A charming single-wall, Carpenter Gothic church with a walkway and lanai running along its sides, St. John's turns its back on the road to face a panoramic view of west Maui and the ocean. Its enclosed, gabled entrance proclaims in Chinese script, “St. John's House of Worship.” The open belfry with its slightly flared roof contributes to the overall grace of this chapel. The church was established by the Reverend Shim Yin Chin in response to the desire of some Chinese farmers, the primary inhabitants of Keokea at the turn of the twentieth century, to learn about Christianity. Father Shim had been ordained as a Lutheran minister in China and came to Hawaii in 1899 at the age of thirty-one, most likely at the urging of his friend and former classmate Kong Yin Tet, vicar of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Honolulu. The lanai and walkway were added to the church during a remodeling in 1987.