Celebrating 45 Churches Planted!

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 church planting team began consultations with Elim about strategies for church planting and as Elim’s vision became clearer they sensed God was calling them to plant 125 churches over the next 5 years.

Elim Church Grand Opening

In January 2017 the leaders of Elim began outreach points in the provincial capital city of Kep and in 3 other villages. Their team attended the CCPC “Boot Camp” church planting training in March. Sarak Dong, the leader in training for the Kep city church, reflected on his experience at Boot Camp “Before (Boot Camp) I had a vision, but now I understand the importance of having a clear strategy and I’ve developed targets and goals”

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