by Makmur Halim
I was born into a Buddhist family. My parents didn’t know Jesus. In my childhood, my parents took me to the Baptist school in South Sumatra where I was born. I began to learn about Jesus at this Christian school, through reading the Bible and going to the church. At home, however, I also worshipped my ancestor’s spirit, which is idolatry, and I went along with my parents to the Buddhist temple.
During my final year at high school in November 1980, I met a pastor who convinced me to follow Christ and leave my syncretistic belief. I was baptized in January 1981; I received God’s calling in the same year and went to Bethel Seminary in Jakarta.
I was involved in ministry in Bethel Church of Indonesia until I graduated in 1986. In 1988, God opened the way to send me to Portland Bible College, and in 1990 I went to Multnomah Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Later, in 1992, I was accepted by Fuller Seminary for my doctoral degree and graduated in 1998.
My parents came to know Christ in 1991. I married my wife, Manishati Dachi, in 1993, and God gave us two children. I also pastored an Indonesian Church in Downey, California, did mission work in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and traveled for ministry to Europe. After returning home to Indonesia in 1999, I spent time directing the graduate program in a Bible School in East Java, teaching at seminaries in both Indonesia and Australia, and writing two books.
In 2004, I returned to the United States, with a plan to pursue my Ph.D. but discontinued it for many reasons. In 2007, I began pastoring with Indonesian Community Christian Fellowship in San Bernardino, CA, and I also teach part time at Union University of California (Westminster, CA) and Union University International (Westminster, CA). It is only by the grace of God and journeying through the ministry with my family that all of this is possible.
Indonesian Community Christian Church (ICCF) or Gereja Kristen Masyarakat Indonesia Immanuel (GKMI Imanuel) was founded on November 13, 1992 in San Bernardino, CA. It was started as a small prayer meeting. ICCF quickly grew into a big congregation because at that time, there were not many Indonesian churches in the area. Most of the members come from Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) church backgrounds, which is predominantly Indonesian-Batak ethnicity. Once there was a church split and from that split, ICCF birthed five HKBP churches in the area.
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)?
The Assembly was centered on Psalm 133:1,3b, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” The theme was Life Together, as the focus of the Assembly was that while these two conference may have split 170 years ago, they continue to do life together. A large part of the Assembly business this year was to look at whether these conferences would take the next step in their relationship, to look even more intentionally at reconciliation and what it would look like if they were to merge into one conference.
The weekend began with Friday night worship led by Tami Good of Swamp Mennonite Church, which included a worship team of folks whose first languages were Indonesian, Spanish and English and who came from congregations in South Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Upper Bucks and Montgomery Counties. The opening prayer was given in Indonesian, Spanish, English and even Pennsylvania Dutch. Videos were shown that highlighted Souderton Mennonite Church’s 
The congregations in the Los Angeles area consist of Jemaat Kristen Indonesia Anugerah (JKIA) pastored by Virgo Handoyo, Indonesian Community Christian Fellowship pastored by Makmur Halim, and International Worship Church pastored by Buddy Hannarto. All three have had relationships with Franconia Conference for over a decade. The four congregations’ members are largely from Indonesia and joined with Franconia Conference pastors Aldo Siahaan of Philadelphia Praise Center and Beny Krisbianto of Nations Worship Center to share in a song. To learn more about these congregations check out their 
The joint Franconia and Eastern District Conference Saturday worship was a time of song, 
The core recommendation from the team is that Eastern District and Franconia Conference “enter a formal engagement process for the purposes of healing and reconciliation and with the intention of becoming a single, unified conference by November 2019.” In order to do this, the team recommended the forming of two teams: one to work intentionally at addressing the “spiritual and emotional components of reconciliation,” known as the “Healing and Reconciliation Team”, and the other being the “Identity Development and Structural Implementation Team,” tasked with managing “the process of forming a single unified conference, with particular attention to the structure, staffing, financial, and cultural realities of creating a single conference from the two existing conferences.”
After a short break, the conferences gathered in separate rooms where their delegates recorded on flip chart paper their largest affirmations and concerns regarding moving forward with the recommendations. Present were David Brubaker and Roxy Allen Kioko, consultants from Eastern Mennonite University who had been hired in 2016 and were working with the Exploring Reconciliation Reference Team. Following this and some open microphone time for questions and answers, the delegates voted. With a 90% affirmation from Franconia Conference and a 99% affirmation from Eastern District Conference, both agreed to move forward with working at reconciliation and exploring more formally what a merged conference will look like.
These two movements will challenge the best of who we claim to be as followers of Jesus. The reconciliation process with Eastern District Conference sets out to reunite our communities into one body after over a century of separation. This kind of reconciliation work has been a hallmark of our identity as Anabaptist/ Mennonites. However, it’s a path we’ve rarely had the courage or humility to walk to restore relationships after theological/ecclesialogical differences in a way that offers a witness of the power of Christ’s peace. This affirmation intends to frame the work needed to restore the right fellowship that was torn asunder by disagreements and to work to acknowledge historic wounds. Admittedly, though, the details of this path ahead are yet to be determined.
This move to welcome into membership the new congregations was shaped around our commitments to family and hospitality. These are core values and metaphors for our understanding of ourselves as a community. We are family — sisters and brothers. We extend gracious hospitality because we have received the gracious hospitality of Christ. We know that Christ again shows up when we extend that hospitality to others. Our overwhelming affirmation together of these four new communities is holy — the work that God has called us to for this time. The Spirit continues the gift of Pentecost among us, drawing us together across ethnicity, language, tribe and geography.
At the same time, we use all of our capacities. We use our strengths. We learn from those who have gone before us. We prepare for the journey ahead. We approach humbly but boldly. We continue to work and hope.
These scattered meetings provide vital discernment time as together, delegates work to confer around whether or not to admit four new congregations as members and whether or not to continue to envision a single united conference with Eastern District. The hope is that by the end of Assembly 2017, Franconia Conference will know if they have 4 new member churches and whether or not they will be working to implement a team to envision a united conference with Eastern District (EDC), so that in November of 2019 they will be able to vote on whether or not to merge with EDC.