Our Field

People

  • Population: approximately 15 million
  • Ethnic Groups
    • Khmer 90%
    • Vietnamese 5%
    • Cham 3%
    • Other 2%,
  • Language: Khmer (33 consonants and 23 vowels)
  • Literacy Rate: 73.6%
  • Life Expectancy: 62.1 years

Land

  • Area: 70,238 square miles (approximately the size of Missouri)
  • Capital: Phnom Penh (approximately 2 million)
  • Major Rivers: Mekong, Tonle Sap, and Bassac
  • Seasons: Rainy (June-November) and Dry (December-May)
  • Best time to visit Cambodia: December/January

Religion

  • Buddhist 95%, Muslim 3%, Christianity 2%
  • Khmer Bible: Yes (2 translations, working on 3rd)

    • Pailin Province

  • Population: 60,000
  • Pailin town: 30,000
  • Pailin province is known as the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge

    • Maps

    map-of-southeast-asia.jpg
    Southeast Asia (click on it to make it bigger)


    The red circle is where Pailin province is located and the arrow points to where our family lives.

    A Brief History of Christianity in Cambodia

    1923: Protestant missionaries were permitted to enter Cambodia for the first time. Two American couples from the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) started a Bible college in Battambang province (in Northwest Cambodia) and began translating the Bible into Khmer in the capital city of Phnom Penh.
    1923-1953: Gospel-preaching missionaries found little response to the Gospel message among the Khmer people.
    1953-1954: The first translation of the Bible was completed by the early CMA missionaries.
    1953-1965: These were years of growth in the Khmer church.
    1965: All foreign missionaries were forced to leave Cambodia as a result of strong anti-Western sentiment in the government at that time. The Khmer church, loosely speaking, was not much more than a thousand at that time.
    1970: Foreign missionaries were permitted back into Cambodia due to a coup that was pro-Western.
    1970-1975: These were years of growth in the Khmer church. Many thousands professed faith in Christ and were persecuted for their faith during this time.
    1975: Foreign missionaries reluctantly left the country again immediately before the Khmer Rouge takeover.
    1975-1979: It is estimated that up to 2 million of 7 million Cambodians were killed or allowed to die of starvation and disease during these years of the Khmer Rouge. Those killed included most of the Christian leaders and approximately 90% of all the Khmer Christians. Many thousands of Cambodians fled to the Thai border into the refugee camps where they heard the Gospel and many professed faith in Christ.
    1979-1993: The Communist Vietnamese toppled the Khmer Rouge in 1979 and ruled the country of Cambodia. No foreign missionaries were allowed during this time and evangelism was strictly forbidden.
    1993: After nearly 2 decades of political suppression, the government once again allowed Christianity in the country of Cambodia.
    1994-1996: Foreign missionaries began to enter Cambodia again.

    Much of this history came from Don Cormack’s book: Killing Fields, Living Fields