News & stories Cambodian and Indonesian churches in Philadelphia find new life PHILADELPHIA, PA. – During the last decade of the 20th century, the Philadelphia Cambodian Mennonite Church grew rapidly to a peak membership of 250. Leonard Burkholder, EMM field staff for language group development, remembers huge baptismal services for 20-40 people at a time. But sadly for the past five years, the church has been in decline – almost as rapidly as it had grown. Pastor Sarin Lay, who had built up the congregation, moved out of town. Other members drifted away. Some threw all their energies into achieving “the American dream” and had no time for church. Finally last year the remaining core group of 12-15 committed Cambodian members sold their previous facility and downscaled to a row house in the heart of the south Philadelphia Cambodian community. Since Pastor Lay left, Leonard has been filling in as pastor, working closely with a Cambodian leadership team. He said, “It feels like a fresh start. And the church is starting to grow again. One of the elders, Ath Chan, has been very active in outreach. We have new people coming and finding the Lord. Another elder, Tang Hao, is a wonderful Bible teacher. I’m encouraged by the new spiritual depth. The members are seeing the need to concentrate on spiritual growth rather than gathering a large number of people with no spiritual depth.” Even as the Cambodian church began to decline, new immigrants fleeing persecution and economic difficulties in Indonesia have been packing out the Indonesian Mennonite Church in Philadelphia. It shares facilities with the Abundant Life Chinese Mennonite Church and has just gone to two services. As Leonard works alongside an interim Indonesian pastor, he compared the two congregations he’s currently helping to shepherd. He noted that as newcomers to the U.S. the Cambodians are about a generation ahead of the Indonesians. He said, “When the Cambodian church was growing so rapidly I used to worry about the lack of discipling of the new believers. Now as the Indonesian church is enjoying a rapid growth spurt, we are working hard to lay strong foundations. We also have programs for children and youth.” In January 2006, the Philadelphia Cambodian Mennonite Church and the Indonesian Mennonite Church became members of the Harvest Fellowship of Churches. Harvest is an EMM partner that grew out of the New England District of Lancaster Mennonite Conference to become its own autonomous fellowship of churches, committed to reaching the least reached in North America. Back to news and stories