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In 1988, says Jane Traninger, was the time when most foreigners were lodged in the Hotel Samaki, as the Le Royal Hotel was named during the Communist era. Although left to deteriorate during the Pol Pot years, it still stood as a reminder of French colonial days. Christians used to meet there every Sunday evening in the LWS (Lutheran World Service) office. Catholics, High church, Low Church, Free Church, we were all "just ordinary Christians" without an official minister/leader. It was the interdenominational character of the group which thrilled me most. Pastors passing through would often be asked to baptize a baby. By late 1990, priests, ministers and pastors came to work full time in Cambodia, each shepherding their own sheep into their own sheepfolds. That special era of one sheepfold for all expat Christians in Cambodia was over.

Helen says that ECF in 1989 was made up of Christian professionals doing secular relief and development work who simply found themselves in the minority and wanted to worship together. It reminded her quite a lot of the early church in the book of Acts. Although there were about 3000 Russians in the expat community, there were less than 100 expatriates from other countries. Twenty-five percent of the hundred were ICF attendees.

In 1989, there was a Catholic priest by the name of Father Tom, who was very enthusiastic about the "predecessor of the ICF" which was called the ECF (Ecumenical Christian Fellowship) during that time. Joel comments: "In 1990 when our family came, the service didn't have a name yet and it was held only on Sunday evening. I was at the leadership council meeting when the ECF name was adopted and that was sometime in 1991." The Catholic believers were already attending mass on Saturday night but many Catholics still made an effort to make to the ECF on Sunday afternoons. Helen Kerr remembers one of the most significant events of the early ICF was a Day of Prayer for when the 100,000 or so Vietnamese occupational forces pulled out. Many were worried that the PRK could not stand up to Khmer Rouge alone. The ECF sponsored a full day of prayer with people rotating in and out by the hour to pray that Cambodia would hold it's own against the Khmer Rouge.

In April of 1989, the government proclaimed an "open market" policy and the PRK was changed to the SOC, State of Cambodia. Cambodians could now speak to foreigners but in October of 1989, organizations had to register with the government if they planned to have contact with the Christian church. Some organizations were hesitant. Jane Traninger, formerly of the World Council of Churches did have quite a bit of contact with the underground church since 1988 but was miraculously never turned in.

On Easter Sunday of 1990, ICF had 60 instead of their usual 25 gathered to worship the risen Savior on the roof top of the Monorom Hotel. They had a sunrise service and a meal together afterwards. The service leader led the believers in a responsive reading that required the response of: "HE IS RISEN" and the congregants answered tepidly. The service leader urged them to put their hearts into and they all couldn't believe they were shouting, "Christ is Risen" at the top of lungs on the roof of Monorom Hotel in a restricted Communist country. On this occasion and at normal ICF service back in those days, bulletins, scripture readings, and song sheets were copied in Spanish, English and French. Helen recalls all the Hotel staff standing at various doors listening to the service with great interest.

Helen remembers that there was little contact with the outside world. One of the only fax machines in the country was at the Cambodianna Hotel. She tells how ICF attendees, Jonathon Clemmens and his wife, Ruth Keidel were expecting a baby in 1990, and how Ruth flew out to Saigon, then to BKK where she stayed at the Bangkok Christian Guest House. A week later someone found a fax buried in the pile that told of Ruth's delivery the day she arrived in BKK. The person congratulated John on his new baby and he said: "You must be mistaken. I haven't yet received word from my wife that we had a baby!" The person who saw the fax told Jonathon to get over to the Cambodianna and check the fax pile and sure enough, his wife had a baby but he found out a week later to the day.

In 1989, most western people lived in the Samaki Hotel, the White Hotel or the Monorom. Only in 1990, could you go rent your own house. It was at that time that the ICF was meeting in the office of Church World Service in the Samaki Hotel which is now the Le Royal. Joel Copple remembers the whole make up of the International Community was different in 1990 than from what it is today and Christian organizations were mainly represented by MCC, LWS, ACR, CWS, AFSC, with WV being seen as the more radical Christian of the bunch. He also remembers meeting in the cramped Church World Service office where 20-30 people were jammed in and the speaker or service leader sat in a chair just inside the bathroom door. Prior to and during 1990, the predecessor to the ICF was ecumenical, and Joel remembers somebody giving a 'meditation' on Ghandi. This made some of the evangelicals at the ECF uncomfortable, and some moved on from there at that time.

The process of selecting speakers and service leaders for the ECF in those early days (1990) was rather interesting. What happened was that half of the attendees put their names in a hat. The other half picked a name from the hat and whose ever name you picked, became your partner in leading the service. The service varied from week to week according to the how comfortable the pair was to do certain things. Sometimes there was just singing and scripture reading, or a more formal liturgy. At other times there were some sharing, teaching or preaching. The French separated themselves early on but other nationalities found at the ICF were Cuban, Spanish, American, Japanese, German, Scottish, British, Belgian, French, Finnish, Irish, Philippine, Indian and Nepalese. The Spanish, Russian and French speaking Catholics are just a much smaller percentage of the international community, and some suggest that they may no longer have felt comfortable at ECF as more English speaking believers began to fill up the service.

Toward the end of 1990, the ECF made their first move in 10 years. Christian Outreach became the new place where ECF met but soon became too crowded and they then moved into the Phnom Penh Bible School on Street 174 in 1991. In February of 1992, the author remembers attending International Church at the PPBS with Kreg Mallow officiating communion. John and Helen went on furlough in July of 1991 and missed Mother Teresa speaking while she was here. Mother Teresa visited Phnom Penh Twice in the early nineties. When the Kerrs came back from furlough, a lot of the Catholics in ECF had departed due to a speaker making as statement about Catholics which was misinterpreted. As the numbers of Catholics had been dwindling for some time prior to that, the Protestants serving on ECF committee invited Mother Teresa to speak, and kept inviting the Catholic brothers and sisters to come, as well as extending invitations for the priests to speak on numerous occasions. Joel Copple adds; "At about this same time, Catholic priests had begun offering mass in their home, and by then a majority of the ECF were evangelicals." It seemed as though as more people arrived, they went to worship where they most comfortable. Joel points out; "that the same thing has happened in Ho Chi Minh, Bangkok, and Hanoi; When there gets to be enough of one particular type of believers, whether Pentecostals, 7th Day Adventists, Catholics, Conservative Baptists or whomever, they start having their own services." The Kerrs continued their relationship with Catholics, attending Saturday afternoon mass as well as EFC.

In 1991, ECF set up a council and people rotated in and out very quickly. Many had to move on due to their contracts expiring. The expatriates in the early 90's were still, as a majority, short-term people. ISPP surveyed families around about '92 on how long they expected to be in country. The average response was about 18 months. Also, during 1991, ECF began to see a large amount of children accompany their parents to church and they felt the need to provide some sort of a Sunday school program. From the Bible School they move to Global Network which, according to Helen was crowded, noisy and dusty…and on the top floor, maybe like the fifth, it was a real hike! The room was very wide but not very deep so the speaker had to rotate his head from left to right in order to make eye contact with the people. Many were glad to move to the ISPP north campus in 1993.

Joel tells us, "The first title that the committee of this early group of believers gave the church service in 1991 was, 'The Ecumenical Christian Fellowship.' But by 1992 or so, the increase in the numbers of evangelicals and evangelical missionaries greatly outnumbered the mainline Protestants and the Catholics. Joel is not sure when the ECF changed its name to the International Christian Fellowship but it must have been somewhere around late 1992 or early 1993.

Mary Westergren, who arrived with her husband Steve and son Eric, in January of 1990, adds remembers Harvey and Becky Matchullis arriving in Phnom Penh in August 1993, along with their three children, Ryan, Rachel and Bethany. This was a real "leap of faith" for the ICF, as there was not sufficient support for a pastor and family at the time, but certainly a need for a shepherd. Harvey and Becky continued to be supported financially by the C&MA through out their two years here in Cambodia.

Harvey recalls that a typical Sunday attendance at the ICF in those years, 1993-1995, was about 100, with a high attendance of 140 or so. "We met in the auditorium of ISPP. I recall teaching many Sunday school classes in those early years in less than ideal classrooms. Becky had a passion for children's ministries, so that was a priority of the ICF."

Mary asked Harvey what some of the highlights were for him during his days with the ICF. He recalls the prayer support of the ICF during the time that FHI's Melissa Himes was taken hostage by the Khmer Rouge in March of 1994 in Kampot province. He also mentioned the cooperative spirit in working with the other denominational churches, especially in sharing in combined Christmas and Easter services.

Further developments in the ICF in those years, according to Harvey were "putting together the initial constitution and leadership structure for ICF. I believe those early years established the identity and viability of the ICF as a long term ministry to the international community."

Agnes and Jim Verner, when serving with SAO between 1993 remember when Harvey and Becky Matchullis arrived as the first resident pastors of ICF, SAO provided a place to stay until the pastor and his family found suitable accommodation-- for a period of about 3 months, I think. Also, Jim Verner counted it an honor to be asked to join Maurice Bauhahn, Anne Greve and Alan Haslett in drafting ICF's first constitution. Graham Chips tells me that our efforts didn't last long because he and his new committee constantly re-wrote it over the years.

The Verners loved the early days when NGO's were invited to lead and preach on designated Sunday evenings. "We were a small group back then and everyone felt so much part of, and responsible for, a close-knit family circle. We always appreciated the Copples who seemed to carry much of the burden to keep things going, as later also did Sherry Lyle and others."

One might point out that weekly church service among the expats here in Cambodia had started in the early '80s, so it had been long term already but was not all that structured because of the restricted context. Into the mid-90's, Winston Ussher was fond of calling the ICF a 'loose fellowship' during those days and there was a tension among the members as to whether to keep ICF a 'loose fellowship' where stressed and busy people could come and crash, and get their boost of God's Word for the week to keep them going without having 'to do anything,' or make a more the ICF a more formal institution.

Harvey also organized a Leaders Forum among the leadership of various NGO's. "We'd gather informally to discuss leadership issues under the banner of 'Who cares for the leader'?"

Finally Harvey and Becky recalled their farewell service and reception in the ISPP North Campus courtyard. Someone had hired a cake to be decorated, inscribed, "The Blessing of God Be upon You." In Cambodian fashion the end product was a bit different than the original thought, as the cake read "The Blessing of God Be Upper You".

Steve Westergren comments; "who would have thought that a little group of expats, meeting for prayer and fellowship and worship, would one day look like the ICF? It is absolutely amazing that the ICF has grown from a handful of people, to two congregations meeting in separate venues, with a full time pastor and the strong possibility of another joining us soon!

We are very grateful for the ICF. When we came to Cambodia as church planters we did not envision our involvement in an English speaking, largely expatriate fellowship as a possibility. We applaud the ICF body for continually seeking for ways to keep an afternoon fellowship alive. Our four children have grown up in the ICF. How thankful we are for this blessing to our family.

Two teaching themes have made a lasting impression upon us: reliance upon God through devoted prayer and allowing God to complete the good work He has started in us. There have been numerous times of wanting to pack up and head "home," but these continual reminders, gleaned largely from Graham's teaching, have been like an anchor over the years. We never imagined all that God would have done in these first 15 or so years, we wonder, 'what is He going to surprise us with in the next 15???'"

Jim and Lyndi Schmick arrived in Cambodia in September of 1993 and left in January 1996. "While this seems like so long ago, and for such a short time, it still was a special time in our lives. I knew many of the members of ICF from having worked in the border camps in Thailand, so I found the security of long time friends, which was very important to us as we began our married life in a new country. After a long and sometimes stressful week, I always looked forward to Sunday night at the ICF. Another thing that I really enjoyed at the ICF was the opportunity to worship with and become friends with people from so many different cultures. Where else could you worship side by side with brothers and sisters from Ghana, Ireland, Austria and Australia? This was truly a highlight of our time in Cambodia. We also enjoyed the opportunity to go out for dinner with friends after the service - the California restaurant for a good hamburger was my favorite (I never really did like Khmer food!). We also enjoyed the support of the church as God brought two children into our lives during those two years. Pastor Harvey and Becky Matchullis were great friends and pastors. We even moved into their house after they left. The one thing I remember not liking about the ICF was how hot the auditorium would get! We would always try to sit in the back near the door, just to get a hint of a breeze. We also tried to sit under one of the few, slowly turning fans, but those seats went fast- you had to get there early. I am jealous when I return to Cambodia in recent years and attend ICF in the nice air-conditioned auditorium at WV. People don't know how good they have things now! We thank God for the steady, consistent witness ICF has been in Cambodia. We truly do miss the fellowship, and will always have fond memories. We wish ICF all of God's best in the years ahead.

"In 1993, I (Jane Traninger) returned to Cambodia at the time when the UN was in the country to oversee elections, and it was good to see the whole Ghana contingent at the ICF, which had grown and grown and moved to larger premises. I was working out in the provinces and only attending the Sunday services in Phnom Penh every two months or so. This meant that for me ICF was a very special time of fellowship with a large number of Christians. I could enjoy singing led by groups of musicians and groups of singers, and special prayer time, and hear a good message to take with me back into the province."

Greetings from Chiang Mai! The Steve Ellis family began attending ICF in October 1994 when it was held on the ISPP North Campus. We lived temporarily in a hotel across the street from the home of Harvey & Becky Matchullis, and they befriended us in an unusual way. Our four young girls (from two to eight years old) were especially appreciative to the kitchen set, dishes, and related items that Becky brought over to the hotel. We developed a good relationship with Harvey & Becky, and they really helped us make a good transition to Phnom Penh. We really enjoyed Harvey's preaching from God's Word, and the Praise & Worship times at ICF. We really felt comfortable talking with them about struggles we were experiencing, and we could not have been more appreciative to his pastoral counseling during those difficult days of adjustment to the field. We actually felt more support from them than we did our own team.

Another former ICF member, Agnes Pala writes; "thank you for this opportunity to speak about ICF. At ICF I had my first real interdenominational Christian experience as a growing adult and it remains with me to this day. I was raised in a "typical" Anglican Kenyan household and the only way to worship the Lord was the Anglican way so you can imagine what a breath of fresh air ICF was to me. Together with a groups of people from all over the world from all sorts of Christian and educational backgrounds we were able to come together and worship God. I could truly and honestly feel the presence of God in a nation long left without Christ at its core. To this day as I raise my own children I try to emphasize the importance of a personal and relationship with God that supercedes the rituals of a particular tradition's worship. So help me God, I hope that each of them will have the same wonderful opportunity of knowing God personally and worshipping Him with a "real" group of friends as I had met at ICF.

"When we, (David Manfred and family) first arrived in Cambodia in January 1995, we were somewhat "shell-shocked" with getting used to the heat, dirt, and regularly being humbled by having to communicate like an infant. In the midst of this culture shock, we so appreciated the welcome of Pastor Harvey and Becky Matchullis. Within the first week, they showed us around town and even taught us how to drive on the wrong side of the street. A few weeks later, they took the initiative to invite us to go out with them on a boat trip up the Mekong with another new family to see a silk weaving village. On the way back, we stopped the boat, set anchor in the middle of the river, and went for a swim. We were close to shore so we swam in. When we were shallow enough to touch bottom, we started walking on the darkest squishiest mud I have ever squashed through. We all quickly discovered that the mud made great mud balls and before long, everyone was flinging mud at each other. I remember that Harvey was the blackest of all.

I am so thankful for the warm welcome that the Matchullis's gave to this new family. They really helped us to feel welcome and to understand that in this land with so much that is different, a person can still enjoy life here. Their welcome was truly a touch of God's grace in our life."

Bonnie Lepalar remembers in late 1995; "we used to meet at ISPP, we'd try to be early in order to get a seat under a fan - that place could really heat up into the proverbial oven once it was packed and it usually was.

Once we saw a frog hopping down the aisle in the middle of the service. Joy Irvine, a portly though irrepressible Aussie, had hastily put on her sneakers on before coming to church and it was only once she was quietly seated that she realized that there was something else in her shoe besides her foot! Soon after arriving in 1996, I volunteered to help Graham Chipps with distributing correspondence to various church members after the service. This was an excellent way to meet people and discover who was working with whom.

I always enjoyed the ICF mystery dinners too, a great way to make new friends and try interesting food! As well as get a sticky-beak at other people's homes, an ever-present pre-occupation of missionaries! One of the hardest things about leaving after church was selecting a reliable moto-dop taxi from the milling throng at the gates, especially if you only needed a 500 riel ride to a local restaurant!"

Those who have been around for a while remember some of the members of what we now call the ICF at that time being the Copples, Westergrens, Graylings, Miriam Fryys, Bernadette Glissen, Onesta Caparene, Maurice and Sue Bauhanm, Jane Traninger, Leike, Diny van Bruggen, Jai Sangkar Sarma, Alice Compain, Tom and Margie Morris and Margaret Slocum. Onesta Caparene, an Italian Catholic lady and former Director of Australia Catholic Relief, goes back the furthest. She just recently left Cambodia to return to Italy for health reasons.