Praise the Lord that the baptistery waters were stirred again two Sundays ago as La, a 15 year old young man who has been coming to our church for about 3 months, made public his decision to receive Jesus Christ as his Saviour. We thank God for leading Pastor Tho to La’s house several months ago during our Friday morning “spreading the Good News” time, and we thank God that La’s mother, although reluctantly at first, agreed to allow La to come to our church. La cannot read, having been pulled out of school three years ago because his teachers told La’s mother, “He cannot learn, and his stuttering problem is too much for us to handle.” La does have a severe stuttering problem, but he is a smart boy. But because he has missed three years of school, La cannot read. This burdens me, because an essential part of his spiritual growth will be knowledge of the Scriptures. So I have been teaching him the Khmer alphabet- 33 consonants and 27 vowels- for about 6 weeks. He is making steady progress, but he needs more help than I am equipped to give him. Thankfully, a Sunday school class who has been faithfully supporting us from Corinth Baptist Church in Loganville, Georgia has collected $500.00 to help La get a private education from teachers who will take their time with him and give him the attention that he needs. Please pray for La’s spiritual growth, and pray for the salvation of his mother and his grandparents.
A Growing Children’s Ministry
About two and a half months ago, the Lord impressed upon my heart to start a Sunday afternoon children’s service for the kids in our area. For the first two or three Sundays, we averaged about 8 kids, most of them coming from one family who lives directly across the street from us. But praise the Lord, the word started getting out and 6 weeks ago we had 33 children! I am teaching an 8 lesson series from a book called, “Do You Know God?”- basically a thorough presentation of the Gospel starting with the nature of God (His eternality, His omnipresence, His omniscience, His omnipotence, His holiness, His love, etc.) and finishing with the solution to man’s inherent sin problem- the death, burial, and resurrection of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. This past Sunday I taught 28 children about the fall of man, and this coming Sunday I will begin teaching the core of the Gospel message- how we can be reconciled to holy God through Jesus Christ. Please pray that we will see some fruit that remains as a result of these efforts.
The New Theme for Our Church
The Lord has given me clear direction concerning our focus for the upcoming year. The new theme is េសចក្ដីជំនឿដ៌មាំមួន- “An Established Faith”, taken from Acts 16:5, where God’s Word says, “And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.” I believe the most biblical and effective means of church growth is the spiritual growth of the believers within the church. A spiritually healthy church will be a soul winning church. A spiritually healthy church will be a disciple-making church. The rate of growth in the church is God’s business and it is according to His timetable. Our focus this year is to deepen our roots and allow God to work through us.
I will be focusing my messages around the following three aspects of an established faith: first, having a vibrant relationship with God. I will be teaching a series of lessons developed by my dear friend and fellow missionary here in Cambodia, Stephen Benefield. The series focuses on several unique relationships that every Christian has with God. These relationships include the father/child relationship, the potter/clay relationship, the teacher/student relationship, the shepherd/sheep relationship, the captain/soldier relationship, the vine/branch relationship, the groom/bride relationship, the master/servant relationship, and the king/subject relationship. I will also be focusing on having knowledge of God’s Word, which includes reading, memorizing, and meditating on the Scriptures. Finally, I will be focusing on applying our knowledge of God’s Word to our everyday lives.
Thank you for your love, prayers, and support for our family.
In Christ,
Chad Phillips
