Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Called to Love and Justice... Freed to Be God's People

In July 2011, 10 young adults from the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church will be traveling to Cambodia to join together with Cambodian Christians to develop leadership and to build a safe space to discuss and address the difficulties that Cambodian Christians face.

In preparation for bringing young Christian leaders to Ohio in 2012 for a Global Leadership Institute, we will spend ten days preaching, facilitating worships and Bible studies at a youth rally, build a playground for rural children and lead a VBS program alongside young Christian leaders in Cambodia. We will work to build each other up in love as we address difficult topics that face Cambodian Christians.

As with all the work of Jesus Christ, his followers cannot do the work alone. Our team needs your prayers of support! I will be posting things on this blog to guide your prayers in the coming months as we all prepare for this incredible mission. Will you pray with us?

I have been truly blessed by God in this opportunity to go to Cambodia and join hearts and spirits with Christians who are seeking to further to Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Cambodia Christianity represents approximately 2% of religions, 96% of people in Cambodia are Buddhist. Though knowing Christianity is one of the smallest religions practiced is a difficult reality, it give our team the opportunity to truly tell people about Jesus.

I mentioned earlier the building of a playground. You may ask yourself why a playground is so important, but you should know how vital education is. Cambodian girls and boys are often forced (and equally heartbreakingly choose) to enter the sex trade because they have no money. School is not a first priority. By building the playground, our team hopes that school will become more exciting, and children will find ways to support themselves and their families without believing that the sex trade is the only way to do so. The VBS we will be leading is for similar purpose. We hope to show children that God loves them and that they can find hope in Jesus Christ.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I do not see this trip as a way for me to go, tell people about Jesus and leave. The unique way the leaders have structured this mission allows us to work alongside and network with young Christian leaders in Cambodia so that the seeds of Jesus' mission will be planted together, watered after our departure with our prayers and the resources which have been shared with the Church in Cambodia.

In planning for the trip, reality sets in. Cambodia is on the other side of the world, and therefore expense for travel is much more than a seminary student can afford. Our team also needs to raise money for Bibles for distribution, playground equipment, resources for Christian leaders and other expenses of the trip.

I would ask for your prayerful consideration in helping me raise the funds to embark on the trip of a lifetime. I need to raise over $2,500 to participate in this mission. If God is speaking to you about your financial support, you may support our team and people of Cambodia in two ways. First, you can donate using PayPal, a secure online method. You will find the button to donate on the top, left-hand corner of the blog. You may also send a check with "Cambodia" in the memo line directly to me. If you need my address, please send me an email or leave a comment on the blog.

I thank you so much for your willingness to pray for the participants of this mission and for the people of Cambodia. Our team, myself especially, could not do any of this work without the grace of God working within us.

I thank God for you, my friends and family.

Draw the Circle Wide,
Anna

1 comment:

  1. Ok...then. Awesome. Vision Big. God Bigger. I wish I could remember the Bruce Cockburn song about Cambodia. Prayers. Lord God of heaven rain down support...Spiritual, physical, mental, financial...supply endurance and focus of mission and unity of the team. In Jesus Name. Amen

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