New bishop team for Philly installed

First Asian-American and African-American bishops in Philadelphia District.

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More than 500 Mennonites and their friends gathered at the Way Thru Christ Community Fellowship in Philadelphia on April 26 to ordain and install a new Bishop Team for the Philadelphia District of Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite Conference (LMC).

The team is Al Motley, pastor of Way Thru Christ; Tuyen Nguyen, pastor of Philadelphia Vietnamese Mennonite; Leonard Dow, pastor of Oxford Circle Mennonite; and Tim Darling, pastor of Norma (N.J.) Mennonite.


Taneera Motley, daughter of Alvin and Maxine Motley, performs a worship mime at the ordination. Photo by Richard Showalter.

“We’re so grateful they’ve been called and that they’ve responded,” said Freeman Miller, bishop of the Philadelphia District, in his opening remarks. “They will serve in this oversight role in the district in addition to continuing their pastoral responsibilities.”

Miller explained that after 15 years as bishop of the Philadelphia District, he plans to retire from bishop work June 30. The new team has already begun to accompany Miller to monthly bishop board meetings in Lancaster and to work as team under his leadership.

As the new team lives into roles which give each man oversight of one quadrant of the old district, now divided up into Philadelphia North, Philadelphia Southwest, Chester, and South Jersey,  they will take turns chairing the monthly district meetings and attending the bishop board.

Weaver said that although LMC has had an African-American bishop in another district,  Motley and Dow are the first in the Philadelphia District. Nguyen is the first Asian-American bishop to be called to serve in LMC.

“When I first realized this, it felt weighty,” Nguyen said. “But now it doesn’t feel so hard. Sometimes we Vietnamese Mennonites are tempted to get impatient because other Mennonites move so slowly, [in church planting] but I tell my people, ‘Germanic peoples are like diesel engines. They start slow, but they go the long haul. We need to learn from them.’”

Miller said that while many of the churches in the district had been started with assistance from Eastern Mennonite Missions, it’s a brand new day.

EMM is still available for consultation and assistance, but many of the Philadelphia Mennonite churches are initiating their own church plants.

“This is a highly significant moment in the life of these churches,” Miller said. “There’s a new sense of belonging and ownership. It’s long overdue. When I see the beauty in what has happened, I’m eagerly anticipating my retirement.”

During the service, the choir and dance team from Way Thru Christ and the choir from the Vietnamese Mennonite Church performed along with a surprise appearance by mime artist, Taneera Motley (Al’s daughter), who brought her father to his feet.

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