God is opening the door for the church

With people being set free and physical and spiritual chains being broken, the name of Jesus is being lifted high in Cambodia, writes Sophie Moore

Cambodia is a special nation that is currently seeing a great move of God. People are being set free, physical and spiritual chains are being broken, and the name of Jesus is being lifted high in what is a predominately Buddhist nation. First and foremost, at Elim Cambodia we are the church of God. We have a main city church in Phnom Penh, and out of that many church plants meet across the country. In Phnom Penh, the Elim church is situated just outside of the city in a developing area.

Over the past year, our church has been connected to families who find themselves in very difficult situations. In his kindness and goodness, God has opened the door for the church into this community. We have been running kids’ clubs and teaching children and adults about God.

Many of these people have not heard the name of Jesus before. One lady in this community has been reading about God from the beginning of the Bible in Genesis, and it was wonderful to hear her proclaim: “I know it was God who created the world, and I know he also created me!”

We have other regular opportunities to work in this community to support the people who live there. We provide free weekly English classes to young people who want to study but otherwise could not easily access this extra education. We have also set up a football ministry that focuses on young men in the community who are battling addiction, poverty, and a lack of opportunities for their future. They come together to play football and also share about life and faith together.

Every single person is precious in God’s eyes, and our prayer is that through these different outreach ministries, each person will encounter the love of God and know their worth in him. Be Free Cambodia works to see women and young girls set free from human trafficking and exploitation. In the last year, we have seen girls in the programme come to know Jesus and get baptised at church. One of our girls said that finding true freedom in her life has only come from knowing Jesus.

Last year we were blessed with a beauty salon to grow and extend this project. This enables us to support the girls for a longer period of time as they can learn new skills in the salon and gain a good work ethic for their future.

Our Early Learning Centre is another important ministry at Elim Cambodia. It provides a caring and Christian early education environment for Cambodian children. The centre works to support families to seek employment with peace of mind, knowing that their children are safe and in a loving environment.

All of the work at Elim Cambodia falls under the vision of ‘One village, one church’. Our heart is to see every village in Cambodia with access to the gospel and believers growing in a healthy Christian community.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.