by Mike Clemmer, Leadership Minister
On April 1, 2018 (Easter Sunday), Rockhill Mennonite Church and Ridgeline Community Church joyfully celebrated the resurrection of Jesus together in a nearly-filled-to-capacity Rockhill meetinghouse. This service was the culmination of a year-long journey of prayer, discussion, and discernment about the possibility of joining together officially as one church, united in God’s mission and service to the community. On the previous Sunday, each church individually affirmed their desire to merge together with nearly unanimous votes from both congregations, confirming the vision of the new entity. The new merger will be led by Gibson Largent, who is the founding pastor of the Souderton church plant named “Ridgeline Community Church.” The joint venture will be meeting at the former Rockhill Mennonite meetinghouse in Telford.
This merger process started organically early in 2017 when Rockhill’s pastor, Larry Moyer, informed the Leadership Team of his desire to retire within the coming year. At the same time, persons from Rockhill had started to relate to Pastor Largent through their involvement together in several community-run ministries. At the time, Ridgeline was meeting at the Boys and Girls Club in Souderton. Conversations about some sort of joining together started very slowly. In fact, the idea began as only a simple thought that started to grow into a possibility and then became intriguing to both parties. In the months ahead, differences in structure, theology, vision, and outreach were discussed together and prayed over by each congregation. Although there seemed to be a lot of hurdles to jump over, as well as many difficult decisions that needed to be made along the way, the doors of opportunity towards merging never closed.
In November of 2017, the congregations decided to explore more deeply the possibility of merger by holding 4 joint worship times together. They also engaged in fellowship meals and other opportunities to help to get to know each other better. During this time, both congregations saw a lot of sameness and unity in their core vision and purpose. Indeed, their styles of worship were very similar, they both were passionate about the Gospel and the scriptures, and they both had a desire to connect with the communities of Souderton and Sellersville around them. The decision was then made to keep moving forward and begin working at all the details necessary in making the possibility of a merger a reality. Legal issues involving the property and the cemetery needed to be dealt with, budgets and general structure had to be talked about, and areas of responsibility and accountability needed to be set up. While all of this was being discussed, both congregations still held meetings that allowed persons to share their concerns and support for the merger. There was deep sense that God’s Spirit was moving through the process. Denominational allegiances and personal preferences were put aside as there was a feeling that God was doing a work of synergy through the coming together of two groups.
Finally, in early March, both churches agreed to hold congregational votes to affirm the joint venture – and this passed with very strong support of everyone involved. This meant that Rockhill Mennonite Church would no longer exist as the entity that it once was, but instead would be a part of God’s movement in their community through the new, joint effort of Ridgeline Community Church. Their mantra for this new beginning is “better together.”
As this chapter of Rockhill Mennonite Church closes, their past will always be with us and will be remembered. In 1735, several families moved to West Rockhill Township and started a faith community that they called Rockhill Mennonite Church. It was founded as a church that would be located in the community that they resided in and was to be a lighthouse for the community in which they lived. Since that time, Rockhill has served the community and the Franconia Conference well. They have sent out persons into the broader church who have impacted the church around the world. Indeed, their own J. C. Wenger is one of the most well-known historians and theologians in the Mennonite Church to this day. The writings of Magdalene M. Derstine have been treasured for their inspirational content for many generations. And without the passion for history that John D. Souder exuded in forming the local Mennonite Historians, we may have lost a lot of treasures from our past. But as this new chapter of the Rockhill story unfolds, it is clear to see that the church and its merger is simply an extension of the original story. A story of Christian brothers and sisters being faithful to their original calling and purpose – and that is to exist for the community around them for the sake of Christ. May God bless this new work and use it for God’s glory!
As spiritual leaders, we hold power – it is given to us whether we want it or not. Therefore, it is important to understand and establish proper relational boundaries. Such boundaries help us maintain clear professional relationships and signal to others that it is safe to trust us. They aren’t intended to shackle us but to free us in our work as pastors and leaders. Healthy boundaries protect both us and our congregations: us from other people’s problems becoming overwhelming, and congregants’ from our unintentional misuse of power.
Since the end of 2017, when I resigned from a pastoral role at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life, I have been living in the space between church homes and between work roles. It was strange and exciting to know that in this in between space, I could visit other churches and experience worship and Word in new ways. However, there was no church home because I was “in between”. The ministry that I was involved in was my responsibility no longer and it was freeing to dream and envision what shape my role will take as Leadership Minister of Intercultural Formation with Franconia Conference, but hard to leave behind the relationships that I had nurtured for years. In the first two months of 2018, I was in interspace, in between, waiting for my new role to begin. Then in the beginning of March, I began my international adventure with a trip to Indonesia with the purpose of studying Indonesian, a language that I had once learned and spoken as a child, to enhance my future intercultural ministry within the conference.
What an experience! The food, the culture, the language, and the people brought my childhood in Indonesia flooding back. I kept moving between being so comfortable and so uncomfortable, so quickly it was disorienting. I was delighted to experience familiar tastes, words, and culture while feeling so humbled as a person who was learning a language and speaking it so poorly and who didn’t know the cultural expectations, so I embarrassed myself. This interspace of being in a different country required courage, creativity, willingness to fail, and engagement with people who were different. It was the perfect connecting space between my past experiences and my future hopes and ministry.
In our conference, we have a shared priority to be intercultural, meaning that we seek to connect, stand, and live in the space between the cultures represented in our conference and the world. This is different than being multicultural which advocates for equal respect and promoting cultural diversity. When “multi” is not enough, we seek “inter”. With multicultural, we still have a sense of “us and them”. With intercultural, a between space is created where “we” belong. Our conference priority is for networking and cultivating intercultural ministry relationships. This process is described as “including an assessment of current and emerging relationships that work cross-culturally while building further capacity toward mutually-beneficial relationships among ministries and congregations. Increasingly, these relationships will be defined by reciprocity and transformation rather than paternalism and patronization. Relationships will be built around both work and celebration, both doing and being together.” 
I wonder if the Biblical story of Samuel and Eli provides a glimpse of the need for the intergenerational witness of the church community. In Eli, we have the elder who knows that God has spoken in the past and holds the treasured words of response when God does speak. In Samuel, we have the young whose ears are open to the new words of God and can speak them courageously. Samuel needed Eli and Eli needed Samuel. In their relationship a door was opened to hear and understand the voice of God more clearly.
On Friday, March 16, close to 150 youth and adults representing Conference churches from Allentown to Philadelphia and in between, came together. They gathered together in worship and fun for the annual Junior High Late Night Blast. They played intense games of dodgeball, soccer, bubble soccer and the ever popular gaga pit.
During worship, 
Here are a sampling of their responses:
Yvonne Platts was baptized at an early age in the Mennonite church and has grown up at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life. Yvonne serves within her congregation on the Enlarging Our Place in Gods World Leadership Team. Her primary work is with 
Cory Longacre comes to the Conference Board recently finishing his third-and-final three year term on the Souderton Mennonite Church Board where he spent the last three years as chair. Cory grew up at 
Jeff Wright will serve as a LEADership Minister, specifically working with Franconia Conference’s three congregations in Southern California: Indonesian Community Christian Fellowship, International Worship Church, and Jemaat Kristen Indonesia Anugerah (JKIA or Grace Indonesian Christian Fellowship). Jeff has served in a dual role as pastor of 
Chantelle Todman Moore comes to Franconia Conference as Intercultural Leadership Coach, where she will focus her work with our 15 urban congregations, looking at cultivating next generation leaders, focusing on persons age 15-35. She has also been tasked to think about what it takes for persons of color in ministry leadership to flourish and how that can be cultivated within Franconia congregations.
Marta Castillo is not new to the Franconia team, but will be increasing her time. After serving almost five years on the Conference Board, Marta joined Franconia Conference as a LEADership Minister in in 2016, while simultaneously serving as co-pastor at Nueva Vida Norristown New Life. She stepped away from the position at Nueva Vida in December, as she felt the Spirit leading her elsewhere. At the time she did not know that “elsewhere” would include increased time with Franconia Conference. The Conference is grateful to have Marta move into the role of LEADership Minister of Intercultural Formation. The daughter of Franconia Conference-rooted mission workers, she has been shaped by all four of the linguistic cultures in Franconia Conference, growing up in both Vietnam and Indonesia. While being a primary English speaker, she lives in a bilingual family and community of English/Spanish speakers.
There was food afterward the worship services. After over a decade of walking alongside Indonesian congregations, I recognize the gracious island hospitality and celebration that remains intact here in the States as well. At IWC, I had a bowl of spaghetti brought from the kitchen, when the servers realized that I didn’t eat seafood, which was the main dish provided for lunch. At ICCF, there was an anniversary celebration which included traditional Indonesian satay, rice and soup, along with karaoke that was a mix of pop, praise songs and traditional hymns.
There is still a sense of surprise for me that we are here in this time and place. This trip meant beginning to think and care for California in a way that I haven’t before – as a pastor. What is the Spirit provoking through this holy experiment? In what ways can we live and move into this time and space, where God’s capacity is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or imagine through the power at work within us (Ephesians 3.20)?
How extraordinary that night was! Thousands of people went out into the streets, walking towards Center City, celebrating with enthusiasm and spontaneity. What I remember is people gave each other a smile, high fives, shouted “E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles,” hugged, shared food and drink. Regardless of the color of your skin, without asking for immigration status, regardless of belief and background, all celebrated victory and joy. One friend said “Aldo, this is a bit of the taste of heaven, where there is excitement, there is unity.”