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GBGM-UMC CAMBODIA

ISSUE 19

1 April 2014
Celebrations &
Praise God for the breakthroughs happening with many participating churches regarding their awareness as Gods agent of change. Praise the Lord for the growing number of churches expanding community development work with their communities. Praise God for the CHAD program team for taking active leadership roles in promoting wider understanding and practice of holistic mission & evangelism within the Methodist churches. Praise God for UMVIM teams who compliment CHAD work in many communities. Pray for thousands of families affected by seasonal droughts as water supply and food dwindles. Pray for Gods wisdom and guidance as CHAD introduces new interventions to help communities become more resilient to the effects of climate change. Pray that God will open more funding and strategic partnership to support the expanding program of CHAD. Pray that God protects my family during the time I will be away for my itineration. Pray for Gods blessing and favor as I visit churches to renew covenants and establish new partnerships during my itineration.

Reflections on Missions as Transformation

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lords glory are being transformed into his likeness with everincreasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18 Completing my second missionary assignment, I am thankful to God for sustaining me during the last three years. I have been privileged to witness the social ministry of the Methodist church give hope to many rural poor communities in a tangible way. Due to our work, many people now have access to clean water, hygiene, sanitation, collateral-free small capital loans, and increased food security. These are the seeds of transformation the Methodist church has planted. The next step is to determine how we can nurture these seeds to bring about lasting transformation in Cambodia. First, we are learning that the transformation of a community begins with the transformation of the church. As the faith of the believers in the church becomes stronger, its influence in the community increases. By Gods grace and wisdom we are learning that we cannot hope to transform our communities until the church is transformed from its recipient-mentality and

sense of powerlessness or inferiority. In humility we have come to realize that Church ministries, programs and strategies are insufficient to bring about community transformation if we the believers are not transforming in the first place. Understanding who we are in Christ must occur before we can exercise our God-given purpose as agent of change in our society. The Church is Gods primary agent through which He brings healing and saving to our hurting world. When churches are not actively engaged in the transformation of society, both the church and communities suffer. When this happens, the world does not fully experience the Church as God intended it to be. So empowering local churches for community transformation no matter how challenging it is should be our primary task so we can broaden and deepen the impact of the gospel in our communities. Helping church members to recover their true love for God must be the focus of our work. After all, the Church task is summarized in the great commandment: love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself Matt. 22:37-40. I am convinced that knowing God in a very personal way and developing an intimate relationship with Him increases our sense of purpose in transforming our communities.

Prayer Requests

Personal note from the field

Dear partners in mission, We would like to express how deeply thankful we are to you for walking faithfully with us during the last three years. Your contribution and prayers have lightened many a burden. And with God leading our way, we believe that the fruits of our labor will continue to multiply and give further witness of the Kingdom of God to the Cambodian people. Your partners in Christ, Ken, Jomil, Kim and Kyle Cruz

Read more about our work at http://chad-cambodia.blogspot.com/ Support our work with a donation through The Advance at your local church or http://www.advancinghope.org Missionary Support Code: 3019583 Program Support Code: 14916A Email: ken_jomil@hotmail.com kennedyocruz@gmail.com Mailing Address: Kennedy O. Cruz General Board of Global Ministries P.O. Box 2493 Phnom Penh 3 CAMBODIA