Some days it feels like I’m dreaming. I’m astounded at God’s
hand and His heart. We are in a unique moment in Cambodia where people are open
to the Gospel and churches can be planted as quickly as people are discipled and leaders raised up. In 2016 I had the
pleasure of working with a team to start a new initiative called the Cambodia Church Planting Center This initiative has been birthed out of the 20+ years
of church planting experience of New Life Fellowship. The goal is to share that
experience with other church planting networks in order to inspire, equip and
unite church planting groups to plant 200 new churches and eventually increase
the number of churches being planted in Cambodia to 400 per year.
Last month we finished our second church planter “Boot Camp”
where 45 church planting leaders were trained in a 32-hour course on the
essentials of church planting. So far this year we trained 86 leaders in church
planting. In addition to our “Boot Camps” we are also providing consulting,
regional roundtables, conferences and church planting grants. We have been
amazed already at seeing what God has done.
In the second half of 2016 and first half of 2017, we have been honored
to be a direct partner with the planting of 45 new churches this year!
Here are just a couple of testimonies of what God has been
doing through our partners:
Operation Christmas
Child in Cambodia distributes approximately 90,000 Christmas shoebox gifts
each year. With every box the gospel message is shared. In 2017 the National
Leadership Team for OCC developed a new initiative. They engaged their network
and denominational partners and asked for 35 individuals who would be
interested in following up this year’s shoebox distributions and the new relationships with children and families for the purpose of planting new churches.
The CCPC partnered with OCC in developing their plan and providing training and
discipleship resources to the 35 volunteers. By mid 2017, 37 new house churches
have been planted!
Elim Pentecostal
started their first Khmer national church in the capital of Phnom Penh. Over
the first 6 years the church grew and flourished. As elders and leaders were
developed in the church they began to dream of planting churches in both
villages and cities across Cambodia. In 2016 Elim began looking at ways to put
those dreams into action. The CCPC and New Life Fellowship’s
 |
| Elim Church Grand Opening |
When Elim started offering English classes in their Kep
location 120 students enrolled. After 5 months of classes and outreach Elim
conducted their Grand Opening ceremony on June 10, 2017 and had 180 people in
attendance. In addition to their English classes Elim’s leader has been asked
by local school and government officials to start soccer program for local
teachers and students. Elim has a strong leadership team and is seeing greater
Kingdom impact than they were expecting!
There are too many stories of God’s grace to fit into this
update, but let me know if you would like to hear more specifically about
church planting. I’m really excited about this initiative and would be happy to
let you know how you could be involved.
Your gift makes the work of the Hester family in Cambodia possible, and we work hard to maximise each dollar entrusted to us. We are grateful for the generous support of many individuals and organisations that share our commitment to informed, responsible and effective service in Cambodia. To partner with us in 2017 Click Here
