A tale of two churches

Well, Sunday came and we experienced an interesting tale of two churches....

THE FIRST CHURCH...is New Life Fellowship (www.cambodianoutreach.org). When we arrived, the venue was buzzing with young, energetic Khmer Christians (we had to search hard for someone nearing 40!). Once the service got going, it was like River Church on speed. Hyper, high-tempo, charismatic stuff with lots of Hillsongs worship (translated into Khmer but with original English underneath so that everyone could sing in their own tongue). The sermon was actually delivered in Khmer by the American Pastor (a rather odd experience), although there were relatively few (20ish) westerners there compared to Khmers (100ish). We were given small transistor radios on arrival, which we tuned into 101FM in order to listen to the English interpretation of the sermon, which was delivered by a Khmer guy at the back of the hall. Rather confusing but also enjoyable. The service finished with an invitation to dinner from the Pastor's son and his wife and a really positive vibe from all the friendly Khmers we met.

THE SECOND CHURCH...is International Christian Fellowship (www.icfpp.org). Unlike the first service we had been to, it felt like we had entered a timewarp when we walked into the service, held at the World Vision building in Phnom Penh. The rather formal, traditional style of service was matched by the more 'traditional' missionary atire of the congregation (no description needed, I'm sure!). In the defence of ICF, the teaching was very sound and the people all seemed very sincere and are no doubt involved in some amazing, life-changing mission/development work (as so many people we meet are). However, we left with the feeling that this was 'not for us' or, to use that rather British expression which is growing on me, 'it wasn't our cup of tea.'

Having spoken with a few people about churches in Phnom Penh, it seems that they basically fall into a few categories:

1) Khmer church set-up by Khmers and attended by Khmers. Not really orientated towards including Westerners.

2) 'International' church set-up by Khmers but attended by mostly Khmers and a few westerners (e.g. New Life Fellowship).

3) 'International' church set-up by Westerners but attended by mostly Westerns with a few Khmers

4) 'International' church set-up by Westerners and run for Westerners (e.g. ICF). Not really orientated towards including Khmers.

It's an interesting scene, with so many churches obviously having western influences (usually US and UK but also Australia and Malaysia) and some sort of western backing, be it leadership, money or style.

We will have to wait and see which one we go for - hopefully a church we can call home...