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A Thumbnail Sketch of Evangelical Cambodian Church

By Brian B. Maher *

Catholic Missions to Cambodia 

1517 was the first Catholic attempt to have influence in Cambodia . Didn't take off well.  In 1555, Catholic Missionary Gaspar de Cruz visited the Capital, Loung Verk by the invitation of King Preah Bat Ang Chan the First.  One of the King’s family members became a Christian but after he died, the Royal Family had little contact with Christianity after that. 1570 was the first established presence, first by the Portuguese and then the Spanish. Catholic success in VN kept the focus there.  French Catholics had the most success.   France colonized Cambodia in 1863.  During this time, a few more relatives of the King become believers but were not able to be baptized.

Over 400 years they produced a Cambodian Prayer book. Only beginning in the late 60's did they start to translate some scriptures (Reverends Rondineaux & Ponchaud). 

The Catholic Church, in various shades and stripes, has some good works going on through NGO's who work with handicapped people or the poor in many of the provinces.  Mother Theresa was here twice in the early 90's, speaking both times at the International Church of Phnom Penh.  The Catholic Church has not seen the numerical expansion that the Evangelical church is enjoying but there does not seem to a big push by the Catholic Church to convert Buddhists to Catholicism.

The Catholic Church's Father Ponchaud (still here) had done much of the foundational work on the New Translation of the Khmer Bible (More about that later).

Return of Evangelical Missions

The C & MA entered in Cambodia in 1923 as the first Evangelical Missionaries since the Nestorian Church .  Rev. David Ellison and his wife were to work on starting a Bible school to train up pastors and church leaders and Rev. Arthur Hammond was commissioned to translate the scriptures into a Cambodian version. Hence the translation, upon completion was called the Hammond Version.  Translated straight from the KJV English into the Khmer language of the time.

C & MA is responsible for the first Cambodian Bible and should be credited for much of the hard work of preparing the soil for the success of mission endeavors today.  They did not appear to see much fruit between 1923 and 1965.  Maybe 2000 converts over those years but the foundation C & MA laid was invaluable for the growth of the Kingdom God in the near future.

Kampuchea Krom ( Lower Cambodia inside the Mekong Delta)

A group of Cambodians among the 2.5 million living in VN's Mekong Delta became Christians and were being ministered to by the CMA over the years but in 1954 they were attacked and persecuted by another group and fled to Takeo Province and Battambang  Both groups that were settled were sizable groups and helped strengthen the church and Christian Witness. A Jerusalem/Antioch situation

Battambang Rice Christians

David Ellison ministering from His home confronts Rice Christianity – he hears rumors that those who give their to Christ will receive a bag of rice and 200 reils.

*Church in BB grows steadily up through the early 60's.  Paul Ellison credits some of the success with the fact in the Delta there was more formal Buddhist institutions as social centers to keep the people focused on Buddhism. In BB city at that time, there was not such a formal structure to keep drawing them back. People were freer to be open to other ideas.

1928 ,Skoun, Kompong Cham– Seeds planted from a Gospel Track grow, produce 8 pastors.

1932, Kbal Chour, Kratie, -Rev. Gordon Smith leads one family to Christ before he leaves to VN to minister to minority groups.

1932- King Sisawath Monivong's Anti- Prosyletizing Act

Prompted C & MA missionaries to consider relocating to VN.  This did a lot to slow down the numerical growth of the church. It brought persecution and hard times but seemed to refine, build up the purity and depth of the Khmer church, such as happened under the Japanese occupation during the Second World War.

1952 – C & MA Cuts subsidy to Pastors

C & MA learns of patronage problem through cutting of subsidizing (over a 3 year period) of pastor’s salaries.  Threatens relations between missionaries and nationals. Lose some but those who stay end up being much stronger and well prepared for the next blow against the church.  Pastor Vonn leaves C&MA.

1953-54,   Cambodia Receives Independence from France

Pol Pot Leaves to Study in France , King Sihanouk was presented with a copy of the recently published Hammond Bible and declares religious freedom although Protestant Christianity is not officially recognized.  The Bible School is moved from Battambang to Tahkmau, just south of PP where it began to train many new pastors.  By 1965, the church had about 2000 evangelical believers.

1965 – Winds of Political Change Are Blowing

All western missionaries are being forced to leave by not having their visas renewed.  As Sihanouk aligns with China and Vietnam , Western Missionaries are kicked out and Christian Nat. Church leaders are jailed on trumped up charges.  At this point, the CMA was claiming about 2000 believers in their denomination.  There was not a whole lot of other groups at that time. 

C&MA missionaries go to VN in the delta to work with the Khmer. Slow work, little progress until they invite Khmer Pastor Seing Ang who has some good results among the Kampuchea Krom people.  

--> Next Page: From 1965 - 1979 

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