.”
The most important thing to be intentional about for Sanders is that the church be healthy and trust God to grow ministries and provide workers from a healthy church.
“We want to be a community of disciples who are united by the Spirit to focus on God’s Word and living out His love with Him, one another, and the world He has placed us in,” Sanders said.
“Our greatest opportunity is in the continued growth of the people God has already brought to us,” he said.
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The Cooperative Program — then & now 
Cooperative Program in the News
