Mosaic Mennonites
Missional - Intercultural - Formational
San Francisco (CA) Chinese Mennonite Church celebrated 33 years of ministry by Pastor Joshua So on May 28, 2023, as he now retires as the Pastor of the Mosaic congregation. Photos by Danilo Sanchez.
By Wendy Kwong
Editor’s note: Wendy Kwong serves as a Cantonese (Chinese) translator for Mosaic Conference.
In November, I attended San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church (SFCMC) for their 42nd anniversary, Thanksgiving, baptism, and new membership celebrations. My journey was packed with memories, generous hospitality, and God’s love, provision, and hope.
My first meal was some bubbling hot meat congee in a clay pot, served with fluffy and tasty Chinese crullers, and a full table of authentic Hong Kong dishes that brought me joy! I was surprised that someone paid in advance for our bill. That was a Chinese style of friendship that I had almost forgotten.
Most of my days in San Francisco, I used public transportation and carried my groceries. This is not my life on the East Coast, but it was when I lived in Hong Kong. I was exhausted, but I am sure I needed that kind of exercise to stay healthy. Chinese grocery shopping in San Francisco’s Chinatown was incredible.
As part of my trip, I joined Jeff Wright, Mosaic’s California Leadership Minister, to finally meet the SFCMC leadership face-to-face. This was much better compared to meeting on Zoom. It was easier for me to translate when I could see actual facial expressions. Agenda items were addressed clearly in Chinese, questions were answered, and some decisions were left to be made by the congregation.
The blessing of plentiful Chinese and American food almost blocked the entrance of the church kitchen on this celebration Sunday. Guests and church members filled the sanctuary and overflowed into the hallway. We praised and thanked the Lord, and we sang familiar hymns in two languages. The sermon, “We Need Each Other,” reassured SFCMC that Mosaic Conference is walking with them in the transition of their founding pastor’s retirement.
We heard a testimony of healing from non-stop bleeding. We also heard about an answered prayer for the discharge of a hospitalized mother, and a new membership certificate was presented to a sister who already been loved and cared for by the congregation and vice versa. It was such an honor and a blessing to share the first communion with the newly baptized. A traditional Chinese folk dance and an electric clarinet performance enchanted us, and finally, a group picture was taken to mark the occasion.
Sharing the gospel with two Cantonese-speaking non-believers on this trip was unexpected for me. A widow’s heart was incredibly hardened to the gospel, but she is a very caring person. Unfortunately, she saw the weaknesses of many Christians and said she only believes in herself. I am trusting the Holy Spirit will open the door for her one day because her deceased Christian mother interceded frequently for her daughter’s salvation when she was still alive.
I was upset to hear what happened to the widow, but God sent an elderly widower to strengthen my faith a few hours before I flew back to Philadelphia. He challenged me with theological questions, but at the same time he was very open to share his authentic feelings about the Christian faith. It was such a blessing to talk to him. I am very thankful that he was willing to pray with me and that he asked me to visit him the next time I am in San Francisco. Both the widow and the widower will be on my mind, and I hope to see them one day in heaven.
Wendy Kwong grew up in Hong Kong and accepted Jesus in a Chinese (Cantonese) Mennonite Church in Philadelphia in 1994. She did translation work while raising her sons. She is energized by playing badminton and working with children. Wendy and her husband (Kam Wong) have two grown sons and live in Lansdale, PA and attend Souderton (PA) Mennonite Church.
Even though I am not used to the way that many Charismatic Christians interpret the Bible, I still think the number “40” is an extraordinary number quoted throughout the Bible that has its own remarkable meanings. Let us take a look at some biblical stories related to the number “40”. I will only list those “40s” that may be most familiar to us:
I wanted to reaffirm that Pentecostalism is not my usual way of interpreting the Bible. I am strongly convinced, however, that since the number “40” appeared so many times in the Bible, it must have its own significant importance. For example:
In the same way, to the San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church (SFCMC), the number “40” means a new phase of ministry. With God’s grace, our first official Sunday service was on November 8, 1980 and this year is our 40th anniversary. SFCMC just reached this milestone—our first 40 years of serving our community—at the same time as we engaged in new, effective ways of serving during this historic pandemic.
We are so grateful for God’s blessings, provisions, and presence for the past 40 years. SFCMC still has a long future ahead to be used by God, however, just like in the life of Moses. We are looking forward to serving the Lord for the second phase of our 40 years, the third phase of our 40 years, and until we accomplish the mission that God assigned to us.
Forty years is not a short period of time. There is a Chinese saying about how a person’s perfect life should look: “When you reach your 30s, it is the prime time of your life, and you should be capable of thinking independently. By the time you reach your 40s, you should be mature enough to execute the right judgement without any hesitation and strong enough to cope with challenges and adversities.”
I strongly believe that SFCMC will be blessed abundantly with God’s grace in the years to come and continue to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. I also have confidence that SFCMC’s coworkers team, which was newly restructured during the pandemic, can bring in new visions, commitment, and strength to lead the church into another blessed, rich, and fruitful 40 years. Amen!
by Pastor Joshua Daichor So, San Francisco (CA) Chinese Mennonite Church
I am very thankful to have the opportunity to write my call to ministry story again after 55 years. It sounds like I should already be retired by now but God still gives me the grace to be part of His story. I also appreciate the Conference giving me this chance to share. It was 1965 when I was first asked to write my call to ministry story as part of my entry application to study at The Hong Kong Alliance Bible Seminary. How can I not be thankful?
I was born in a remote village in Mainland China and was raised in an idol worshiping family. As the Bible said, “God knits me together in my mother’s womb and I am chosen!” God had a plan for me!
Our family moved to Hong Kong when I was around 11 years old. We lived very close to a church and with my curiosity, I stopped in and attended their Sunday school class with my neighbors’ kids for the first time. From that time on, I became a regular Sunday school attender. Listening to the Bible stories was always the highlight of each Sunday. But most of all, receiving awards from the teachers was powerfully motivating to me.
I accepted Jesus during Sunday school one week and gradually joined a small group. With my diligent and optimistic character, I was selected to be on the staff of the small group and also serve as a Sunday school teacher. I was amazed to find blessings and joy from serving the Lord in those roles. Besides attending the small group and Sunday school, I also attended the worship service regularly. The senior pastor, the minister, Sunday school teachers, and brothers and sisters were very proud of me and set me as a role model to other worshippers. I was also blessed with ample opportunities to serve the Lord at church.
As I remember, I was asked to be the moderator of the Sunday worship when I was only a middle schooler. I accepted that offer without hesitation. I strongly believed that serving the Lord is what is pleasing to the Lord and a blessing! I was also in charge of a Sunday evening outreach.
My youth group leader encouraged me to pursue seminary after high school in my last year of middle school. Even though I was quiet at that time, the Holy Spirit already began to mold me. Our senior pastor couldn’t be at church regularly and our minister left to further his studies in the US. This left no one in charge of the church. In my heart, I sensed the urge from the Holy Spirit.
One day at a school worship service, the preacher invited the audience to accept Jesus’s invitation by using Isaiah 6:8, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” I replied, “Here am I, send me!” After I finished my high school in 1966, I attended Hong Kong Alliance Bible Seminary and graduated in 1970. This year marks 50 years since I first graduated.
God called me from Hong Kong to Los Angeles in 1975 and a year later to San Francisco. There I completed a BA in Sociology, an M.Div (Sociology major) at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary, and finished a D. Min (Cross Cultural Study major) at San Francisco Theological Seminary, with God’s grace. I will continue to serve the Chinese in the San Francisco area with my wife (Anita) and daughter (Sharon). Praise the Lord!
My wife, Anita and I came from Hong Kong and our church speaks Cantonese. Cantonese is one of the dialects in China and one of the official languages in Hong Kong.
In the early 1980s, Pastor Stephen, Sai-fung Lee travelled from Vancouver, Canada to San Francisco to share with me a vision from the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference which was to build a Chinese church in San Francisco area. With two months of fervent prayers and dug deep into the fundamental faith of the Mennonites, I was happy to accept Pastor Lee’s invitation and started the San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church at the same location until now.
Looking for new church location, printing out flyers and many days of heavily sweat and tiredness preparation but we saw the hands of God through many prayers. November 9, 1980, came as our first Sunday worship and we worshipped with a thankful heart. On November 16, 1980 as the Conference planned to come to present our church with a certificate, I got an emergency call from my father in Hong Kong. It was heartbreaking to hear that my beloved grandma was seriously ill. My family earnestly urged me to go back. I should go back but how about the new church? It was tough! I called every day to check on grandma’s progress only to find out that she was not getting better. I cried out to God in my prayers, brothers and sisters also walked with me in prayers. Until one day, I picked up the phone and told my father that I planned to stay because the church needed me, then my father responded with relief that grandma was no longer in life threatening condition. Praise the Lord! He let me make the decision and he took care of my worries.
With God’s many blessings, we celebrated our 39th anniversary this November with Pastor Jeff Wright among us and also grateful to be part of the Franconia Mennonite Conference (now the Mosaic Mennonite Conference). Our church has many ongoing programs like Sunday Worship with Sunday School & Prayer Meeting, Bible Studies, Small Group Fellowship, Special Outreach Events, Festival & Holiday Celebration, Churchwide Retreat, Nursing Home & Hospital Ministry and Intergenerational Church Members Care Ministry to equip and nurture our congregation. More than a dozen of brothers and sisters joining hands in hands to serve the hospital ministry with joy.
Lately, our church had a new vision, it was to be the salt and light for Jesus to a group of Chinese restaurant workers in San Francisco area. The Chinese Restaurant Workers Fellowship was born. This ministry first meeting was on December 10 and followed by the Christmas celebration on December 24. Unfortunately, there is no other church in San Francisco area also serving this group of workers and that also reflected the significance and importance of this ministry. Restaurant workers absolutely need the gospel due to their emptiness mind, boring and long hours working condition and many of them are addicted to bad habits. Even though we acknowledge how hard it was to reach out for this group of people, we assured ourselves that their heart need Jesus the most. We believed God loves to save their souls and this ministry is consensus with the vision and mission statement of the Mennonite belief.
Please pray with me for our financial need and more willingness heart to share our vision down the road for this new workers’ ministry. We appreciate all your support, cares and prayers for the future of our church.
*Updated in June 2022
by Steve Kriss, executive minister
In our end is our beginning;
in our time, infinity . . .
unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.
—Natalee Sleeth, “In the Bulb There is a Flower”
I like new notebooks and journals. Fresh, blank pages represent new possibility. The pages await new thoughts, encounters, and reflections.
The beginning of a year is like that too. New goals, resolutions, and opportunities. Sometimes, though, we are so busy with the new pages that we don’t reflect on where we have been.
This year’s “Year in Review” offers a good glimpse of where we were together as a community in 2018. Upon reflection, it tells the highlights and the transitions. The things that worked and came to fruition.
But missing, sometimes, is the struggle and the not yet. The places where things were difficult and hard. The conversations yet unresolved. Those, too, are part of our story and part of our ongoing work.
I don’t want to take for granted that just because we’ve been around so long, we’ll always have new years and new pages ahead. All around us religious institutions, some with histories that are long and deep, continue to wrap up their legacies. Franconia Conference is also challenged by the cultural changes around us. Our future cannot be taken for granted.
Our legacy must not only be stewarded, but also enlivened. Some things will come to an end and some things will emerge—or even be reborn. We’ve seen an end of a historic congregation at Rockhill and a re-emergent partnership with CIEAMM. We’ve come to embrace something we never imagined now with 10% of Conference congregations on the West Coast. We’re calling leaders, both young and mature, to credentialed leadership. And we’re being challenged to refine our credentialing processes so that more people who are called by our churches can navigate the process with grace and integrity.
When I look at our future, I know that there are things only known to God. I know that in our human responses along the way, we have both the possibility of filling the pages of a new year beautifully or with scratch marks and smudges. Sometimes we’ll need practice runs. We’ll have first drafts that will need improved, articles and ideas that will need translated.
Entering a new year means offering appreciation for what has gone before, all the accumulation upon which we stand and move. It also means being open to the possibility, the plans yet unfolding, and the unknown events that might yet emerge. And it means trusting that God—in our ends, in our beginnings, in all of time—sees and is with us through it all: alongside, inspiring, inviting, revealing further glimpses of the dream rooted in the faith, hope, and love that last forever.
With gratitude, we begin to write the pages of a new year as the old, old story unfolds within and around us anew.
by Jerrell Williams, Associate for Leadership Cultivation
Joshua So, pastor of San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church, second from left, along with his wife, Anita So, with Steve Kriss, Leadership Minister Jeff Wright, and Jerrell Williams.
(Reprinted with permission from The Mennonite)
This past week I got the chance to accompany Steve Kriss, Franconia Mennonite Conference executive minister, and Jeff Wright, Franconia Conference Leadership minister, on a trip to San Francisco to visit San Francisco Chinese Mennonite Church (SFCMC). This is a Cantonese-speaking congregation of around 35 members that is considering joining Franconia Mennonite Conference.
After worship, we talked with Pastor Joshua about his expectations of Franconia Conference and how he envisioned the relationship. The theme of encouragement came up repeatedly. Pastor Joshua wanted encouragement and support from Franconia Conference. He wanted to know if Franconia Conference would be in relationship with his church and continue to encourage the members, even though they are far away. If it joins Franconia Conference, SFCMC would be the only Cantonese-speaking congregation in the conference. We attended worship with the congregation and spent a day with Pastor Joshua and Anita, his wife, in the Bay area. The congregation was lively and hospitable; everyone greeted us when we came. We met several members of the congregation during lunch and heard their stories and experiences in the United States.
This experience showed me the importance of encouragement for churches. SFCMC has felt alone for a long time. Its biggest request from us on this trip was that we check in with them and encourage them. Whether we’re there physically or we send them a text on a Sunday morning, they want to know we are praying for them and thinking of them.
Hearing of the needs of this congregation made me think of Paul and how he wrote letters to different churches. These letters sometimes were ones of correction for when the church lost its way, but many of them included words of encouragement to congregations. Paul saw it as important to send encouragement to the church whenever he got the chance.
All churches at times need support and encouragement from other churches. Franconia Conference can play a huge role in encouraging and connecting its congregations. Being a conference isn’t only about keeping churches in order or in line. Most of the work is being willing to be present with them. Churches need to know they are being prayed for, thought of and loved. Sometimes a reminder is all we need.
