Lora Steiner
lsteiner@franconiaconference.org

Emerging church groups are hard to define. There is no pastor’s office, just a home phone number. Often there’s no set meeting time and, if there is, it’s not on Sunday morning. All of the following emerging worshipping groups are somehow affiliated with the conference —sometimes through a member, sometimes through the leaders, sometimes through an existing congregation. As with all churches, styles of worship vary and the visions and dreams of each congregation look a little different but all call themselves a part of the body of Christ, working to further the reign of God here on earth.

Centro de Alabanza, Philadelphia
Figuring out how Lety and Fernando arrived at Philadelphia Praise Center (PPC) is like playing a game of connect-the-dots. Or, as it were, connect-God’s-small-miracles.

The story begins with Alejandra Lopez, a graduate of Tabor College who was interested in going to Indonesia but had student loans to pay and needed to find a job. At the time PPC was joining Franconia Conference, so Franconia put Lopez in touch with PPC. PPC began with the vision of becoming a multicultural church, and asked Lopez, who is from Mexico, to help them start a service for the local Hispanic community.

When she lived in Mexico, Lopez had attended a church in Mexico City pastored by Kirk Hanger, who now leads New Hope Fellowship in Alexandria, Va. Hanger and Lopez knew of a Hispanic couple living in Denver, Co., gifted in evangelism and church planting. So they invited Fernando, Lety and their two daugthers to come to Philadelphia.

Since their arrival in Philadelphia, the couple has been working at outreach and evangelizing. About five percent of the population of South Philadelphia is Spanish-speaking; many are from Mexico, but others are from Honduras, Guatemala and Ecuador, meaning that although they share a common language, there are cultural differences. Many of the immigrants are undocumented, trying to find jobs and adjust to a new culture. Fernando and Lety have worked to make contacts within the community, but struggle to find times to meet because most immigrants don’t work regular hours. More than anything, their goal has been to befriend people.

“We wanted to serve God, and this is how we could do it,” says Fernando. Despite their struggles, Fernando and Lety can see the need and are working toward helping PPC realize its vision of a multicultural church. God is opening doors—more people are talking to them and they’re beginning Bible studies.

“Dios está cambiando vidas,” says Lety. God is changing lives.

Nueva Esperanza, Baltimore
While Kirk Hanger has played a supporting role in Philadelphia, he’s also working with a church plant in Baltimore called Nueva Esperanza.

Nueva Esperanza began two years ago, when the family of one of New Hope’s members expressed interest in starting a cell group in Baltimore. Services are conducted in Spanish, and currently all the attendees are immigrants from Mexico. The group is a mix of old and new believers, and is planning a baptismal service for mid-May.

Hanger hopes that the group will eventually become a full-fledged congregation. He drives to Baltimore most Sundays, but is praying for someone who could serve as a bi-vocational minister.

Hanger, who lived in Mexico for ten years, is always looking for ways to network with others to develop new congregations. He wants to make the work part of a broader ministry and utilize the leadership gifts of people to help multiply churches. He notes the most important thing is to be willing to take risks and try different things.

“Sometimes things work,” says Hanger, who is also working with a Spanish-speaking congregation in North Carolina. “Sometimes they don’t. If you’re out there scattering enough seed some things will come up and grow and that’s where you focus your energy. There are failures and successes, but you have to try.”

Crossroads, Chester, Vermont
Last fall, when Andover (Vt.) Community Church broke its ties with Franconia Conference and Mennonite Church USA, Christine and Daniel Chapman, who had pastored at the church, wanted to remain connected to the Mennonite Church. It turned out others felt the same and asked Chris and Dan to continue meeting.

The group, which calls itself Crossroads, recently had its second meeting. Worship services include music, but no sermons. There is time for discussion, coffee and snacks. Chris feels coffee is important, and not just for its caffeine jolt, “I think people share better over a cup of coffee.”

She is leading the group for now, trying to form a core group and waiting to see where it goes. The group’s vision from the beginning has been to “not just be hearers of the word, but be doers also.” Participants wanted to be missional—to go out and do mission, not just sit and talk.

Chapman shares that vision: “I want to see it be a missional group, to be able to get up at any moment and go help others, whether it’s down the street or across the ocean. They want to be the doers of the word…if that ‘do’ means that we meet at four and someone says, ‘Did you see that person down the street? Can we go down there?’ Then we go out and rake leaves or shovel snow.”

The group set some guidelines from the beginning—the biggest was encouraging participation from all, not letting anyone dominate the conversation—but they’re still asking questions about structure and service. Chapman says that their time together “does not, at all, in anyway, look like a typical church service. And I think right now that’s what people are looking for.”

Those who attend Crossroads are a mix of people from Andover—some attend both services—and others who don’t feel like they fit in standard church: they don’t speak the religious language, or buy into all the traditions and trappings that go with traditional church. Chapman says there are a lot of good things in tradition, and that she doesn’t want to “throw out the baby with the bathwater.” But, she adds, “I think tradition has ruled for too long.” She wants to see where it goes, to “have the ability to be flexible and yet hold on to that which is true.”

She’s not sure if they’ll ever have a church building, and she’s okay with that. “I’d like to see it develop and move in the way that God wants it to move,” says Chapman, “Not in the way that man wants it to move.”

Nations Worship Center, Silver Spring, Md.
Nations Worship Center, in Philadelphia, is initiating a new worshiping in Silver Spring, Md.
The new congregation is a mix of recent immigrants and Indonesians who are now citizens of the United States. Services are sometimes held in Indonesian and sometimes in English, especially since the younger members of the church don’t always speak Indonesian very well.

The Silver Spring group began in 2006, when a few persons living in suburban Washington, DC, Beny Krisbianto, pastor with the Philadelphia congregation, to come preach. Some of the group had family who lived in Philadelphia and were attending Nations Worship Center.

The small group started meeting each Friday, and grew rapidly. Recently the congregation began meeting regularly on Sundays. The church still meets in a home, which they call their “house of prayer.” They also hold a large service—such as a concert—each month.

The church is led by Beny Krisbianto; Yunis Perksasa who is also a pastor at the Philadelphia congregation; and Wanda Pesulima, who lives in suburban Maryland. One of the goals of the church is to connect with other Indonesian congregations in the area, as well as to reach out to the Indonesian community there. Pastor Krisbianto says that the church in South Philadelphia has always collaborated with other congregations and finds it important to connect so they don’t just pull members from other churches.

“Our vision for this year is to build a house of prayer,” says Krisbianto. The Nations Worship Maryland congregation spends time praying for the United States and those who work in Washington, D.C. “We’re trying to work with the other churches in prayer. Prayer is a common, simple vision. We can come together for prayer.”

Ripple Effects, Allentown, Pa
For every action, says Newton’s third law of motion, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Isaac Newton was concerned with the natural world, but his laws could easily be applied to people: With every interaction, our lives create ripples that flow out from us affecting others in their path. When the group “Ripple Effects” meets, they spend time talking about the ripples they’ve experienced and created in the past week—usually for the better, although sometimes for the worse.

Ripple Effects began just over a year ago mostly as an experiment: The Albrights had been a part of Whitehall for a dozen years, and Tom had been pastor of the congregation for nearly six. Tom was hired as an interim pastor and had only intended to stay 18 months; he was ready to try something different.

As a pastor, Tom had emphasized reaching out and inviting others in the church. He presented some of his ideas to the congregation, but not everyone shared his vision. At the same time, Franconia Mennonite Conference was encouraging its members to do “missional experiments” and leaders in the church and conference encouraged Tom and Carolyn to try some of their ideas.

“We thought, Okay, let’s do a missional experiment,” says Tom. And Ripple Effects was born. It started with brunch and a discussion on the Gospel of Mark; now the group meets weekly in various locations.

Their focus is to talk about Jesus. But they try to avoid “churchy” language and leave space to wrestle with the questions. “We had been meeting different people who knew they didn’t want to be part of churches for different reasons,” says Carolyn, “But were still asking good life questions.”

“What we’re doing, it seems to me, is being drawn towards the center of Jesus,” says Tom. “And being drawn means that we can meet all kinds of people along the way, and very openly, honestly, caringly and lovingly, say, ‘Would you like to join us in looking at this center?’ I picture it as a sea of the love of God. No one is outside of that.”

For the Albrights, Ripple Effects has been exciting and energizing, but also challenging. Carolyn says one of the unexpected challenges is the “unplanning” of it. “Because of not knowing how people are going to respond, we have to be flexible,” she says, “And realize that this is God’s event, not ours.”

For Tom, it has been a challenge—albeit a good one—to relate to non-Christians. “We have to learn—instead of how to hand out the tract next door­—how to be a real, authentic neighbor. Just love the person.”
Tom says that learning to interact in this way doesn’t change the message nor its truth, but it does leave more space for questions and doubts. “One of the things I’ve learned from teaching: you can teach lots of facts, but if they learn it for themselves, then they remember it. Then it’s theirs.”

Others say they appreciate that space; it’s encouraged them be open-minded or helped them get to know their neighbors. And it’s given them a community. “I’m happier about myself and the rest of the world after coming here,” says one.

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