Cambodia background info

1. Background
Cambodian glory came early in history. From AD 900 to AD 1300, the time of the
construction of Angkor Watt, Cambodia was the dominant power in S.E. Asia. From
that time onward Cambodia has been in constant turmoil with more powerful
neighbors to the east and west, Vietnam and Thailand. It was pressure from these
neighbors that drove Cambodia into a colonial relationship with France, which lasted
for about 90 years ending in 1953. For the next 17 years Cambodia enjoyed a brief
period of peace known as the "Sihanouk time".
Tragedy was set in motion when the U.S. invaded Cambodia in 1970 in order to
facilitate their extraction from the politically unpopular war in Vietnam. This led to
the U.S. backed Lon Nol government being established in Cambodia. With the final
U.S. withdrawal and North Vietnamese triumph in 1975, Cambodia was left to the
mercy of the communist victors; unfortunately, they had none.
Enraged by five years of relentless U.S. bombing the Khmer Rouge took out their
pent up hatred upon the Cambodian population. From 1.5 to 3 million people died
out of a total population of 9 million under the Pol Pot reign of terror. Pol Pot sought
to set up a communistic agrarian utopia. All modern development was considered
counter revolutionary and eliminated. Cities were evacuated and schools, hospitals,
water and sewer systems, libraries, factories, bridges, hydroelectric dams and
irrigation systems were systematically destroyed. Cambodia went from being one of
the most developed countries in S.E. Asia to the least in 5 years. The Vietnamese
invaded Cambodia in 1979 to stop the genocide. This led to continual fighting with
the Khmer Rouge, with Vietnamese dominance of the population centers, for the
next ten years, ending only when the Vietnamese benefactor, the Soviet Union,
disintegrated in 1989.
Various factions fought for control of Cambodia until the United Nations intervened in
1992. A UN supervised election in1993 placed the Royalists under King Sihanouk's
son Ranariddh in power but Communist leader Hun Sen refused to yield to the
election results. As a compromise a three-headed coalition government was
established only to be overthrown in a Coup de'tat in July of 1997 that placed Hun
Sen in absolute control. Presently, Prime Minister, Hun Sen is moving the country
toward democracy. The greatest obstacle to this is the established corruption and
cronyism of the existing leaders and the absence of the "rule of law". At the present
time in Cambodia, the rich and the powerful rule, although steps toward democracy
are occurring on an increasing basis.
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Current Realities
A) There is relative freedom to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the exception
of arbitrary government, "Requirements". These are not born of ideological beliefs as
much as from greed and political pressure from the Buddhist majority.
B) There is a hunger within the people for spiritual truth. The tragic events of the
past 30 years, and the failure of the current value system to bring any kind of equity
into the lives of the vast majority of the population, have left people searching.

2. C) Christianity is rapidly growing in Cambodia. The Foursquare Church grew from 1
to 42 congregations during the first 9 months of 1999.
D) The rampant, "Wild west" capitalism of the past eight years has left Cambodia to
be run by the will and whim of the, "Robber Baron" rich.
E) Extreme poverty has driven many reproductive age women into prostitution as a
survival tactic. In Cambodia this profession lacks the social stigma of Western
cultures and is frequently patronized by the men.
F) Cambodia has the highest H.I.V. infection rate in Asia with 100 new cases per day
in 1999.
G) Constant warfare between various factions over the past 30 years has left many
areas of Cambodia virtual, "Landmine Gardens". There are an estimated 1 to 2
million active landmines in Cambodia. One in every 243 Cambodians is permanently
disabled due to a mine.
H) A.I.D.S., landmines, poverty, poor health care, war, childbirth complications and
malnutrition have produced a disproportionate number of orphans in Cambodia.
Deaths from A.I.D.S. alone produced 43,000 new orphans by the end of year 2000.
The extended family system that has traditionally absorbed these orphaned children
can no longer handle the supply. In addition, the temptation to, "Sell" orphaned
children by impoverished relatives, is making family placement risky.
I) Approximately 85% of Cambodians are rural and agrarian. The Government is by
far the largest non-agrarian employer. Soldiers, police, teachers and civil servants
are paid from $16-30 per month. It takes from $50-150 (depending upon location)
per month for a family to survive in Cambodia. Incomes for government employees
must be supplemented. Some employees have second or even third jobs but more
have developed innovative methods of income enhancement (graft). Police collect
fines on the spot, teachers charge students for instruction, and civil servants collect
"fees" for services rendered.
J) More than 80% of Cambodians live below the international standard for poverty.
"Land grabs" by the rich and powerful coupled with drought (1998), flooding 1996-
97), medical emergencies and economic depression have forced many rural
Cambodians to sell land and left the vast majority destitute.
K) The "Patronage" system of corruption infects the nation from top to bottom. Many
benevolent organizations have left Cambodia in frustration over their inability to
establish any kind of self-policing system of governance. Even the family system has
been compromised by the selling of children, especially young girls, who can bring up
to $700 when sold into the brothel system.

3. L) The value system of Christianity and the centralized polity of the Foursquare
Church have endowed it with a core of honest, dedicated leaders eager to
demonstrate the love of Christ, and a governmental system capable of dealing with
lapses of integrity when they do occur.
M) There are several Non Government Organizations (N.G.O.'s) in Cambodia willing
to work cooperatively with other groups when they can provide leaders of integrity to
accomplish the organization's stated goals. Often there is an overlapping of purpose
and areas of shared mission between organizations.
N) There is a willingness of certain individuals, charitable organizations and
foundations in the developed nations to fund the care of orphans if they can have
confidence that their gifts will be used for the intended purpose.
O) The Foursquare Church has established a nationally recognized N.G.O.,
"Foursquare Children of Promise", dedicated to planting churches, the care of
orphans, and developing an economic and agricultural base of support for the people
of Cambodia.
P) Every Church in Cambodia faces the challenge of a "spiritually hungry" population,
the extreme poverty of the people and the increasing number of orphans. Very few
Cambodian churches own a meeting facility.
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Observation, Truth, Assumption & Conclusion
Observation:
Human existence consists of three aspects, body, soul and spirit. God created all
three to function in harmony as a unified whole. Current missionary efforts in
Cambodia, as a reaction to the past error of establishing dependency building
material aid centers at the expense of proclaiming spiritual truth, have shunned
ministering social and material aid to the Cambodian people. The result has been an
anemic church with spiritually informed but skeptical and impoverished believers.
The church has left the economic and social concerns of the Cambodian people to
secular agencies, which have often conflicted with church teachings due to differing
value systems.
Spiritual Truth:
… "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt.
16:18) The promise of Christ for triumphal power against the forces of darkness in
this world rests only upon the church. No other institution on earth carries this
guarantee. In addition, God is especially interested in some specific social activities
for the church, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to

4. look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world." (Jas. 1:27)
Assumption:
God wants to bless Cambodia. Jesus proclaimed: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the
oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19) This message
has not lost its potency in 2000 years. The concept of "Gospel Lift" is more than a
"Warm fuzzy" from some optimistic preacher, it is the truth of God intercepting
human reality.
Conclusion:
The "Church" must be proactive in developing spiritual life through the proclamation
of the Gospel but at the same time work in cooperative effort with other dedicated
organizations to bring holistic health to the body of Christ, specifically to build strong
families, assist the orphans, widows and impoverished and thereby demonstrate our
love for the total person body, soul and spirit.
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Rationale
James 2:15-18
"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him,
"Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical
needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by
action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith
without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." (NIV)
Vision
To establish and build the Church of Jesus Christ in Cambodia by proclaiming the
truth of the Gospel and by demonstrating the love of Christ in practical ways.
Mission
To establish and build the Church by proclaiming and demonstrating the Gospel of
Christ to the holistic community through ministering spiritual, social and material
truth to the Cambodian people.
Spiritually, this will be accomplished by evangelizing and training the people in
Christian truth and by equipping "called" spiritual leaders from among them to plant
new churches.

5. Socially, the Gospel will be demonstrated by teaching family values and
strengthening existing family structures, according to Christian principles, to
eventually absorb homeless children. In the interim the church will be proactive by,
feeding, housing, loving, and training orphans, building facilities, and assisting
destitute widows.
Materially, the Gospel will be demonstrated to those without clothes and daily food
by assisting them with the establishment of self-sustaining agricultural enterprises.
City dwellers will be assisted through appropriate cooperative training opportunities
when available.
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Approach

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Plan
Spiritual Social Economic
A) Spiritual: The Cambodian Foursquare Church seeks to follow the pattern of Spirit-
empowered church development found in the book of Acts. The plan is to
strategically follow the four-stage pattern of church development as adopted by
Foursquare Missions International. (See appendix A). Emphasis will be placed upon
the following areas for 1999-2001.

7. 1) Training pastors and church planters through the establishment of a Bible School
with a short-term "church Planting" emphasis.
2) Develop lay leadership through training sessions held regionally on a periodic
basis.
3) Plant Churches as leaders are called, identified, trained, dispatched and equipped.
4) Mobilize church members with an evangelical outlook and mission.
5) Demonstrate the Gospel through the Holy Spirit empowered ministry of our Lord.
6) A major focus of the teaching of the Cambodian Foursquare Church will be on
strengthening family values and teaching Christian principals of compassion, with a
goal of eventually equipping church members to absorb the supply of homeless
children.
B) Social: "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you
says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about
his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not
accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have
deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I
do." (NIV)
1) Every community is faced with the problem of orphaned children.
2) Often widows are destitute and uncared for.
3) Family structures, devastated under Pol Pot, are not strong enough to absorb the
homeless children, children are frequently sold or abused.
4) The church is generally poverty stricken and unable to adequately care for the
children in the congregation let alone build a facility for church meetings and the
care of orphans.
5) Benevolent organizations are willing to help with the care of orphans but difficulty
with corruption make oversight of funds a nightmare.
6) The Church will partner with organizations like Warm Blankets Orphan Care
International, International Cooperating Ministries (ICM), Children of Promise
(COPI), Kids for the Kingdom and others to construct church facilities to give a more
permanent physical presence to churches in each community.
7) The church has dedicated clergy who subscribe to ethics of integrity.
Win - Win
When congregations sense the will of God to care for orphaned children, the
Cambodian Foursquare Church provides pastoral leadership and disciplined oversight
to establish an orphanage within the local church setting.
The Cambodian Foursquare Church recognizes that the "Family" is the God given and
ordained structure for child rearing. The problem in Cambodia is that the supply of
orphans, the extreme poverty of most families, the temptation to sell unwanted
children, and the devastation of family values under Pol Pot have rendered family
units incapable of meeting the demand.

8. Children of Promise, ICM, Warm Blankets Foundation, Kids for the Kingdom and
other benevolent organizations provide funding for the monthly support of orphans
and the construction of facilities. The local church supplies leadership and a
dedicated staff and benefits by being able to demonstrate the love of Christ in a
practical way and by meeting in the orphanage facility.
Widows are housed at the orphanage facility as staff members and given food,
clothing and a meaningful job. The children receive Christian care and upbringing
and the church realizes a debt free facility (see appendix B). The donor organizations
have assurance that their funds are used properly. The community benefits by
receiving care for orphaned children and by experiencing genuine Christian love. The
nation profits by the development of stronger families, citizens with Christian values
of compassion, and the development of emerging Christian leaders.
C) Economic: Most of the Cambodian people are agrarian (85%) peasants; more
than two-thirds are illiterate and the majority are landless. The introduction of
modern agricultural practices and improved livestock varieties through the proven
techniques of Heifer Project International along with micro-enterprise development
business practices allows the community to become self-supporting and empowered
to reach out to help others.
Win - Win
Heifer Project International benefits from finding leaders of integrity to watch over
the funding of their project (appendix C). The church benefits by breaking economic
bondage and dependency of the members and by teaching the concept of the tithe
(i.e. If you have ten pigs to sell one belongs to God). The community benefits as
trained members "pass the gift".
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The N.G.O.
Foursquare Children of Promise (F.C.O.P.) is a nationally recognized Non Government
Organization (N.G.O.) licensed to operate anywhere in the Kingdom of Cambodia by
the Department of Social Welfare and the Department of Cults and Religions. Specific
authority is granted to:
1) Plant and develop churches.
2) Aid orphans.
3) Establish schools
4) Drill wells
5) Provide for agricultural and economic development.
6) Construct facilities as needed to carry out mandated responsibilities.

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S.W.O.T. Analysis
(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Strengths:
This plan:
A) Builds strong, healthy, self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating
churches in Cambodia.
B) Contributes to the development and training of church leaders.
C) Builds the church by demonstrating the love of Christ to the Cambodian people in
a manner that fulfills a requirement of "true religion". James 1:27
D) Gives the church a debt free meeting facility.
E) Involves the local congregation in a participatory level. They provide labor and
service as they sacrificially give themselves to the care of orphans.
F) Helps the Cambodian government by assisting in meeting an expensive and
embarrassing need - the care of homeless children.
G) Allows the benevolent donor organizations a high degree of confidence in the
proper use of funds.
H) Develops a renewable and sustainable economic base for the congregation.
I) Teaches the concept of tithing.
Weaknesses:
This plan is:
A) Subject to the uncertainty of foreign benevolence.
B) Subject to the favor of local and national government officials.
C) Subject to the integrity of leadership.
Opportunities:
This plan has the potential to:
A) Develop 50 strong, healthy, reproducing congregations over the next three years.
B) Provide for the care, education and Christian upbringing of 2000+ homeless
children in Cambodia.
C) Provide for the development of a trained clergy.
D) Provide for the economic self sufficiency of church members.
E) Assist the Cambodian government in meeting an urgent need.

10. F) Fulfill the mandate of God.
Threats:
This plan is vulnerable to:
A) The discontinuance of foreign support.
B) Government graft and corruption.
C) Governmental politics and control.
D) The failure to maintain a high level of integrity.
Summary
The Cambodian Foursquare Church recognizes that this is a departure from "Business
as usual" for Foursquare Missions International and suggests that this plan be
implemented as an experiment for the next three years subject to annual evaluations
of the effectiveness of the plan in reaching stated goals.
It is the opinion of The Cambodian Foursquare Church that the "pendulum" of
missiology has swung too far in the direction of indigenosity so as to neglect the
social and economic aspects of church health that may be beyond the reach of an
impoverished people. It is the intention of this experiment to bring balance between
the essential aspects of evangelism, compassion and development in terms of
growing healthy churches.