Loving the World: Global Missions - Welcome Back Blaine Family

GLOBAL MISSIONS WELCOME BACK BLAINE FAMILY

We arrived in C a m b o d i a in 2012 with a desire to see God’s Kingdom come in both word and deed. As we thought and prayed about where we would join God in His work around the world, the Lord kindly led us to the country of Cambodia.

Today’s Cambodia is like a coin with two sides. In many ways the country is starting to emulate the success of its neighbors Thailand and Vietnam. Hurled forward by big brother China, many young Cambodians are experiencing unprecedented opportunities and hope for the future. New roads, nicer buildings, and even iPhones stand as signs of the times in the capital Phnom Penh. That’s the heads side of the coin.

Then there’s the tails side of the coin. Behind the newly painted facades lies a world very much the same. Under pressure from ministries like IJM, the trafficking industry is changing from a tourist attraction to a decentralized underground network. In downtown Phnom Penh, the government displaces whole communities from their homes in the name of progress. Just outside the city, families struggling to live on two dollars a day face malnutrition, poor education, and murky prospects for the future. Without hope, some are desperate enough to consider their children as revenue generators. Poorly run orphanages are shuttering to make way for a new foster care system experience growing pains. In every alleyway, the marginalized are falling through the cracks. In the village, people are protesting the destruction of their land by international companies taking advantage of illegal land consignments. The list goes on and on.

Spiritually, the church in Cambodia limps forward at under 1% of the population. And even within the church many remain uneducated, uncommitted and undiscipled.

The rest of the population struggles to make sense of a highly religious past, filled with folk Buddhism and idol worship, and a new consumer reality.

Within all of this, there lies a great opportunity for the gospel. As the country lurches forward, new openings are forming in caring for orphans and building the church in Cambodia. 1 John 2:8 says, “… darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining..” That is why we exist, and what we hope to continue to see happen in this country!

During our time in Cambodia, we were able to serve in two capacities. For our first four years, we engaged with a local ministry named Children In Families. The ministry works to help place orphaned and vulnerable children in loving families. Once the children are

placed with the families, our teams of dedicated staff members work with the families and local churches to promote healing, nurture, and long-term growth of each child.

What started as a “mom and pop” type ministry quickly began to grow with new staff members, funding, systems, and even international attention as a model for helping children to heal and thrive in loving families. By happenstance, the internal database that we developed to help organize our services has now become the main database for all child protection programs in the country of Cambodia!

More importantly, we worked hard to maintain our founding values of dependence on God, seeing children as God’s beloved and not just “cases”, and seeking to fully engage both the church and the public sector in helping these children to grow and thrive. God blessed the ministry and today it has over 35 staff and has helped hundreds of children and families around the country. We’ve also seen churches engaged in this wonderful work of caring for vulnerable children.

As our second main capacity, and for the four final years in Cambodia, we served in helping to re-plant a city church named Church of Christ Our Peace. Founded in 1993 the church was one of the first Christian churches in the city once the country re-opened to foreigners. After growing for a decade, the church membership sadly diminished as the city of Phnom Penh grew and developed. The original congregation of urban poor were displaced and no longer able to be a part of the church, and the church essentially needed a re-plant.

We were able to serve on both the English and Khmer side with Jesse as a pastor and Sarah as a super hero community builder and homeschool mom! During our time at the church, the Lord guided us to engage in outreach to draw new believers, hire and develop new local pastoral staff members, and help to build a growing and

healthy congregation. They brought us people to baptize and others seeking a renewal of their faith. We were able to engage in service to the poor as well as engage with the growing Cambodian middle class.

We are most excited about the fact that we leave behind a church with strong Cambodian leadership that, Lord willing, is established to bear fruit for years. May the Lord continue to bless and guide His church!

Thank you all again, and we hope to be able to connect with you soon.

In Him, Jesse, Sarah, Clara, Adelai, Ridley