In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Click below to learn more about the rural church plants being done in the provinces of Cambodia.
In 1999 we started sending teams into the rural provinces nearby Phnom Penh, Cambodia. By 2000, we had planted our first churches in Tray M'yab village of Kampong Thom province, Prey Chap village of Kampong Spue province, and Tung Kea of Takeo province.
"To put our Church planting work into perspective," says Pastor Jesse McCaul, who took over for his father, Pastor Chuck McCaul in 2007, "it's important to understand that almost all the villages we are planting Churches in are villages that have never had any Christian witness in them - since the creation of the world! That means that the Churches planted in these villages are the very first Churches ever in these villages."
By 2010, the central church in Phnom Penh reached 1,000 members, even more impressive since, according to its leadership, approximately 98% of its members came to Lord through New Life. Also, there were 62 churches established and growing in 11 provinces of Cambodia.
"Our goal is not just to 'play Church' or just gather crowds," says Pastor Jesse. "We believe that God wants to bring positive transformation to the Kingdom of Cambodia and the surrounding regions. We anticipate that many of the future leaders of the nation will come from and be reached through New Life Fellowship of Churches."
1) To plant at least one church in all 24 provinces of Cambodia.
2) To plant churches among Cambodian and Kmer speaking peoples in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
3) To send out missionaries to other countries and spread the Gospel among all the peoples of the world.
New Life Church believes God wants to grow the Church of Cambodia
rapidly, and hope that all of these goals will be completed by year
2020. Already churches have been planted in 11 of 24 provinces. This
vision is being realized every day, and with your help we can make even
greater progress in the rural provinces of Cambodia. Partner with us
(through prayer & donations) and achieve God's vision of a Cambodia filled with people passionate for His Kingdom!
"Our goal isn't to just put a flag on the map identifying that we've entered a particular village," says Pastor Jesse. "We believe that God's standard is to make disciples and have healthy Churches - Churches that aren't just huddled together in a corner of the village waiting till Jesus returns - but Churches that are being salt and light to their communities. Now we are beginning to see that as whole communities begin to be transformed and even more excitingly, these first generation Churches begin to 'have babies' and plant second, third and fourth generation Churches."
New Life's model from the beginning has been to follow the pattern of the Acts church and start at the "city gate," or Phnom Penh, and then move from there to the rest of the country. God has led New Life to plant churches through relationships. Most of the provincial churches have gotten their start because one member of the Phnom Penh church inviting a team to share the Gospel with a friend or relative in another village.
Raise up evangelist teams. We raise up leaders from indiginous Cambodians within our own movement, and do not "hire" them from other churces or movements. These teams are prepared to speak to Cambodians in a way that makes sense in their own culture.
Establish an Outreach Point. Generally, one person in the Phnom Penh church or a provincial church invites an evanglist team to share the Gospel with a friend or relative in another village.
The team begins by answering questions about Christianity. There are often huge misunderstandings about God, Jesus and the Church. For example, many have heard that when a Christian dies they nail them to a cross and then bury them in a hole!
We do not pant churches where there already is a church. Only 1% of Cambodia is Christian. Since there are hundreds of villages that have never heard of Jesus Christ, if we find that one of the villages we're working with already has a church, we will move on to another village.
We believe in healing and deliverance as a sign of the Kingdom of God. When we work in a village, we pray for the sick and cast out demons. When He shows His power, people understand Jesus is the one, true, living God.
Follow up on Outreach Point. After building relationships in a village, we send an evangelist team to the Outreach Point weekly. As it follows up, some of the villagers hearts are stirred to profess their faith in Christ.
The evangelist team starts a group to disciple the new Christians called Foundations class. At the same time, they continue to evangelize others in the village.
Often a healthcare representative from New Life's Community Enabling Health program will visit with the evangelist to provide free healthcare to the village.
Establish an Emerging Church. The new church needs a pastor from among the villagers. The evangelist team prayerfully chooses a few men to personally train.
In addition to the personal training from the evangelist team, New Life established the School of Leaders in 20__ to train all of their church leaders in leadership and Biblical studies.
After two years of training, a new pastor is ready to take the reigns of the church. The evangelist remains his mentor and the pastor continues to attend the School of Leaders classes.
Establish a fully fledged Provincial Church. A pastor has been raised up from the village. They begin to run their own discipleship classes and children's ministry.
Before this, they have been meeting out of the house of the pastor or another church member. At this point, New Life begins searching for a property and raising money for them to build their own church building.
As the church continues to grow in size, they begin to reach out to other villages nearby to plant a daughter church.
Church: New Life Fellowship Pastor: Jesse McCaul History: New Life Fellowship Church in Phnom Penh is the "mother church" of all New Life churches in Cambodia. Planted in 1994, by Pastor Eric Dooley, in 16 years the church grew to over 1,000 people in 2010. Now, under the leadership of Pastor Jesse McCaul New Life Centers goal remains the same, to bring the Gospel to people who have never heard it before and send out leaders to all of Cambodia. About 80% of the Phnom Penh church is under 30 years of age. The church is vibrant, full of life, enthusastic and full of energy. It is one of the largest churches in Cambodia. The church has many programs like the Sunday morning discipleship classes, a leadership training school, children's ministry, cell groups, midweek church meeting, multiple prayer meetings, youth meetings and many different kinds of outreaches. Everything in the service is in Khmer, the Cambodian language, but we have translation into English via small radios we provide for our non-Cambodia guests. If you visit Cambodia, we would love to have you come join us!
Church: Phnom Penh Tmai Pastor: Sem Sopea History: In 2003, Phnom Penh Tmai was a struggling church plant just outside the city limits of Phnom Penh. Pastor Sophea Sem, who came to the Lord through New Life in 1997 and became the assistant pastor of New Life Center in 2001, felt God leading him to pastor the church. His wife of just a few months, Jenny, an American from Portland, Oregon, felt the same. Jenny had come to Cambodia in 1997 to intern with Chuck McCaul, head pastor of New Life. In 1999, she went back to the US to study, returning to Cambodia two years later with a Bachelors of Theology and a driving passion to see the church in Cambodia grow. Together Pastor Sopeah and his wife Jenny got the church back on its feet. By 2010, six years later, the church had 250 members and 30 cell groups meeting weekly.
Church: Tralock Back (Outreach Point) Pastor: Ban Sim History: Information coming soon!
Church: Raloch Pastor: Yeugn Nary History: Planted in 2006 by Yeugn Nary, by 2010 it had reach 30 adult members and 50 children and have also seen gambling and drinking decline in the village. The church's vision includes planting churches amongst the jungle people nearby. By supporting New Life Raloch (LINK Adopt a Village), you would help them evangelize to the jungle people and increase their good influence in the village.
Church: Chieng Khle (Emerging) Pastor: Chea Kack History: Planted in 2008 by a sister church in a nearby city, the church in Chieng Khle village is still young, with 18-22 members as of 2010. Chieng Khle is 300 km from Phnom Penh, has no electricity or plumbing, and lives off farming. By supporting New Life Chieng Khle (LINK adopt a village), you will help grow the church and allow it to plant churches in surrounding villages. It specifically asks for your prayers as it faces opposition from Buddhists in the village.
Church: Sre Thmey (Outreach Point) Pastor: Pao Saroeun History: Information coming soon!
Church: Kbal Snoul (Outreach Point) Pastor: Um Va History: Information coming soon!
Church: Kraing Thnong Pastor: Ty Pros History: The church in Kraing Thnong was started in 2002 as a cell group church plant from Somrong Yong Church. As of 2007, were are about 165 worshipers who met on Sunday. Kraing Thnong's Pastor, Ty Pros, was actually trained as a Dentist, and sometimes is still able to help villagers with their dentistry needs in a small clinic near the church. Pastor Pros and the church's vision is to have 300 members and serve 3 surrounding villages.
Church: Sei Ha Pastor: Tev Chamreon History: New Life Sieha is a well established church with strong vision. The Sieha church was planted in 2004 by Heng Sotha, who was the leader of the cell group in the village. Later Sotha was trained to be the church pastor. Today, Teav Chamreoun is now the church pastor, and the church also owns land and has a building. Even though it is the only church in the village, they have established 12 cell groups and planted 2 churches in the surrounding areas. The church body consists of 70 adults and 30-70 children. The church has identified 12 nearby villages they desire to reach with the Gospel, and the church vision is to plant a church in each of these villages. Sieha village is made up of 300 families and is about 45 km from Phnom Pehnh.
Church: Bor Cham Pastor: Ouk Kimchorn History: Founded in 2007, by 2010 Bor Cham had 39 members, plus 16 youth and 45 children. Through the church's work, gang members have become Christians and domestic violence, once commonplace, has dropped. New Life Bor Cham, about 45 km and an hour and a half from Phnom Penh, meets in a rented house. The village has about 353 families in it. A Community Enabling Healthcare Center serves the villages basic medical needs. The church has already begun planting churches in the nearby Kampot Province, and plans to reach out to four other villages nearby to plant churches. By sponsoring New Life Bor Cham, you can help their vision to plant more churches and bring more people in their own village to Jesus.
Church: Tor Suor Pastor: Buth Samady History: Tor Suor is a large church in the southern part of Cambodia with a strong desire to serve the community. Although the church was planted in 2005, they still do not have land or a building. Having a building would allow them to provide more outreach programs to the community. As of 2010, they had had 6 cell groups meeting in 4 different villages and a membership of 70 adults, 20 youth, and 130 children. Tor Suor is a village of 200 families about 44 km south of Phnom Penh. By sponsoring New Life Tor Suor, you would be helping them purchase land and construct a church building, allowing them to further their vibrant outreach to Tor Suor and its nearby villages.
Church: Kruos Pastor: Chea Sipha
History: Kruos is a small village of 200 families about 50 km from Phnom Penh. A church was planted here in 2007 and grew to 25 adults and 35 children by 2010. Since 2007, several alcoholics quit their abusive habits and many youth came to Christ. The village lacks clean water, electricity or sewage systems, and as there is only one well, most villagers get water from a pond. The villagers are also in need of education and basic healthcare. New Life Kruos wants to reach out more to the community but is limited by their meeting location. By sponsoring New Life Kruos, you would allow them to purchase land for a new church building, enabling them to expand further in the village.
Church: Trapang Vihea Pastor: Mum Sopheap History: Started in 2006, New Life Trapang Vihea is ready to start cell groups in nearby villages but lack transportation to do so. As of 2010, the church had a membership of 35 to 40 adults and 20 children. Trapang Vihea suffers from widespread tuberculosis and malnutrition. About 15% of the villagers suffer from some type of illness. The village is 100 km or about 2 hours from Phnom Penh. By sponsoring New Life Trapang Vihea, you would help purchase motorbikes to reach out to nearby villages with the Gospel as well as helping the church meet the medical and spiritual needs of its community.
Church: Ta Noup Pastor: Chuy Mith History: New Life Ta Noup was planted in 2004 by another New Life Provincial Church. As of 2010, it had 30 to 40 adult members and 30 to 40 children. Ta Noup church would like to start cell groups in three nearby villages, but lack transportation to do so. By sponsoring New Life Ta Noup, you would be helping them purchase motorbikes and bicycles to reach out the nearby villages.
Church: Trapang Sab (Emerging) Pastor: Nop Sareoun History: After New Life Trapang Sab was planted in 2007, gambling, alcohol consumption, and family conflict have noticeably decreased. Boasting a membership of 20 adults, 6 youth and over 80 children, the village has 4 cell groups meet during the week. The church currently meets in a member's home, and lack of space limits them in the number and size of outreach programs they can offer. By sponsoring New Life Trapang Sab, you would help them purchase land and construct a church building.
Church: Phoum Phnom (Emerging) Pastor: Kak Chan History: A year after its planting in 2009, New Life Phoum Phnom has a membership of 25 adults and 50 to 60 children. The church does not have a building and so meet in one member's home. Phuom Phnom is a village of 470 families about 45 km or 2 hrs away from Phnom Penh. A relatively prosperous village, they have clean water, basic healthcare and access to education, but still are in need as they have no electricity or sewage system. By sponsoring New Life Phoum Phnom, you would be help them purchase a building, allowing them increased ability to reach out to their community.
Church: Samrong Young Pastor: Chao Chantheoun History: Information coming soon!
Church: Kraing Yov Pastor: Then Porly History: Information coming soon!
Church: Tung Kea Pastor: Chey Sochea History: Information coming soon!
Church: Sdock Prey Pastor: Hen Socheat History: Information coming soon!
Church: Cham Naom Pastor: Chey Bunthoeun History: Information coming soon!
Church: Ang Krasang Pastor: Yi Sok Eang History: Information coming soon!
Church: Oh Phea Sang Pastor: Sem Thoueun History: Information coming soon!
Church: Tonle Bati (Emerging) Pastor: Tim Srelat History: Information coming soon!
Church: Ta Mao (Emerging) Pastor: Muon Heng History: Information coming soon!
Church: Trapang Trayeung (Emerging) Pastor: Meng Ty History: Information coming soon!
Church: Chrong Sdao (Emerging) Pastor: Bun Chantorn History: Information coming soon!
Church: Thbong Dormreyh (Emerging) Pastor: Eang Sok Neang History: Information coming soon!
Church: Sramauch Hey (Emerging) Pastor: Soun Sem History: Information coming soon!
Church: Trapang Tom (Outreach Point) Pastor: Tith Sopeha History: Information coming soon!
