As we were leaving the museum, a beggar came to us and asked for money. One of them followed me, and said: " Please give me some money, 200 riel, 100 riel also can." I really didn’t know what to do. I felt sad and I believed that he also felt same way.

That night, we had dinner at the Crossroads again. And then, we gathered at the guesthouse to have a short time of sharing and prayer. We ended at 9pm.

This was a packed day of meeting up with our ACTI alumni, visiting their work, understanding their challenges and perspectives of

ministry in Cambodia, fellowshipping with them over meals and praying that we can be a source of blessing to them by our very presence and encouragement.

It was great meeting up with Mr Tan Wee Long and Regina, Rev. Andrew Cho and Sarah and Ms Janet Tang, whom we have prayed for at ACTI but whom we have never met until now. What a difference it is to be able to hear from them first-hand, their respective fields of work, and to appreciate the particular conditions of ministry that they have to work under.

We were brought early in the morning to the Methodist Center where Wee Long, Regina and Janet were attached. This is a fairly big center, formerly a hotel, that is now used by the Methodist Mission Society to house a church building and a number of outreach work. These include a primary school for neighborhood children, and community services programs such as a computer club, cottage industry such as dressmaking and a women’s shelter. In addition, a local pastors’ school is held in this venue every month, providing training for the local Methodist pastors who are ministering in the provinces of Cambodia.

In Cambodia only 21% of the population lives in the towns. This is very low compared to other Asian countries. The rest live in the rural countryside. Even though ‘Urban Mission’ is one of the priority issues of 21st century missions, because the world is rapidly urbanizing. This is why we began church planting in Neak Loeung, a small riverside town located at the ferry crossing on the main road from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. Its 20,000 population includes with the Khmer, many Chinese and Vietnamese, each following a different religion.

Four years ago, while my wife and I were praying about our future ministry location, it was suggested to us and Marion Sonntag, an OMF German missionary; that we consider doing church planting work in Neak Loeung. OMF had been looking for a new up-country church planting location for some time, and wondered if this was the place.

The chief reason we accepted the suggestion was that we heard that this was a spiritually barren place, with no church at all. Neak Loeung has had a miserable spiritual history, with such things as human sacrifices until the 19^th Century, and a lot of spiritual obstacles and barriers. In taking up this challenge, we have already faced spiritual hindrances in many areas. But they have not been able to bend our willingness to build the body of Christ and make Him known here. There was another reason that I decided reaching the people of the countryside must remain our present priority even though many others focus on the cities.

On moving to Neak Loeung in November 2001, we immediately started a worship service and Bible study in the family home of an ex-Christian. However, in February 2002 we moved our worship service to a rented house in the market area, and have continued there until now. English teaching at the church, together with music teaching at secondary school, are all helping us to make good friendships with the locals and the community.

The CAC of Singapore came together with the CACs of Taiwan, Hong Kong, the West and East Malaysia to form what is called the World Federation of Chinese Methodist Churches (WFCMC). The main focus of WFCMC is evangelism and church planting. The people group targeted is the Cambodian Chinese. The work began about more than five years ago. I joined CAC mission board about two years ago and was then sent to Cambodia to work under WFCMC. The work began with a church planted in the capital city of Phnom Penh. At present there is an average of thirty worshippers on every Sunday. The ministries include pulpit ministry, youth ministry, Sunday Schools and Bible study. There is also a ‘preaching’ point where a children's ministry and Bible study are carried out. Evangelism activities such as home visitation and street evangelism are also being actively carried out. During the weekdays in the evenings, English and Chinese language tuition classes are conducted as a means to reach out to the people and also to help those who cannot afford to go to the private language classes.

MMS started its work here in 1997. Its objective is to plant indigenous churches where there is no Methodist presence. Today there are nine growing churches and eight preaching points. The churches are led by local Cambodian pastors. Two of them were ordained into the office of deacon on January this year. And this date marked a historic milestone in the work of the Methodists in Cambodia. It was the first step of moving towards being indigenous. On this eventful day, bishops representing four Methodist bodies, namely the UMC (America’s Switzerland/France), Korea, Singapore and the WFCMC were present. They (bishops) ordained 10 pastors from more than 150 Methodist churches throughout the country.

On this day the bishops jointly declared the formation of The Mission of a People Called Methodist. This marks the beginning of the process of moving towards an Annual Conference. It may probably take quite a number of years before the Cambodia Annual Conference can be set up. That is, The Methodist Church in Cambodia and not Korean or American or Singapore Methodist Church in Cambodia.

MMS is also involved in other areas of ministries. An NGO called Community Outreach Services (COS) was formed. Through COS, an orphanage was built and it is now operating at its full capacity. There are 120 children. About half of them are orphans and the rest come from single-parent families who are very poor and without any means of support. "COS Immanuel Children Village" or "COSI", which the orphanage is commonly known as, has eight pairs of house parents who care for, coach, discipline and love the children. COSI is now about two years old and early this year MMS baptised about 100 children. COSI has been a source of light to the surrounding villages. It is there that they saw the love of Christ being displayed. COSI also reached out to villagers by having short-term doctor missionaries to provide medical care and occasionally give out food items such as rice.

Another project that MMS has embarked for the people here is to set up a primary school. It was started as a kindergarten and the highest level today is the primary five. Each year a new class is added as students progress to the next higher level of study. Local teachers are employed, and many of them are members or became members of our churches here.

MMS also has a ministry in providing women some sewing skills. A Centre, called the Emmaus Women’s Centre (EWC), recently renamed, was set up for this ministry. The majority of these young women usually come from poor broken homes. It is at the Centre where they will learn an employable skill, literacy skill and be built up as disciples of Christ. For those who yet to believe, it a place where they would hear the gospel and come to know Christ. Comes next year the EWC will move to a new premise that will be located at the same place as COSI.

Yet another area of ministry is the Vocational School. Computer classes are conducted to attract people to the Centre. There are sewing classes and at the present moment they are attended by the women from the EWC. I was partially seconded to MMS from WFCMC for about more than a year now. I was approached by MMS to start a Technical Workshop course for the Vocational School. I had set up a workshop for a course in Basic Workshop Skill and proposed a further course in Metal Machining which is a more specialised course. The course was not continued after it was tested out for a month because a number of reasons.

Whatever kind of ministry, whether it is holistic or not, depends much on the needs of the country in which mission is being done. At the present moment, Cambodia needs not only the Gospel of our Lord Jesus but also provisions to fulfil some of her physical needs. Thus a need for a holistic ministry.

That is a common answer from youths, when we asked about their absence from church. Sokha is one of our youths who have joined our youth fellowship for the past six months but lately she has not been coming for the fellowship. Sokha is 15 years old and studied at a nearby Secondary School. We made contact with her through an English Class conducted in our Center. On a normal weekday, Sokh will arise from bed at about 5 am. in the morning. After taking her breakfast, she will go toa private school to attend a Chinese language Class before she goes to her School at about 7.00 am. School ends at 11.00 am. and subsequently she has to go for her tuition classes in the afternoon. In the evening after dinner, she will attend another class in a private school. Her day will end about 9.30 pm. in the night. That’s a common routine of a youth in the city.

Cambodia at present has a population of 13.1 million people. 25 years aftermath from Khmer Rough Regime, Cambodia today is slowly recovering its economic development. Most parts of the city have speared toward modernization. For those who have visited Cambodia during the past five years, will notice that many new developments in the city, new buildings are built, roads are better paved and the traffic in the city is more orderly. There is a significant increase of private schools in the city of Phnom Penh. Due to the rapid changes, many of the youth in Cambodia are being challenged to improve and keep up with the modernization of the world. Mass media like advertisements, TV programs and magazines have a great influence on the youth. They are enthusiastic in acquiring new information and learn new technologies. Many have enrolled themselves in a range of courses; subjects like English, Computer, and Accountancy are some of the favorites among the youth. They will attend a few courses in a day. During their leisure time, many will go to watch a movie in the Cinema or hang out in groups at shopping malls and gardens. Many of the youths are influenced by the materialism of the modern society and are being led astray. In order to achieve their idealistic world, some girls have fallen into prostitution, and the guys involved in robberies, illegal dealings and gang activities. Modernization has brought tremendous changes into the life of the Cambodians especially with the youths who did not go through the tough time of Khmer Rouge, as did their parents. Many have been misguided by the glamour of city life. Churches have an important role in guiding and nurturing the life of youths in Cambodia. In meetings, they are led to know Jesus Christ and the Word of God, which gives them the wisdom and strength to face the pressures and temptations of the modern world.

One of the ways the Methodist Center reaches out to the youth is to conduct English and Computer courses for them. We also make connection with the local schools by inviting their teachers to have their tuition classes conducted in our Center. The Center is not only a place for study but also a place for rest and recreation for the students. The youths can gather at our Center to have their own private study or some games together. In one recent case, we had a group of students who came for their tuition classes and at the same time we gave them English lessons as an outreach program. We managed to befriend them and brought them to join the youth fellowship. This group of youths spent most of their time in the Center. They had their own group study, joined our Bible study group and took up music lessons from the church. The Lord had touched them tremendously; they were eager to learn the Word of God and were active in the youth fellowship. Most of them had good results in their recent exam, as they had their revision in our Center.

They realized that our Center is safe place for them to rest and spent their time together. Our desire is to reach out to young persons in such a manner, befriending them, guiding them and leading them to know God personally. In fact, through these recent years, some of the youths have been touched by the Lord and have wanted to serve Him fully. They have enrolled in the Bible School to prepare themselves for ministries. We thank God for touching lives like these. It is difficult job to reach out to the youths in Cambodia. They are easily tempted by the things of the world. Many youths have come to know the Lord but they are also easily lured away by realized that our Center is safe place for them to rest and spent their time together. Our desire is to reach out to young persons in such a manner, befriending them, guiding them and leading them to know God personally In fact, through these recent years, some of the youths have been touched by the Lord and have wanted to serve Him fully. They have enrolled in the Bible School to worldly activities outside the church. Close follow-up is needed in order to help them have close fellowship with the church and nurture them to know God better. Besides the Sunday youth fellowship, having small groups and home visitations and counseling are the supporting feeders of the youth ministry. Building bonds and relationships with these young men and women is the main task of the ministry, as they will seek advice from those whom they get to know and trust. Missionaries host a vital role in this area, as the youth will look to them as being knowledgeable for advice. Our availability and bringing Christ’s love and care to these youths will help lead them to a more mature faith in God.

World Team sent its first missionary couple to Cambodia in 1996. Since that time, others have joined, bringing the current team to a total of six couples and two single missionaries. Most of those workers are still in language and cultural study. Like other mission organizations desiring to work long-term in Cambodia, World Team emphasizes language and cultural study as a first priority for new missionaries. While it is difficult and one feels inadequate and "stupid" at times, focused language study will enable a missionary to communicate better and therefore be more effective in their long term ministry. World Team workers prioritize language and cultural study for the first two years of their ministry in Cambodia.

Our team’s purpose is to "glorify God by working together to establish reproducing churches among the unreached peoples of Cambodia." Our vision for the field is to see a local church in Cambodia for every 1000 people. We feel the Lord wants to see a church accessible for every Cambodian, regardless of the location. The Lord has already established nearly 2000 churches in this land, and we pray that He would use us to assist in establishing and multiplying many more churches. Most of the current churches could be described as small house churches. Many of these congregations are in rural areas, so much effort is needed to adequately equip leaders.

Approximately 85% of the twelve million Cambodians are from the Khmer people group. With the number of Bible-believing Christians still far less than 1% of the entire population, the Khmer are still considered an Unreached People Group (UPG).

GMS launched its mission work here in 1994. There are six couples and two single missionaries who are involved with four types of ministry in Cambodia, including one couple in their language study and cultural preparation. First of all, three couples and one single missionary are involved with church planting ministry. Since most of the GMS missionaries are ordained ministers and they have ministry experience in Korean churches, they are actively involved with the church planting ministry. GMS missionaries planted a church in Phnom Penh as their base and from the church they are expanding their church planting ministry to the rest of the country by sending church workers during weekends to the unevangelized areas. Along with the church planting ministry, they developed an intensive training program for the church workers during the weekdays.

      Secondly, one missionary couple is involved with literacy and teaching English ministry for the unevangelized Brow tribe as a tool to bring the gospel to them.

      Thirdly, one missionary couple is involved with the hostel ministry for university students. While the university students stay for 4 years, some among them are chosen and trained as future Christian leaders. Some of the university students are from neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Laos. The GMS missionaries include them with the hope that if these students are trained well they might become church workers for the Indo-China peninsula in the future.

      Fourth, one single missionary is involved with educational ministry by running a Christian kindergarten cum primary school for the children who are not able to attend because of their poverty. Despite the limit of experience and short history, the GMS missionaries' ministry is progressing very rapidly. It would be good to think about some of the reasons how and why they can bear good fruit in their ministry.

My calling is to serve as a missionary. God has put this particular desire in my heart since I was young. Now, when I recall it, this desire has come true. In order that I can serve more effectively on the mission field, God has planned for me, in His time, to send my family here, to ACTI. Actually, I had never heard of ACTI before, but God has already used it to train His servants. Now, my family has joined this institute and is standing in the same line as the other missionaries.

When I looked back over the past 4 month’s training, the most valuable lesson that I have learned is regarding missions. Before coming here, "missions" was just something in my mind. In other words, missions was theoretical. But now I have really experienced what missions is all about. Throughout these 4 months, most of the teachers who have come here to lecture, or share their experiences, are missionaries or had been missionaries. There are even two families of ACTI stay-in staff here who were missionaries in Thailand and Indonesia before, and yet now still do missions work among other races in Singapore. We also had the opportunity of a short missions trip to Phnom Penh recently. This trip has opened our minds and hearts to missions in a deeper way. In ACTI, "missions" becomes ‘flesh' before you.

Lastly, I want to share two things I learned in ACTI which will help me in future ministry. The first is to learn to be humble. Humility is a spiritual lesson. ACTI is a place where trainees and staff live as a family. As you know, we are all from different country and cultural backgrounds, but we live in the same building. It is easy to insist that our culture is the best, even for us Christians, who are supposed to live without cultural elements. In such a situation, we need to show respect and humility to others. In my future ministry, humility can help me as a missionary to serve on the field, and not be judgmental or self-centered. Even in the missions team, I can apply this spiritual lesson among my future fellow missionaries. A missionary is certainly not a hero indeed. Secondly, I realized that I need to learn to be submissive. The missionary is under our Lord, and is submissive to Him only. What I learned from the missionaries' experiences is that many bad things may come unexpectedly. When that happens, how should the missionary react? Just be submissive to our Master, the Christ. A missionary’s life, even my family, is in God’s mighty hands. In his hand, everything will be ok. In His time, I come, yet, in His time, I go. ACTI has given my family a good and sweet memory to recall forever in our family life. Thank you.

Mrs. Madalene Ling

ACTI will open the 26^th training course from 7 Jan to 7 May 2004. We want to celebrate the 20^th Anniversary right after the graduation and thanksgiving service. We are planning to arrange a series of special programs such as a reunion dinner and symposium with all former ACTI staff and alumni, along with Asian church and mission leaders. Besides, we want our Alumni to visit different churches in Singapore to promote mission work among them and at the same time to build a strong relationship between Singapore churches and ACTI for further ministry to train Asian missionaries and mission leaders.

This is my prayer that our Lord may use the 20^th Anniversary of ACTI as a landmark for all the Asian churches and mission leaders to realize the role of the Asian churches in His mission. I also pray that through this special occasion, ACTI may be a growing tool of the Lord without ceasing, so that with churches and other mission organizations in Asia, ACTI may bring glory to His name by training His people cross-culturally for His harvesting field.