Strategies for Training, Missions and Ministry
Without studying history, or paying attention to the current news, you may think that all nations in the world have always existed and will last forever. In fact, the fall of great empires only takes a moment in the scope of history.
I am always aware of the constant poverty in Cambodia, and on this trip, covering some 8 provinces on the western side of Cambodia I found myself unable to help time and time again. The one thing that gives me comfort while living among such poverty is that I was able to help about 100 kids this week have an opportunity to get education, eat good food, and have opportunities that all the other people I met could probably never even imagine.
For the first time in my life, I did not have a family Christmas on December 25. I chose to do it on December 23, so that I could join with hundreds of Christians and dozens of Government officials in Banteay Meanchey to celebrate Cambodia’s only official Christmas.
Over the last two days I met two people who reminded me of what it was like for me to communicate with others more than 15 years ago when I first came to Cambodia. I believe that one of the biggest barriers to successful ministry or business is simply found in language ability. The ability to speak to someone in their own language can never be substituted.
In Cambodia, most people (some 80%) are rice farmers. Rice farming, in Cambodia, is very labor intensive, and requires cows for plowing the fields. If a family does not own their own cows for plowing a field, they have to rent them from another family. The rental cost is usually 50% of the harvest. That means if you do not own your own cows, you automatically will lose 50% of your potential harvest. If we just gave a cow to a family though, they would likely sell it for cash. So we decided we would not sell the cows to the family, but we would loan it to them to use. The initial cow always remains the property of “Cows for Cambodia”. We would then pay the family an “annual fee” for taking care of our cow. That annual fee is the offspring for the year. Native cows in Cambodia are highly resistant to disease and have a calf every year like clockwork. Therefore, they get to use the cow free of charge, then they can keep their first calf for themselves. The second calf (second year) we keep as a “usage fee” for the use of our cow for two years. The third they keep, fourth we keep, and on and on. The asset keeps growing and the benefit to the people keeps growing.
“Our church is dead”, announced the Baptist Deacon to the other leaders. It was piercing words to one couple who had come to Christ in that fellowship and had been with it for many years. They started discipling their remaining believers and in a less than a month their church was alive again with many new believers and some people returning.
A young pastor explained that after the August training session he went back to his area determined to reach 9 more villages around him with a new church. So he and his wife got permission from the nine villages to show the gospel. Now they have 9 churches planted in less than four months work.
A small church of 90 people started discipling their own people and then those people started discipling others in the village. People started coming to Christ rapidly. The church has now grown to more than 400 people in one month! Praise the Lord!
Wheat and rice look quite similar and have similar properties. Another unique aspect is that both wheat and rice have counterfeits as well. The “tares”. In the Cambodian language it is called “song-gnie”. It looks very similar to rice when growing, yet when it turns harvest time it is more than clear what is rice and what are tares. One you can eat, the other has no nutritional value. One has value, the other is worthless.