The First Chinese Church of Christ exists in an island of calm surrounded by Longs on one side, the Kaiser Permanente Honolulu Medical Office on the other, McKinley High School across the street and the busy King Street bike lane just outside its property line.

Once you cross onto the grounds, all of that activity seems muted. The ornate church, built in 1926 by renown Hawaii architect Hart Wood, blends Christian symbols and Chinese motifs with Hawaii-style architecture.

“We’re obviously, despite our name, not entirely Chinese,” said church board member Lois Mui. The English-speaking members of the congregation are mostly the descendants, seven generations down, of the original Chinese families who immigrated to Hawaii, lived in Chinatown and attended the church, established in 1879.

The Mandarin-speaking members of the congregation are new immigrants, many of them young professionals and academics who work at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The congregation is East and West, old and new, united in bilingual church services.

Saturday, the Chinese church held a Hawaiian dinner for 300 members to say aloha to their kahu, Pastor Kekapa Lee, who is retiring after nearly a decade at the church and 40 years of ministry.

“People ask how a Chinese church got a Hawaiian pastor, and I say it’s a perfect fit! It’s God’s call!” Mui said.

Lee was the leader of all the Hawaiian Congregational churches statewide before accepting the position at First Chinese Church of Christ. At his new post, he introduced an ukulele ministry (he is a past Na Hoku Hanohano award winner for best religious album), helped build a fledgling youth group to 50 members by offering to pick up and drop off Chinatown kids in his Buick, and shared his motto, “Aloha kekahi i kekahi,” which means “Love one another.”

“It means caring for one another, forgiving, reaching out with love. We try to be a church that lives that,” Lee said.

Harvey Kekapa ahu ula o ka poohiwi o Kamehameha Lee (his middle name, a family name, means “the red feather cape covering the shoulders of Kamehameha”) grew up in Hilo in a family of seven children living in a two-bedroom house near the river. His mother was Hawaiian, his father Hawaiian-Chinese. They were active members in the Olaa First Hawaiian Church and the large Haili Church, where Lee sang in the choir and learned to think of the church as an extended ohana, with the kahu of the church serving as loving parental figures.

He became a boarding student at Kamehameha Schools Kapalama, graduating in 1964. From there, Lee served in the Army in Okinawa and Vietnam. He returned home after his military service and attended the University of Hawaii in Hilo for his bachelor’s degree. Unsure of his path in life after college, Lee said he prayed for guidance and received what he terms “a call.”

“It was a feeling, a sense that God was calling to me. I was trying to figure out what God wanted me to do. I prayed and people prayed for me. God just opened the doors for me, financially and everything.”

Lee left Hawaii for Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., where he earned his master’s degree in divinity. He worked as a youth pastor in California for several years before returning to Hawaii.

At First Chinese Church of Christ, Lee became known for never denying a request for assistance and for rarely asking for help. He makes regular visits to hospitals and care homes, sometimes several facilities a day several days a week. He does home visits for the sick and is spotted sweeping the floor of the sanctuary, something his congregation isn’t sure he should be doing. After all, he is the pastor.

He quickly shrugs off that notion.

“If I can do it, I should do it. I’m part of the group,” Lee said. “The pastor is one with the people, not above.”

He’s worried that he’s getting forgetful, and the demands of being a full-time pastor can be tiring. “I’m 72 years old,” he said, though he seems almost ageless.

He plans to rest a bit, but he intends to help whenever he is called. It’s just not in him to say “no” when people ask.

“When you’re a pastor, you’re never not a pastor,” he said.

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Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@ staradvertiser.com.