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HARVESTFORCE 2021 • 3
Church PLANTING IN THE NEW C
Carol Ong Missionary with MMS serving in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Her home church is Toa Payoh Methodist Church.
OVID-19 posed tremendous challenges worldwide on various fronts, and not a single life on earth has been left unaffected by it. The Church in Cambodia too faced challenges, and found herself having to adapt to changes and adopt new ways of shepherding her flock while continuing the work of evangelism, bringing the Good News to Cambodians who are grappling with uncertainties and desperately needing a hope that they can be sure of. At The Third Place, we discovered that with each and every challenge, there exists wonderful opportunities. When COVID-19 infection numbers started to rise early this year in Cambodia, and consequently, restrictions and regulations were put in place by the government to stem the tide, these resulted in the inability of churches to meet physically for Sunday worship as well as for other regular weekday activities. At The Third Place, WiFi was installed so that Pastor Tharoath could continue to conduct Sunday Worship Services and shepherd the small flock of 10 persons remotely. Internet connectivity is a challenge – good at certain times; slow and unstable at other times – and it also depends on the location one is at, as well as which internet service provider one is using. Whether the connection is good or bad, we remind ourselves that we “do not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another” (cf. Hebrews 10:25), all the more, in these stressful pandemic times! One positive thing that emerged from going online, was that there were new people joining us for worship, which otherwise, would not have happened due to where they were located. The daily wage earners and those on the lower rungs of Cambodian society, i.e., the tuk tuk drivers, the karang-guni man, hawkers selling food on the road, etc., were the hardest hit by the pandemic. The Third Place reached out to help alleviate their difficulties by running food distributions, which were sponsored by churches as well as individuals back home in Singapore. These food distributions afforded us the opportunities to share God’s love in a tangible way, as well as the message of His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. As an aftermath of the food distributions, people were invited to come to church to learn more about the faith. In addition to online worship services, The Third Place now holds in-person worship services to cater to elderly villagers who do not possess internet connection nor the knowledge to access social media platforms. Current COVID-19 regulations allow gatherings of up to 10 persons. The average Sunday worship attendance in-person and online now stands at around 17 persons. Indeed, all thanks and praise to the Lord of the Harvest for His harvest!
