Two Congregations, One Family in Christ
On Sunday mornings at 585 General Steuben Road in King of Prussia, the same sanctuary holds two congregations that have learned to call themselves one family in Christ. Upper Merion Baptist Church and the English-speaking congregation of the Evangelical Formosan Church of Philadelphia share a building, a pastor, a worship service, and a vision of what the Christian life can look like in the Philadelphia suburbs. Their shared motto is simple: "Loving God, loving each other, loving our neighbors." The four values that organize their common life are also simple and explicit: Family, Scripture, Disciple-making, Service.
The church's identity today is inseparable from its partnership with EFC Philadelphia. After a season of significant challenge in 2021, the members of Upper Merion Baptist Church began a period of regrowth and refreshing alongside their brothers and sisters from EFC's English-speaking ministry. The pastor of UMBC also pastors EFC Philadelphia's English-speaking Ministry, and the two congregations now worship together on Sunday mornings. As Pastor Dan writes, "Drawing upon the gifts and strengths of each congregation and being honest and open in facing our shortcomings, the Lord has an amazing work in progress here in the heart of King of Prussia." Their story is part of a much longer story that began in the mid-1800s, when a congregation called Bridgeport Baptist was founded in the area as a member of the Philadelphia Baptist Association.
A Building with Three Ministries
The building at 585 General Steuben Road houses three distinct ministries that share one address. On Sunday mornings, Upper Merion Baptist Church and the English-speaking congregation of EFC Philadelphia worship together in the main sanctuary. The Upper Merion Baptist Nursery School operates out of the same facility during the week, and the building is also home base for EFC Philadelphia's ministry to the Asian community in the Greater Philadelphia area.
This sharing shapes the life of the church in tangible ways. Midweek groups meet in the Church Library and other rooms, and youth and adult Bible studies run alongside the nursery school's weekday schedule. Visitors who come during the week will likely see children at play in addition to adults gathering for prayer or study. The building sits at the intersection of Valley Forge Road (Route 23) and General Steuben Road, with a large parking lot whose front row is reserved for visitors, young families, and those with special needs.
The arrangement also means the congregation is accustomed to multilingual worship. Joint Sunday services regularly include Chinese-language preaching with English translation, English-language preaching with Chinese translation, and bilingual congregational singing. Visitors who do not speak Chinese will find that the essential elements of the service are accessible in English, and visitors who do speak Chinese will find they can participate fully in their own language.
Welcome from Pastor Dan
Rev. Daniel Au has been pastoring in the Philadelphia area since 1998. His path to the pulpit is unusual: he originally intended to become a medical missionary, completing his undergraduate work at Northwestern University and later a medical degree at Northwestern University Medical School. The Lord led him to study at Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania, before he began his medical residency, and it was during this time that he followed God's call into full-time stateside ministry. He completed his theological degree and has since pastored in local churches in the Philadelphia area, with a focus on cross-cultural and cross-generational ministries in the Chinese-American and multicultural setting.
Pastor Dan first came to UMBC as a supply preacher and pastoral care helper during the congregation's 2021 transition. The Interim Minister Search Team and Executive Committee called him to be interim minister in December 2021 for what was initially a one-year commitment. Each year that followed, the arrangement was extended into 2024. On November 24, 2024, the UMBC congregation voted in agreement to call Pastor Dan to become the part-time settled pastor of Upper Merion Baptist Church, and he started that new role on December 1, 2024, beginning his fourth year together with the UMBC brothers and sisters.
His welcome to visitors is plain and personal: "Our Sunday service begins at 10:30am and feel free to dress up or dress more comfortably, it's who you are that's most important to us. There's also a 'Plan Your Visit' button that will connect you with one of our church leaders who will answer any further questions and meet you on the day of your visit. We look forward to sharing lives together!"
Sunday Mornings at UMBC
The Sunday service runs from 10:30 to 11:45 am in the main sanctuary. The full hour and fifteen minutes is shared with the English-speaking congregation of EFC Philadelphia, and the format regularly combines English and Chinese elements, including translation. On a typical Sunday a visitor might hear an English sermon with Chinese translation, a Chinese sermon with English translation (often preached by a member of the EFC congregation with translation provided by Rev. Anna Lawton or another translator), or bilingual congregational responses and prayers.
The order of service is reflected in the Sunday Bulletin, which the church publishes each week and makes available for download. The bulletin includes sermon notes, announcements, the order of service, and other practical information. Recent bulletins and audio recordings of sermons going back several years are archived online.
Before the service, adults gather for Sunday School at 9:15 am. The class is officially called the Spiritual Formation Group and meets every Sunday morning for Bible study. Visitors are welcome to drop in and join the conversation. The class is part of the church's small groups ministry, which is described in more detail below.
For first-time visitors, the church offers a Plan Your Visit page. When they arrive, a church leader will meet them in the front vestibule, introduce them to other members, give them a tour of the building, and save seats for them in the sanctuary. Parking is ample in the church lot, and the spots in front are reserved for visitors, young families, and those with special needs.
Children are welcome in the service. The church does not publish a separate nursery program during the worship hour on its main schedule, but the building is shared during the week with the Upper Merion Baptist Nursery School, so families with young children will find the space familiar and welcoming.
What the Church Believes
UMBC holds to a Baptist confession. The church states that all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory and are in need of a Savior. Members believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and they hold that the Bible, composed of the Old and New Testaments, was given through divine inspiration. The church teaches that Scripture was given without error and serves as the authoritative word of God, providing direction for daily life.
The church also affirms that the Church in today's society is a body of believers associated for worship, service, and the spread of the Gospel. The purpose of the Church is to challenge and encourage all believers to be faithful witnesses to all those they encounter and to help proclaim the Gospel and the plan of salvation.
On baptism, the church's stated view is that baptism by immersion of the believer in water represents the essential fact in redemption: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is the believer's profession of their desire for death to sin and resurrection to newness of life in Jesus Christ.
Upper Merion Baptist Church is a member congregation of American Baptist Churches USA, and the church follows the historic Baptist practice of believer's baptism by immersion. Visitors who want to learn more about the church's doctrine are pointed to the constitution and bylaws, which are available as a PDF on the church's main page.
Four Core Values: Family, Scripture, Disciple-making, Service
The church has organized its life around four values, each treated as a written statement of identity.
Family is grounded in the New Testament claim that through faith in Jesus Christ, believers are adopted into the family of God. UMBC describes itself as a spiritual family locally assembled in King of Prussia, and the church invites newcomers to come explore and live this new identity together. The phrase used by the church comes from Romans 8:15, where the Spirit enables believers to call God their Father. "This key relationship defines all other relationships, and we're grateful to be gathered together as a spiritual family locally assembled here at UMBC."
Scripture holds the central place in the church's life. The Bible and Jesus are at the center of all the church is and does, because the Creator has revealed himself through the written Word and the Living Word (a reference to John 1:1-4, 14). Scripture is described as authoritative and indispensable to guiding daily life, with the Psalmist's image of God's word as "a lamp for my feet, a light on my path" (Psalm 119:105).
Disciple-making means sharing one's life with another for the purpose of building up and strengthening each other. The church's purpose is a life in connection with the Creator, restored, redeemed, and renewed by the saving work of Jesus Christ, with a transforming impact on life, relationships, and outcomes. Recent sermon series have worked through the foundational texts of this value, including Building Foundations: Disciple-Making (Romans 10:9-15), Building Foundations: Scripture (2 Timothy 3:14-17), Building Foundations: Family (1 Timothy 3:14-15), and Building Foundations: Service (Matthew 5:14-16).
Service flows out of thankfulness. Because good things are not meant to be kept to oneself, the church sees its outreach as a natural extension of receiving grace. "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" is how the church describes its service impulse. The church's pattern of giving, missions support, and community involvement is rooted in this conviction.
Small Groups and Midweek Life
UMBC is committed to being a church that gathers throughout the week, not only on Sunday mornings. The congregation runs several small groups that meet in person and online. Each group has its own focus and rhythm, but together they are the way the church lives out its commitment to being family, growing in Scripture, making disciples, and serving.
Spiritual Formation Group meets every Sunday morning at 9:15 am, before the worship service, for adult Bible study. The class is the church's main vehicle for ongoing Bible learning, and visitors with a heart to learn and grow in their relationship with Christ are welcome.
Prayer Partners meets on Wednesdays at 10:30 am in the Church Library. The group prays for the needs of the church body, the local community, and the world, drawing on the James 5:16 promise that "the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." The group also functions as a place where members can confess their sins to one another and pray for each other in a small, trusted setting.
Tuesday Book Club gathers at 7:00 pm on Tuesday evenings. According to the church's main listing, the group meets online via Zoom. The small-groups page also mentions meeting in the food court of the King of Prussia Wegman's. In either case the purpose is to build up brothers and sisters in Christ and bless the surrounding community. The group is named after John 13:35: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Those interested in joining can email the church office.
Harvest Youth Fellowship meets every Friday at 7:30 pm and is specifically designed for students in middle and high school. The night is described as a fun mix of praise, games and activities, and Bible study, with the purpose of growing in Christ and growing in Christian community. The youth group takes its name from the Harvest metaphor used throughout Scripture, and the church considers it one of the most important investments it makes in the next generation.
Sisters Study Group meets in the Church Library on Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm (with the small-groups page listing Friday evenings at 7:00 pm). The group gathers for fellowship and to review the lessons learned from Sunday's Spiritual Formation Class. The aim is to grow in wisdom and understanding together.
Anyone interested in joining any of these groups, or unsure where to start, is invited to email the church office at umbcoffice@gmail.com.
A Long Story in One Place
UMBC's history stretches back to the mid-1800s, when a congregation called Bridgeport Baptist was founded as a member of the Philadelphia Baptist Association. That church sponsored many outreach and community events in its early decades, putting down roots in the surrounding region. By the middle of the twentieth century the church had outgrown its original space, and in 1959 the congregation purchased farmland in Upper Merion Township and built a new building. The church changed its name to Upper Merion Baptist Church at that point.
The purposes of saving souls and ministry established in Bridgeport have continued unbroken into UMBC. In March 2025 the church celebrated its 175th anniversary with a sermon titled "One Hope, One Lord," drawn from Ephesians 4:1-6. The anniversary was marked not as a one-off event in the church's life but as part of a long-running commitment to the same neighborhood and the same work.
The pastor's note on the church's regrowth makes clear that the story continues. The members of UMBC see themselves as being led by the Lord into a period of regrowth and refreshing, alongside their brothers and sisters from EFC Philadelphia's English-speaking congregation.
Recent Sermon Series
The church's recent preaching has worked through several extended series, each shaped by the calendar and the church's ministry priorities. The Summer Psalms Series in the summers of 2025 and 2026 walked through the Psalms, with sermons titled "Enter with Joy, A Call to Worship" (Psalm 100), "Our Great Big God" (Psalm 33), "A Unity Unlike Any Other" (Psalm 133), "Bewildered!" (Psalm 77), "Restoring Joy When It's Hard" (Psalm 51), "Our Help Comes from the Lord!" (Psalm 121), and "A Missions Heart, A Saving Power Among the Nations" (Psalm 67:1-7).
The Parables of Jesus series that ran through 2023 and into 2026 worked through the major parables: Father, I Adore You (Luke 15:11-32), Lord, Do You Hear Me? (Luke 18:1-8, Luke 11:5-13), A Theology of Mercy and Forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-35), Merciful Neighbors (Luke 10:25-37), Building Together Upon What Lasts (Luke 6:47-49), Take Care of It (Matthew 25:14-30), A Great Yearning for What Is Lost (Matthew 13:44-50), and Releasing the Fruit Bearers (Mark 4:14-20).
The Galatians Series in the fall of 2025 worked through Paul's letter to the Galatians week by week, with sermons on Calling All Rescuers (Galatians 1:1-10), Transformed to Testify (Galatians 1:11-24), Accountability and Acceptance (Galatians 2:1-10), A Square Peg in a Round World (Galatians 2:11-21), Heirs According to the Promise (Galatians 3:1-29), The Amazing Part of Grace (Galatians 4:1-12), You Are Children of Promise (Galatians 4:21-31), All or Nothing for Christ (Galatians 5:1-12), Learning to Walk (Galatians 5:13-26), and Living as New Creations (Galatians 6:1-18).
The Walking in the Light series in the early summer of 2025 walked through what it means to walk in the light of Christ, with sermons on The Appeal (2 Corinthians 5:20-21), The Content (Colossians 4:2-6), Illumination (Matthew 5:14-16), The Journey (1 John 1:5-7), and Freedom (Romans 8:1-4).
Combined worship services are a regular feature, particularly around Pentecost, Easter, and Christmas. The Christmas Sunday Joint Worship in December 2025 was titled "The Most Precious Birth" (Matthew 1:18-25), preached in Chinese by Rev. Anna Lawton with English translation by Jeff Lawton. The Easter Sunday service in 2024 was titled "Not Nonsense! 不是胡言" (Luke 24:1-12), preached by Rev. Jim Di Raddo and translated by Rev. Anna Lawton.
The Hilltop Newsletter
Twice a year the church publishes The Hilltop, a newsletter that captures the life of the congregation between Sundays. The Fall 2025 issue and Spring 2025 issue are available as PDFs on the church's main page. The newsletter serves as a bridge between the pulpit and the church's midweek life, sharing stories of what God has been doing among the members and outlining what's coming up.
Giving and Practical Matters
Members and friends who wish to support the church's ministry can give online through Tithe.ly. The UMBC Constitution and Bylaws are also available as a PDF for those who want to understand how the church is organized.
For more information or to ask questions, the church can be reached at umbcoffice@gmail.com or (610) 265-1814. Pastor Dan can also be reached directly at pastordanielau@gmail.com. The church maintains a Facebook group, listed under UMBC's name on Facebook, where members share announcements and prayer requests.
Sermons from 2022 through the current year are archived online at the sermons page, with audio downloads and the corresponding Sunday Bulletins.
A Note on What Visitors Will Find
Anyone thinking about visiting UMBC for the first time can use the Plan Your Visit page to schedule a visit. A leader will meet them in the front vestibule, introduce them to others in the church, give them a tour of the building, and save seats in the sanctuary for the service.
The service itself runs from 10:30 to 11:45 am on Sundays. Visitors are welcome to dress up or dress more comfortably; the church says it's who you are that matters most. The worship is bilingual, with English and Chinese elements woven together, but visitors who speak only English will be able to follow the service through translation. Visitors who speak only Chinese will be able to participate in their own language.
After the service, members often linger in the vestibule and hallways to talk. The Church Library and other rooms are used throughout the week for small groups, Bible studies, and prayer meetings.
Enduring Identity
The members of Upper Merion Baptist Church describe themselves with the motto, "Loving God, loving each other, loving our neighbors." That motto captures what the church has set out to do in King of Prussia: gather as a family, learn Scripture together, make disciples, and serve the surrounding community. With a history reaching back to the mid-1800s, a settled pastor since December 2024, and a fresh partnership with the English-speaking congregation of EFC Philadelphia, UMBC is, in the words of its pastor, an amazing work in progress at the heart of King of Prussia.