A thriving church discovered in a remote hilly province of Cambodia
When staff from FEBC visited a hilly province of Cambodia in May 2011, they learned that FEBC’s shortwave broadcasts have played a significant role in communicating the Gospel to the Phnong, a dominant people group in this area.
The village of Pu Traing looks like an illustration from a storybook. Along its road of red earth shaded by fruit trees and lined with wooden houses, children play while chickens and piglets explore their surroundings. That’s why it was such a surprise to find a thriving church of 260 people, in spite of its remote location. We also discovered there are many keen listeners of FEBC in this area.
During our visit, FEBCambodia’s team distributed 500 radios to church leaders from surrounding communities, to share with their respective churches and villages.
Dramatic Impact
An elder in the church told us he had been listening to FEBC’s shortwave service for more than 20 years, and the radio broadcasts had had a dramatic impact on his community. “Between 1993 and 1997, the number of Christian families grew from 3 to 53,” he shared, “due to FEBC broadcasts.”
A farmer in the area told us how God has used the radio to help him make the right decisions during a difficult family time. “Without the radio, I don’t know how my life would have turned out,” he shared.
We also learned that some villagers are able to hear our Family FM broadcasts – even though our transmitters are 185 miles away – by rigging up antennas on the roofs of their homes. Family FM listeners told us that our practical programs are a great help to them.
Health and hygiene information is especially needed in this area, which experiences a high rate of disease. One church leader told us: “The information about sanitation has taught us how to live in a healthy way, which has greatly helped my family.”
Embracing Christianity
According to local missionaries, an amazing 10% of the Phnong – the second largest of Cambodia’s ethnic minority groups – have embraced Christianity. About half of those are thought to have a nominal faith, but the figure is still way above the national average that’s between 1-2%.
As the story goes, back in the 1950s, the Phnong heard about Jesus from minority people in neighboring Vietnam. They asked for missionaries to visit them, but no one was available to go.
Then in the mid-70s some Phnong heard the Gospel in Vietnam, where they had fled to escape the bombs strafing their own land during Pol Pot’s regime. Later, those same people returned to Cambodia, where they shared the news of Jesus with others in their village.
Seeking Protection
One of the ways the Gospel has set people free became clear as FEBC staff talked to local believers about animist beliefs typically held by this ethnic people group. Traditionally, they are taught that offerings must be made to the spirits to prevent disasters from occurring in their families. Often people who are too poor to give the requisite offerings turn to Jesus for protection. While their decision may have had some element of practicality to it, people are finding the grace and freedom that God gives.
Please Pray
God is using FEBC broadcasts to change lives so please pray for those preparing the programs into remote ethnic communities such as these. Please pray that stories like these would be multiplied across many isolated and needy areas. Please pray that God would continue to provide the resources for airtime that make these broadcasts possible.
