Mission Trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia - 26-29 Mar 15

Bro Samuel, Bro Stephen and I went on this trip. 

Our objectives are two fold:

1.   Conduct a leadership seminar for about 30 leaders

2.   See if there are any church planting opportunities in Cambodia. 

Pst Roger and his wife Deb

We arrived in Siem Reap at about 3pm. Our host, Pst Roder was there to pick us up. I met Pst Roger and his wife Deb at the Hi Penang National Seminar in 2012. They are Filipino missionaries, serving the Lord in Cambodia. Our transport from the airport was a modified motorcycle with an attached carriage. A very unique experience indeed.

That evening we had dinner at a road side stall. These stalls are a plenty in Siemreap, reminiscence of the yester years in Singspore. And the food was delicious and exceptionally reasoanable, $1:50 a disk. Reminded me of those days in the 70's of old Chong Pang Village, around Sultan Theater. Those were the days....Singaporeans go crazy in such places. 

Equip Leadership Seminar

About 35 participants attended the two-day seminar. Most of the participants were Cambodians, in addition to some Filipino missionaries. Due to lack of time I was not able to complete the sessions. Nevertheless many testified how the seminar had been a blessings. Praise God.

On Sat evening, 28 Mar, we attended Bread of Life Church in Siem Reap. About 20 people gathered for the meeting, most of them youths. One of the pastors of this group is a Singaporean couple and the husband Pst Govin is a relative of Janice Samuel. Samuel and Stephen were surprised at the strange coincidence and had a good time of catching up. Samuel shared the Word in the meeting. 

Bro Samuel sharing the Word

Sunday morning, 29 Mar, we drove an hour to xxx village, outside Siem Reap. Pst Rodger and Deb had toiled very hard in this village since 2011 and they have established s church there. About 25 adults and children gathered for the service. The church building was a simple structure but had two other rooms, which can be used, as dormitories. There was adequate water and electrical supply. Bro Samuel shared the Word. I was amazed to see a 10-year-old girl play the guitar and she did it very well. I was told that most of the kids are tenanted and can play the guitar. These kids have great potentials do they all took the worship service seriously. 

Observations

As this was our first trip to Cambodia, we basically seeking to understand the ground better. The following are the observations after seeing and speaking to many people there:

• With less than 2% Christians, the harvest in Cambodia is really ripe and ready. Many villagers are willing to accept Christians in their villages. There is little resistance to the gospel, provided it is brought in carefully. Meeting physical needs and establishing relations is the best way to penetrate a village. 

• Many Christian NGOs and missionaries, especially from the Philippines, have moved into Cambodia but mostly are meeting social and humanitarian needs. Providing education and life skills seem to be the best entry point. Because many of these NGOs have been giving handouts, any outsider trying to work in the village is expected to give some kind of handout, either cash or kind. Some other NGOs have set up businesses in Siem Reap City with the intention of reaching the youths who come for employment and then later to channel them as church planters. But I did not hear of any success story on this approach.

• Some NGOs have started educational programs in the villages and as a result reached some families. But these NGOs work independently and lack skills to run a church. Their focus is to reach one at s time. At most they have helped two or three villages.  

• The best way of starting a church is by planting a local in the village and helping him. No one has started a church plants training curriculum in Siem Reap. There are young people willing to be trained and deployed to the villages with the intention of planting churches. 

• The village that Pst Roger is working, has the facilities to run a church planters training program. It may not be the best but sufficient to runs program. Of course some renovation work needs to be done in the process. There is also a great potential to start a kindergarten in this village and though it reach many nearby villages.

Conclusion

I am convinced that we can start another church planters training program in Siem Reap. The program can be conducted in the Popal village. There are sufficient facilities to support the program and the cost of running the program is not high. There are young men who are ready to serve as church planters and I have seen some of them. We can even cast the net wide to enroll those from Phnom Penh area as well.  Identifying suitable faculty is also not a problem. We now need to pray for a like-minded partner to sponsor this project.