The Ultimate Missionary

The C&MA Cambodia Team

A Very Merry Christmas!

A word not often associated with Christmas is "missionary". But in fact, that has EVERYTHING to do with Christmas!  A missionary, of course, is one who is sent on a mission.

We can honestly say that Jesus came on a mission.  The angel said to Joseph:  "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 -- NIV).  His mission was and is to save us from the punishment of sin.  This was and is Good News.   Jesus truly was Heaven's ultimate "Missionary".

Jesus' Great Commission has the word mission right in it.  The Mission that Jesus had on that first Christmas has now become our mission...  to point people to the Savior.  Particularly going to those places where people have no opportunity or limited opportunity to hear this Good News...  places like Cambodia where about 99% of the people do not yet know the Savior.

Chris and I are so thankful for the privilege of joining with Jesus in His mission to Cambodia.  It has now been more than 10 years since we started serving as the Field Director couple working with the C&MA Cambodia team of about 40 missionaries.  By God's grace, we have seen significant impact for Christ and His Kingdom.

As those who have supported us in prayer, we would like to share a few ministry highlights from 2011 as an encouragement to you as our partners in ministry:

• The C&MA Mission helped establish a church planting training program with the Cambodian Alliance church where more than 40 volunteer Cambodian church planters are fanning out throughout the country to start groups of Christians where there have never been any before...  Since this program started in 2010, there are more than 20 house churches that have been started in unreached areas.
• More than 250 Cambodians are enrolled in the "TEE" leadership training program for church leaders around the country.  In addition, 17 students are studying full-time in the Elim Rural Ministry Training School.  It is exciting to see Cambodians being trained up to lead the churches and to eventually work the missionaries out of a job!
  
• In November we received official permission from the Cambodian government for five churches in Ratanakiri province of Cambodia.  This is an area where the number of churches has grown from 0 to more than 30 in the past 12 years.  This has also been an area with a lot of persecution against Christians.  This permission is very significant because, of the 30 churches in the province, these five are the first to ever receive official local and provincial recognition. 
• Medical professionals on our team (2 doctors and 2 nurses) literally helped thousands of Cambodians in need of medical care...  combining medical expertise along with the compassion and care of Christ.  In addition, pretty much everyone on our mission team, oftentimes at personal sacrifice, has assisted people too poor to receive medical care to get the care they need.  This doesn't get reported much, but it is something that happens VERY often.
• CAMA Services is working with the mission to support an ambulance ministry in Banteay Meanchey province.  In 2011, our staff conducted more than 300 ambulance runs, trained Cambodians to successfully operate an Emergency Medical Services program throughout the province, and donated one ambulance to a remote area that has never had an ambulance before.
• NewHope schools helped more than 400 children, mostly from very poor, sometimes destitute, backgrounds, to learn reading, writing, arithmetic, and the Gospel.  Most of these children are now believers and have hope for a brighter future than the one into which they were born.
• We have two families on our team who are translating the Bible...  one into the Bunong language and the other into the Kuy langauge.  It is a thrill to see these people groups beginning to receive the Bible in their own language for the very first time.
• At the national church youth conference in April, more than 700 young people attended.  Some of them made first time commitments to Christ and many of them responded to a call for total surrender to Christ.
• Missionaries working with our team have had the privilege of leading hundreds of people to Christ this past year...  from a very high government official to a very poor person dying of AIDS...  and everything in between.

Please pray for the following:

4 Generations of Manfreds, August

• Many Cambodians have already made professions of faith at Christmas services around the country.  Pray for open hearts at the remaining services yet to be held (up until Jan. 1) and for appropriate follow-up for those who, through faith, have experienced the true meaning of Christmas.
• On a couple of personal notes, we are so thankful for the prayers and support we have sensed from so many as Dave's dad went to be with the Lord earlier this month.  We had a great chance to see him (along with our first grandson, Caleb) in August.  Thanks for your ongoing prayers for God's grace in our lives.
• That the Great Commission Fund (GCF) of the Alliance will prosper, allowing for greater Kingdom advance in Cambodia and around the world.  

As the Lord leads, please continue giving to the GCF.  Funds can be sent to: The Christian and Missionary Alliance PO Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500, clearly marked: "Manfred Support".  Donations can also be made online at www.cmalliance.org/give  Thanks!  

We’d also like to appeal to anyone who has never given to the GCF to consider starting.  It is through the GCF that many hundreds of Alliance workers, and their vital ministries around the world, are supported.  We are able to continue our ministry, and live in Cambodia, only through the GCF.  Thanks so much for considering this!

We appreciate you standing with us as we bring the Mission of that first Christmas to the peoples of Cambodia.

In Christ, Dave, Chris, and Jenna