Note: The following is an excerpt from a letter written by Dr. Brad Bitner on the 2024 Cambodia vision trip. You can find the complete update from the trip in the upcoming edition of UPDATE Magazine.
Our WSC team was delighted to serve the Cambodian churches. On our first Lord’s Day in Phnom Penh, seminarian Alex Kiess exhorted the Khmer Christian Church (KCC) congregation from Philippians 3:1-10 with a translator’s help. Later that week another WSC student, Roy Kim, led a college age and young adults Bible study at KCC. Roy focused on putting on the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-20) with insights from the Puritan William Gurnall. I led a two-day mini-conference for the Khmer pastors on the topic of Paul’s pattern for building up the church in 1 Corinthians. Toward the end of the week, in the village of Angk’jeay, everyone on the WSC team, including Hannah Huyck and Sen Zorilla, taught English and Bible lessons to children who are an important part of ELCC.
In addition to serving, we were challenged and encouraged by observing and learning. The first Sunday morning, we arrived at KCC to find Pastor Samath teaching an adult Sunday school class on the Westminster Confession of Faith I.8. Rev. Paul Lee, one of the MTW team leaders and Southeast Asia regional director, briefed us on the strategy for supporting a biblical, reformed, and contextualized theological education for pastors and elders in the Cambodian Presbytery. We were both emotionally jarred and encouraged by the work of Dr. Mark Ambrose and his wife Laura as they help girls who have been sexually exploited. They help them to recover physically and then introduce them to the powerful truth of the gospel and bring them into the new family of Christ’s church. We witnessed the fruit of Luke and Sokha Smith’s ministry centered at ELCC in Angk’jeay through which a generation of children have been brought to faith in Christ; some who are now young adults have joined the work of the church in various ways both in the city and the village. Luke led us on a tour of the village and arranged for the WSC students to be welcomed into the homes of some of the village residents. Many of these parents and grandparents do not yet believe but some are now attending ELCC because their children are part of the church.
We came away encouraged by the ways the Lord is working to save his people in Cambodia and inspired by the diligence of the missionaries and pastors as they engage in the work of ministry. Our team was also struck by the opportunities for supporting them by prayer, by regular communication, and by sending others to join in the work – whether as interns or as longer term missionary partners.
