Read, understand, and pray for Cambodia.
General Information
Population: 15,1 million. Capital: Phnom Penh
Christians: 471.000. Evangelical Christians: 240.000
Highest Level of Faith: Buddhist
Fastest growing religion: Christian
Largest ethnic groups: Khmers (86,9%), vietnamese (4,2%), chinese (4,1%).
Official Language: Khmer. Total of languages: 25.
Economy: One of the poorest countries in the world, relies on foreign help. There’s significant progress in economic development, but it still doesn’t aid the poor people in rural areas. Agriculture, sweatshops, and tourism are the main income sources. Ilegal timber exploitation and the sex trade make some extremely rich and lead many to suffer.
Politics: A ceremonial monarchy. Powerful kingdoms ruled between the 1st and 14th centuries. The country was stuck for the next 500 years in regional and global conflicts. The Khmer Rouge Marxist extremist group (as of 1975) promoted one of the most horrific massacres of the 20th century. It has been a democracy since 1993.
1 – Spiritual darkness remains in Cambodia coming from the many temples of spirits, from the powerful claws that oppose the Truth and from the widespread loss of morals. Only prayers can eliminate them. The enemy of souls causes people to suffer under terrible abuses and oppressive poverty. Sexual and drug trafficking has power over many people. Criminals exploit a large number of unprotected children and youth. Pray that the light of the gospel shines on individual lives and all the social structures of Cambodia. Intercede especially for children, adolescents, and young people, victims of abuse and exploitation. Christians can make a difference in the areas of justice, rehabilitation, orphanages, health, and development. Cambodia also needs internal help in agriculture, fish farming, water management, and education projects.
2 – The Cambodian people need freedom and liberation from sin, hatred, suffering, and abuse of the past. This happens through the blood of Jesus. The violent Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) destroyed millions of its people. Ask God to heal the deep psychological wounds through the Holy Spirit and counseling ministry. Many of those who belonged to the Khmer Rouge and took part in the genocide, follow Jesus today. Pray that they will live in the fullness of God’s forgiveness for the crimes of the past. Christians can bring peace and reconciliation.
3 – The Cambodian Church has survived a great ordeal and has grown! Missionaries worked for 47 years before the great advance of the gospel began, and then the genocide came and destroyed most of the Church. About 90 percent of Christians have died or fled to Thai refugee camps. God produced a huge harvest amid those fields, but only a few thousand believers survived within Cambodia. But the churches spread to all provinces during the 1990s, and now 470,000 Christians worship God there! Churches need mature, well-trained leadership. Most of the educated people died in the massacre of the Khmer Rouge. Pray that the shepherds will have wisdom, holiness, and power in the Spirit.
4 – Kampuchea Mission 2021. National churches share this intention to see the church present in all Cambodian villages and ethnic groups by 2021. Today, 11,000 villages need a church. Pray for the Buddhists, less accomplished, for the 18 un-evangelized tribal groups, for the Muslim people, and the Chinese speaking groups. Pray also that Chinese believers from abroad will come to act as apostles to the Chinese people of Cambodia.
Adapted from MANDRYK e WALL (2017). MANDRYK, Jason; WALL, Molly. Pray for the World: A New Prayer Resource from Operation World.InterVarsity Press: 2015.
