KOLOA, Kaua'i — An odd field of corn across from the Kaua'i Christian Fellowship is something of a cross between a crop circle and a formal garden maze — a corn maze.

Or if you wanted to be cute, a maize maze.

Mazes cut into fields of corn are pretty well-known in the Midwest, where grain is king, but rare in the Islands. They're ephemeral things, lasting only the few months a crop of corn does.

Pastor Rick Bundschuh of the Kaua'i Christian Fellowship had read about corn mazes and talked to some Midwesterners who work with Pioneer Seed, which has experimental corn fields growing all over the island. They knew all about such things, he said.

"They just lit up," Bundschuh said, and they agreed to plant a two-acre square of corn on land loaned to the project by Grove Farm Co. It is across the Koloa bypass road, Ala Kinoiki, from the church.

Bundschuh said that satellite navigation technology, known as GPS, for global positioning system, has allowed maze-makers to develop complex patterns and transfer them accurately into cornfields.

"All of a sudden people were cutting mazes that from the air were just amazing," he said.

The Kaua'i corn was planted Aug. 15, and in mid-September, the church brought in Missouri maze-maker Rob Stouffer, who laid out a pattern in the corn using satellite navigation technology. This maze is a basic geometrical shape with all right-angle turns.

The entrance and exit are right next to each other, but you can wander a mile of 4-foot-wide pathways inside the maze before finding the exit — if you can find the exit.

Bundschuh said attendants are present to help people who get lost or frustrated. They don't want anyone to start knocking down corn stalks to find a way out, since that would ruin the maze for everyone else.

For groups, the church sometimes sets up games in the maze, some of which can require participants to explore all of the pathways rather than just finding the shortest route out.

Bundschuh said the maze will remain open until Halloween, when the corn will be cut down. "We think in four or five weeks, everyone who wants to go through it will have had an opportunity," Bundschuh said.

The church is using the maze as a way to connect with the community. But although "we hope to make a spiritual connection in some way," maze walkers won't be required to participate in religious activities, he said.

The church is thinking about planting another corn maze next fall, perhaps one with a more free-form pattern.

"There is one with lots of intersecting circles," he said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.