with eyes of faith , we see vibrant communities following Jesus in distinctively Khmer ways
MYANMAR
VIETNAM
LAOS
THAILAND
CAMBODIA
Country Spotlight :
Cambodia
Getting to Know the Khmer
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Cambodia has a population of around 16 million people .
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The Khmer are the majority people group and most Khmer would say that to be Khmer is to be Buddhist .
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Only around 2 % of Khmer people identify as followers of Jesus . This means the majority of Khmer don ’ t know someone who can share the good news with them .
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A common greeting is , “ Have you eaten rice yet ?” This speaks both to the importance of rice and of eating together .
MALAY- SIA
Sharing the Gospel
The Khmer value doing good things to gain good outcomes . This makes it common for Khmer to struggle to understand why Jesus suffered a criminal ’ s death on the cross .
But the greatest reason that Khmer people have been resistant to the Gospel , may be that the message has been presented in Western cultural packaging that doesn ’ t make sense to them .
Decisions are mostly made as a community , and therefore when an individual becomes a follower of Jesus , it is often seen to be a rejection of their family .
As followers of Jesus , we know that He came to fulfil the promise of a good God to bring blessing to all nations . The Khmer are very attuned to giving and receiving blessings , so this is a good starting point in sharing the good news of a God who wants the Khmer to flourish in relationship with Him .
RESONATE ISSUE 37 | PAGE 15