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.

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.

Plan

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.

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 International Cooperating Ministries (ICM), Children of Promise (COPI), Warm Blankets Foundation, 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.

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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