Tola Ten stepped out in response to a call from God to plant Abundant Life Church of Christ during the COVID-19 pandemic. It seemed like an unlikely time to plant, but in obedience, that’s what Tola did. And Abundant Life has flourished.
Tola had worshipped at Springvale South Church of Christ for seven years, and was serving as a deacon there when he was called to plant Abundant Life. During 2019 the leadership team had begun to discern together whether they ought to begin a second service on a Sunday, or whether they ought to plant a whole new and independent congregation. It was discerned that a new and separate church was the direction in which God was leading, and that Tola was the person to lead it. It would be a Cambodian church, for Cambodian people in Melbourne. Excitement was building, and then the pandemic began. Even so, the leadership was clear that the church ought to launch, and so Abundant Life launched online.
People joined the livestream from Springvale South, from the broader Cambodian community in Melbourne, from Cambodia, and even from the United States. For almost a year, the church met solely online. Then in December of 2020 Abundant Life had its first in-person gathering outdoors. Around 30 people met for this inaugural gathering. Tola says this was crucial to members beginning to feel a sense of belonging. Belonging, Tola says, is important to Cambodian people, and is what members of the Cambodian community in Melbourne are looking for. Of course, the international members could not attend, but the online service continued alongside public gatherings for over a year.
In January of 2021, Abundant Life held its first indoor public worship service. They used an Anglican Church building near Springvale to meet. The search for premises had been a long one, with a lot of closed doors, until Tola made contact with an Anglican minister who was sympathetic to the cause of Abundant Life: this minister had himself been a missionary to Cambodia for twenty years. The partnership is a strong one, and Tola and all of Abundant Life are grateful for that.
When Tola began to lead Abundant Life he was studying theology, and was drawing on his life of experience in churches and, more recently, in lay leadership to shape and inform his leadership. It was not until 2022 that Tola joined a Church Planting Cohort with City to City Australia to help him develop the leadership necessary for leading a new congregation. He articulates that participating in the cohort “opened up a different window” for him through which to view church – it showed him other practices and perspectives to which he had not previously been exposed.
The other significant benefit to Tola was the knowledge and assurance that he was not alone in planting, which can feel very solitary. He gained great encouragement and support from the collegiality and fellowship of the cohort, which was deeply nourishing at that particular stage of his planting journey.
Tola believes that his engagement with City to City, along with Abundant Life belonging to the Churches of Christ, has given his congregation assurance. For them, he says, it shows that planting is “not a whim”, that he is “not on his own”, and that he is part of something “bigger than himself”. He feels this is very important to Cambodian people. He says “they are more willing to bet their life” on Jesus since they are seeing Tola be taught by others, and not merely relying on his own understanding.
One of Tola’s many joys in planting Abundant Life has been eight new families begin attending the church in order to have their children accepted for enrolment at a local Christian school. This occurred about halfway through 2022. These families are not believing families, yet want their children to have a Christian education, and are willing to become church members to do so. Abundant Life has welcomed these families, which took their membership to around 70 people, and the families have expressed a genuine sense of belonging.
Again, Tola observed that this is very important to Cambodian people. He also noted that belonging frequently precedes believing. It is his prayer that all these families will become believers in Jesus, and he is delighted to have the opportunity to walk alongside them, read the Bible together, and gently lead them towards Jesus.
Abundant Life is a Cambodian church which “fosters fellowship over food” and has an “intentional and relational” way of operating. With the City of Dandenong home to over 25,000 Cambodian people, and fewer than 500 of those professing Christians, Tola is excited for the future of his church. He is praying for more and more Cambodians to find belonging at Abundant Life, and that that belonging will in turn lead to belonging to Jesus.