Good Friday Gift 2016: Equipping the Poor to Flourish in Cambodia

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/114687732" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/114687732">Project Khmer HOPE</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/rogerdeng">Roger Deng</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Church of the Resurrection has chosen Good Friday as the day to present a special Global Mission offering to God as a response to Christ’s sacrificial love for us. This year, our Good Friday Gift will support two ministries in Cambodia. Learn more about those ministries and how to give.

In May of last year, Bishop Stewart, Madeleine Ruch, and I visited one of our key global partners—the Diocese of Singapore. This spiritually vibrant movement also oversees the Deanery of Cambodia, so we spent most of our time in Phnom Penh. I immediately fell in love with this city. It’s chaotic, noisy, dusty, busy, poor, but it’s also bustling with life and energy. I was deeply moved as we traveled around the city and the surrounding countryside, taking in the sights of rice paddies, massive clothing factories (where thousands of women work incredibly long hours for low pay), lines of young women waiting to sell their bodies for $5 a night, and the Tuol Sleng Prison where thousands of people were murdered in the name of the Marxist Khmer Rogue. On a much brighter note, we also spent a day at Project Khmer Hope (PKH), listening to stories of how PKH is providing food, literacy, vocational training, and evangelism and discipleship in such an effective way.

I also met with a group of young adults who have grown up with a Buddhist worldview but seem to be searching for something to stake their lives on. Spiritually speaking, Cambodia seems like dry, but open thirsty ground—
perhaps even ready for revival. The Diocese of Singapore has some wonderful dreams for Cambodia, dreams about building up the church and raising up new church leaders across the land. By the end of the trip, our team had forged a much deeper gospel partnership with our friends in Cambodia and Singapore. (And the team also got to taste a Southeast Asian delicacy—durian, the “King of the Fruits.”)

So this year I’m honored and excited to partner with our brothers and sisters by supporting Project Khmer Hope and the raising up of new church leaders across Cambodia. I hope you can join us in this year’s Good Friday offering.

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