Now - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
We are currently learning the Cambodian language and culture in Phnom Penh. We plan to continue doing this primarily for at least a year in order to effectively present Christ here. We are renting a house in a good location where we feel God has placed us. We have very good neighbors and have already been able to have a few spiritual conversations and make some good friends. Please be in prayer for us as we learn how to effectively work here and as we decide some specifics of how to live and minister here.
For more details about what we are currently doing, please see our newsletter archives and our news updates.
Following Years - Town of our/church's choice (possibly still in Phnom Penh)
Entering the community
We plan on becoming as much a part of the local community as possible. To do this we plan to place our children in local schools, shop in local markets, and own a moto (a typical Khmer vehicle, a kind of scooter which we already own in fact). We would also like to rent a middle-class Khmer-style house and perhaps each get a part-time job (Chris does aleady work part-time as a web developer). We believe these things are important for setting an example for future Khmer Christians in stewardship and Christian lifestyle.
Ministry
Since family plays such an important role in Khmer culture, we plan to target entire middle-class families instead of targeting specific age-groups or minorities. We believe that the best way to model God's plan for the family is to do this type of ministry and in so doing, keep families intact. Also, because Khmer ethnicity is synonymous with being Buddhist, targeting minorities would cause the converts to be further ostracized from Khmer society. We want there to be Khmer Christians and churches instead of having a Vietnamese church in Cambodia or a church made up entirely of university students. Our desire is to target the "norm" of society.
Due to the massive amount of Christian aid brought into Cambodia after the war, there is a phenomenon in Cambodia dubbed "rice churches." This is when people become Christians simply because they get something out of it (food handouts are the most common, although free education and other things fall into the same category). Since this is such a problem in this country (and we have heard it from several sources), we want to avoid development in the name of Christ at all costs. Our goal is to demonstrate a reproducible model to the people. In doing so, we would point people to the already available channels in the country for medical needs and other things. Our goal is church-planting, not development.
We plan to visit entire families in their homes, teaching them all at once. Meeting in this way conforms more to Asian culture, avoiding the master/slave attitude and the need for irreproducible and expensive buildings. As soon as the first family decides to follow Christ, we want to partner with them in more outreach and evangelism, encouraging them to go to their more distant relatives and other families in the community, just as we are doing. The goal of this is for us to model outreach methods and, by so doing, empower the first generation of Khmer church-planting missionaries.
