The Opportunity
Hawaiʻi experienced one of the most dramatic awakenings in Christian history. In just twenty years — from the arrival of the missionaries in 1820 to the Constitution of 1840 — a nation that had practiced human sacrifice within living memory became a constitutional Christian monarchy with one of the highest literacy rates on earth.
But this heritage is now largely forgotten. The universities have rewritten Hawaiʻi’s Christian history as a story of colonial oppression, and much of the church has accepted that version without pushing back. Hawaiʻi’s Christians are spiritually rooted but historically unarmed. They know what they believe but can’t explain where it came from or answer the lies being told about it.
The battle for Hawaiʻi’s spiritual future starts with telling the truth about its past. The Hawaiʻi Christian Heritage Project is a three-year effort to recover, explain, and pass on this inheritance — producing original books, modernized historic texts, and public teaching for churches across the islands.
Three Original Books
The Forgetful Kingdom
The story of how the gospel transformed the Hawaiian Islands and what went wrong when a nation chose to forget the God who blessed it. Drawing on missionary journals, royal letters, government records, and Scripture, the book traces the pattern that runs from Deuteronomy through Judges to the shores of the Pacific.
Awakening in Hawaiʻi
The first book-length account of the Great Awakening of the 1830s written for a general Christian audience. Entire districts came to faith, mass baptisms transformed communities, and the revival stands as one of the great works of God in the modern era.
Heroes of Hawaiʻi
Seven biographical profiles of men and women whose faithfulness shaped Hawaiʻi’s Christian story — missionaries who crossed oceans and Hawaiian converts who shaped a Christian nation. Each life offers lessons in courage, perseverance, and the fruit of patient labor across generations.
Nine Modernized Historic Works
Nineteenth-century texts — including Titus Coan’s Life in Hawaii and the Memoirs of Henry Obookiah — updated for today’s readers with new introductions that explain the historical and theological background. Three volumes published each year, available in print, eBook, and audiobook formats.
Timeline
About
Sterling Higa is a servant of Christ, husband, and father to four. He brings 15 years of leadership in Hawaiʻi, including founding Housing Hawaiʻi’s Future and serving as Chair of the Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority. He holds a master's degree from Harvard and is soon to begin an M.Div. His ministry future is in Hawaiʻi, and this project is designed to serve Hawaiʻi’s churches for generations.
The project operates under fiscal sponsorship of a Hawaiʻi-based 501(c)(3). An Advisory Council of church and community leaders provides strategic guidance.
Supporters
We are grateful for the churches, organizations, and individuals who have partnered with this work.
Partner With Us
We invite churches, Christian schools, and individuals who share a commitment to Hawaiʻi’s spiritual flourishing to join this work.
All contributions are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor.