Cambodia 5/22-23

The Gecko Inn was located in the village of Svay Riengh, the main town within Svay Riengh Province. Traffic was fairly consistent through many of the other provinces and towns we passed through, but this community on the Vietnam border was a sleepy haven.

Zoning is non-existent in Cambodia, as far as I can tell. You can encounter cows and chickens just about anywhere: around homes, churches, businesses, hotels, etc.

Our three-day training session with Cambodian church planters met at Pastor X. Raksmey’s home (where he also leads a house church), about a 10-minute drive from our hotel. One-third of this distance was paved road, and the rest was dirt. All land here is agricultural, except for a few streets here and there in the center of villages.

Pastor X. on the right, with a fellow church planter

The purpose of the session was to train pastors and leaders to pattern their churches’ growth and reproduction after the model given in the Book of Acts. Tim Bunn has written a workbook that helps them understand how the early church grew, and how the apostle Paul moved around and encouraged and supported those churches. Also included is an emphasis on strong families, whose stability is crucial to the health of churches.

The Cambodian government today, although led by an “elected” Communist party in the parliament’s majority, for the most part allows Christians and other religions to exercise their faith freely. The pastors I spoke to said any opposition usually comes from some village officials, overseers, or older citizens who follow the majority religion, Buddhism. Christianity is viewed as the “Western” religion, so they often don’t understand why a fellow Cambodian would embrace the foreigners’ God. The Christians here explain to them that Jesus is the God of everybody.

The training we provided seemed well suited to the growth and development of Christian churches in Cambodia, because it is being spread through house churches. Just a few buildings down the road from the pastor’s home stood a church built by Korean Methodist missionaries, which is inactive. We were told there were many more like it (not only Korean or Methodist, but other Christian denominations also) in other villages and provinces throughout the country. Meanwhile, they say the house churches spread.

Our conference drew approximately 60 leaders, men and women, representing about 30 churches, which were all house churches. The pastors and deacons who attended from around the province parked their motor scooters in the shade of some shrubbery, removed their footwear, and entered the house. Pastor’s Raksmey’s home lacked electricity, so a gasoline generator powered the lights and the oscillating fans that alleviated the heat. Doors and windows were left wide open. A car battery ran the church’s electric organ. The sessions were as much worship as they were education.

Curious children investigate scooters

 

Singing, clapping and praising

We Americans were continually treated with kindness and like we were very special. We were served as soon as we sat at the meal table, and were repeatedly given bottled water as our supply ran out. I can’t explain it. Only the experience of being treated like kings by people who have next to nothing, materially, can give you the feeling that we have experienced in Cambodia and now Vietnam, which I will report on soon. They have Jesus Christ, and the message communicated to us is that He meets all their needs.

Here are a few shots of the beautiful people of Cambodia. Can you tell the children have captured our hearts?