Navel Gazing: Lessons from Cambodia 2006

We are home safely and attempting to reset our body clocks. Pray for our ability to re-enter in a short amount of time.

I (David) am a navel gazer by nature and by choice. I have finally learned to admit it, and not be ashamed of my tendency to analyze (and re-analyze) things. All of my introspection is not necessarily useful, but it is a part of the process of synthesizing, fusing, learning and ultimately coming to conclusions that benefit our work. At least that’s the goal.

Three words come to mind in regard to this trip, and I’ll use each word for a talking point. Those words are struggle, foundation, and hope.

Life in Cambodia is nothing less than a daily struggle for survival. Those of us in the west having nothing to compare it to. Each of us have had days that are difficult, even daunting, but we have no experience anywhere close to the daily struggle of over 15 million people. Phnom Penh (the capital city) has swelled to over 2 million people (up from a population of 1 million) in the past 7 years. Poverty is rampant. Food is difficult to obtain for the ordinary person. Work is hard, manual labor. Everyone is trying to break the cycle of poverty through entrepreneurial initiative.

The church continues to struggle. Christianity is seen as a “Western Religion”. Those who Believe are ostracized by their communities, and only have support as they link together as a community of faith. Believers in evangelical churches number less than 1% of the population. The church leadership continues to struggle in leading new believers mature in their faith. Materials are few. One of the solutions to this struggle (seemingly) is to partner with others in order to develop materials in Khmer that can be used by leaders to disciple their churches.

Every time I think I begin to have our ministry figured out, a new reality knocks me in the head and causes me to realize how much I have to learn about working in Asia. I realize that our work is still in the stage of laying a healthy foundation. This foundation relies on the gracious investment in our lives of Godly partners on the field.

Nivath Nhem continues to lead the Cambodian Baptist Union, and does a wonderful job of giving us opportunities to invest in the lives of Khmer Pastors and leaders. Nivath is gracious, and continues to express his confidence in us and what we are doing.

On this trip we met a new friend, Mades Meas. Mades is 26 and has spent time studying in the U.S. He served as our translator and guide for much of this trip. Mades works as a Community Development Officer with International Teams, a global ministry based in Chicago. Mades was a great encourager, and because he has excellent English skills, helped us continue to understand Khmer culture. I received an email from Mades this morning where he said this:

“Thank you and the team so much for helping raise leaders for Cambodian churches for the next generation and so on. You and your team are the blessings to a lot of leaders both in Cambodia and in Burma.

“Also, I'm truly please to work with your team and it was a great opportunity for me to learn from you guys as well. I did learn a lot during the Leadership Training Program going in the provinces where I went with your team. I hope that I would have another opportunity to work with you and your team again next year and go on.”

Mades was a great encouragement to us, and I also hope that we will be able to work together in the future.

As I have continued to think about this trip (translation: gazed at my navel), I truly believe there is hope for the effectiveness of the work of the Church in Cambodia. The leaders are hungry to know. They understand that they have not been well educated, but they work hard at their studies. They are diligent. Many evenings, after a full day of teaching, we gave them “homework” assignments. Every time they completed the work. Every time they demonstrated that they understood the principles they were studying in Scripture.

There is hope for the Church in Cambodia because the message of Jesus is a message of hope. These leaders understand this. We celebrated together that there is hope in the midst of suffering. We rejoiced in the fact that our promise is that the Kingdom of God begins in our lives right now.

Thank you for making this project possible. We continue to marvel at the Grace of God in regard to His provision for this work. Thank you for being a conduit of hope to Cambodia. Thank you for laboring with us in prayer. May God richly bless you for your investment.

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

David

PS: we are looking through pictures (100's of them) and will post some of them as soon as we can.