The Methodists have found another cutting edge for mission where God is in the midst of doing something new. Leadership from missionaries representing Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and a confederation of Swiss, French, and American United Methodists are raising up indigenous ministries throughout Cambodia. All of the existing congregations have local pastors and are looking for ways to train still more. Clearly, the Cambodian culture is reflected in their worship, their music, their hymnody, and their preaching. —Robert G. Tuttle
From January 6 to 16, 2001, the Mission Evangelism office of the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) sponsored a Mission Evangelism Consultation in Cambodia with nine professors of mission, evangelism, and related fields from United Methodist seminaries and related institutions.
The Mission Evangelism office had sponsored two other consultations with professors of mission in 1995 and 1998. A steering committee of professors planning a third consultation recommended an on-site experience of the church at work in mission.
The 2001 consultation was held in Cambodia, Methodism's fastest-growing field of mission today. Professors from all of the United Methodist theological schools were invited to attend.
Through the missional outreach of Methodism in Cambodia, more than 120 congregations have emerged since 1989. In Cambodia, the professors experienced house-church and village evangelism. They met laity and lay pastors for discussion and fellowship. They participated in conversations and seminars with students and faculty at the newly founded Bible school, a joint project sponsored by the Korean Methodist Church, the Singapore Methodist Church, and the United Methodist churches of the United States, Switzerland, and France. They explored numerous questions related to Christian witness and lifestyle in a country with a strong Buddhist heritage and presence. They met with a Buddhist leader in a pagoda in Phnom Penh, where the question of Christian presence among Buddhists was openly discussed.
The group traveled from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap near the border of Thailand to visit the famous ruins of Angkor Wat, to spend time with a United Methodist congregation there, and to see the site of a developing United Methodist retreat and development center.
One of the important aspects of this consultation was the opportunity to encounter the first foundational cooperative mission work of three major autonomous branches of Methodism. They have worked together to develop Sunday school and Christian nurture materials, a joint hymnbook and worship resource, and both economic and health services.
It is hoped that this consultation and others will help link United Methodist seminaries with the General Board of Global Ministries and current United Methodist missions to develop a more integrated approach to mission as it is taught and practiced.
The last half century has been especially grim for the peoples of Cambodia. Since independence from France in 1953, Cambodia has been pushed and pulled from one coup to another. Following the Vietnamese War, the Khmer people came to power with yet another coup under Pol Pot. Between 1975 and 1979, the cities were virtually emptied.
One of our hosts describes his return to Phnom Penh in 1978: "I was driven through a ghost town to a compound where we were sent into forced labor. I cried. Although thousands of us escaped to refugee camps along the Thai border, many were then lured back with the promise of reform. The Khmer Rouge seemingly wanted to involve us in the building of a new utopian agrarian society fashioned after the Chinese cultural revolution of 1968 and 1969. Most who returned, however, were immediately imprisoned, especially the educated. You could be condemned for reading a book or even wearing glasses. This eventually led to the "Killing Fields" where nearly two million people were slaughtered."
According to the teachings of Jesus, the only way to be great is to be a servant. The only way to be first is to be last. It occurred to me that the best opportunity for greatness is to serve in those places where God's voice is heard quietly, where ministry always comes at the price of significant sacrifice. If we are wise, perhaps we should spend the rest of our days making friends with the poor, kneeling before them, placing their hands upon our heads, and begging them to remember us in their kingdom. Cambodia, remember us in your kingdom.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. (Ephesians 2:13)
Dividing Walls
In Cambodia, I was struck by this image of Ephesians at two different sites
we visited. I will never be the same after visiting S-21, the high school
that was converted into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge remodeled
this beautiful school by adding hundreds of walls. In one building, all the
classrooms were divided into prison cells measuring about 3 feet by 6 feet.
Inside each cell was a steel construction rod cemented into the floor so that
the prisoners were shackled all the time they were in the cells. These walls
of hostility had no distinction. Women, men, young and old, small children
— their photographs now pasted over these walls of hostility — show
evidence of the cruel torture and death to which the citizens of Cambodia
were subjected by the Khmer Rouge. Every night since I visited that awful
place, I go to sleep with a vivid memory of those poor souls who suffered
there.
Tearing down Walls
One wealthy donor in Singapore wanted to make a difference in Cambodia. He
wanted to tear down walls, so he gave $650,000 to buy the National Hotel,
a facility with 97 rooms. In addition, he gave sufficient funds to remodel
this hotel and convert it into the center for the Singapore Methodist mission
work in Cambodia. As I walked through this set of buildings with our guide,
I was immediately struck by the contrast with the school that had been converted
into a prison. Here in the National Hotel, walls were knocked down to make
large conference rooms, classrooms, and language laboratories with 486 computers.
An entire floor of this facility has been dedicated to serve Cambodian women,
aged 15-30, who are rescued from the streets. They receive health care, food,
and a clean place to sleep and are taught a trade so they can reenter society
with a marketable skill. Dividing walls of hostility were broken down in order
to set people free.
Immediately upon arrival at the Monorom Holiday Villa Hotel at the heart of Phnom Pehn, we were welcomed at a reception, meeting with a small group of Christians who took turns telling us about their journeys to the Christian faith.
Among them were Joseph and Marilyn Chan who were attracted to Christianity while they were still refugees on the Thai border. They were further nurtured in Christian faith by a United Methodist congregation as they struggled to rebuild their lives in California. They have returned to Cambodia as United Methodist missionaries, playing an important role in bridging Christian (specifically United Methodist) congregations in the West and the newly arising Christian communities in Cambodia.
Chan Thak, 44 years old, came from a devout Buddhist family. His father was the lay pagoda leader of their village. He recounted how circumstances led him to leave his family and marry a woman who had become Christian. She introduced him to the Bible. Falling seriously ill, he had a dream where he was surrounded by light and felt the overwhelming love of God. Becoming healed of his illness, he sought baptism, and some time after felt the call to become a pastor. He noted Psalm 139 as a key passage in his life, reaffirming his sense of God's love, inspiring him to share this love and this compassion for others in his ministry.
We visited Wat Langka, a Buddhist monastery in the middle of Phnom Penh, and engaged in conversations with one of the monks, the Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro. He is spearheading a revival of Buddhist activity in his country. His message is clear: Buddhism teaches us how to attain peace, beginning with peace of mind, but also extending itself to peace among all beings. The key to peace is to see things clearly. The way to see things clearly is through meditation. But he is also keenly aware of the stark realities in his country: the people are in dire need of the basic necessities of food, water, and shelter. He is promoting the construction of wells and irrigation systems in the rural areas as well as the establishment of hospitals, food banks, and other ways of alleviating the suffering of his people.
The question for some of us after our encounter with Venerable Khemacaro was this: Can we work in cooperation with this gentle and generous man who seeks the well-being of the people? Can we learn from the religious tradition that empowers him to do as he does and be as he is, as we go about our tasks of nurturing Christian communities that are springing up like mushrooms in Cambodia?
In the monument full of skulls, I look at the eye sockets, thousands of them, in which there are no longer defiant eyes. I wander alone into the small fields, accompanied by the enthusiastic, nearly raucous music of an elementary school located not more than 200 yards away. Children, always children, bathing, singing, begging — full of life, expectation, routine.
Toward the back fence from one of the trees, I am greeted: "How are you?" Two girls, in age somewhere between my four-year-old son and my eight-year-old daughter, greet me. We begin to talk. They practice their English. We count and I begin to quiz them about their numbers. They take out some pens and I write the numbers, one through ten, on one of their palms. We laughed together, and their eyes, those confident eyes, give nothing away about where they are standing. These two girls laugh on a site of horrific pain, on the mass graves of their parents' parents.
I have nothing left in my pack to give these girls, around whom two or three others have gathered. I photograph the children, hoping to capture their eyes. I return to my wife Priscilla, who has only a single pouch of Malaysian Airlines peanuts in her purse. Against my better judgment, I return to the spot where I met these children, under the trees in the rear of the Killing Fields, and I sheepishly open the peanut bag. I count out the peanuts, about eighteen in all. The children line up at the invisible altar, opening their palms. Each receives three peanuts, which I place delicately in their hands, the body of Christ broken for them. They do not stand in pious repose but look me straight in the eye and receive a gift that is embarrassingly meager, but their gratitude and knowing eyes invest three peanuts with grace. There, in the shade of a tree on the Killing Fields, in view of a monument full of eyeless skulls — but also in earshot of an elementary school chorus — the graciousness of these children transforms three peanuts into a feast.
We had a day visiting some of the notable places in Phnom Pehn. It was a day of contrasts in the range of our emotions. We experienced awe and wonder as we toured the Royal Palace. The Palace is not one huge building. It has palatial grounds and several buildings. During the regime of the infamous Pol Pot these buildings were abandoned. The king and queen were exiled to Thailand. The elephants, which formed an important part of the royal household, were neglected and died. There are no more elephants in Cambodia.
From the palace, we turned next to the Genocide Museum and after lunch we went on to the Killing Fields. In both places, one could not help being moved by the horror and ugliness of this human tragedy. Near this place, there was a school. When we visited, the children were singing. It is that memory that remains — a sign of hope for the future. Jessica Chan, a missionary from Taiwan, spoke of establishing a Christian community there: "The Living Fields."
In church-growth terms, Cambodians are presently a "receptive people" for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While I don't usually subscribe to the church-growth school, in this case its nomenclature seems appropriate. The Lord of the Harvest seems to have chosen Cambodia, for the moment, as a place where receptiveness to the Christian message is unusually high. Despite a wary attitude from the Cambodian government, particularly the Ministry of Cults and Religion, conversions to the Lordship of Jesus Christ are rampant, and homegrown churches spring up rapidly. As missionary Warren Harbert remarked: "We can only register 4-5 congregations a month with the Ministry of Cults and Religion because of their skepticism about Christianity. At this rate, it will be at least five years before we can register the Methodist churches that already exist."
During our guided tour of the magnificent Angkor Wat, a boy followed me around and told me more details about the place than I wanted to hear. Initially, he annoyed me. He interrupted my conversation with my colleagues and my ability to focus on what our guide was saying. I shook him off but he kept reappearing. However, when I became increasingly frustrated by our guide and by my many unanswered questions, I began to listen to the boy.
Eventually, I couldn't help but ask questions, all of which he answered with precision. I learned about the ancient myths portrayed in the inscriptions on the temple walls and that a widened area along the walkway at the entrance of the temple was used for dancing celebrations.
I learned that the boy was 15 years old, that he lost his father to the Khmer Rouge, and that the younger boy who was with him was his little brother. He never made any demands, but as we were preparing to leave, one of my colleagues gave him some Cambodian money worth about 15 cents. The boy's response was: "That is not enough." He said that next year, he would be old enough to be a tour guide at the temple, one of his goals. I gave him a well-earned dollar and he smiled.
When I came home, I began to reflect on this particular experience. Even though this boy seemed too young to have lost his father to the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, there are millions of people in Cambodia who did lose fathers, mothers, sisters, and/or brothers during this insane period of senseless killing. I cannot imagine what it is like to overcome such losses emotionally, socially, economically, and politically. The nation has lost a generation of men and many women and children through the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge.
Witnessing to the "new thing" of the mission of God so closely, I was keenly reminded of the importance of teaching students about the missionary character of the church and of encouraging them to become effective witnesses of God. I hope to design and teach a course in the near future in which students visit mission frontiers.
The trip to Cambodia was also great in terms of learning about the mission strategy and practice of the General Board of Global Ministries. I came to understand its tasks and challenges in a more positive and sympathetic way. I feel that I am in a better position to interpret the ministry of the GBGM on behalf of the church for both the academy and local churches.
Text and photographs copyright 2001 by New World Outlook: The Mission Magazine of The United Methodist Church. Used by Permission. For reprint permission, contact New World Outlook by E-mail at nwo@gbgm-umc.org.