Last month, the Christian Conference of Asia held a four-day international conference on Myanmar. There were 57 participants representing various ecumenical groups, Christian organizations, NGOs, universities, government agencies, and so on. I represented Mennonite Central Committee at the conference and moderated a couple of sessions. The goal of the conference was to develop a communique…
Tag: Christianity
Caleb joining Mennonite Mission Network in Taiwan
No, not our little Caleb. Caleb Schrock-Hurst was the final SALT participant in Việt Nam before MCC Vietnam closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. He actually wrote the book on MCC Vietnam for the program’s 65th Anniversary. I met him when I traveled to Hanoi in January 2020 to attend an education conference and then we hosted…
The Next International Seek Facilitator – Oscar Suarez
I’m excited to share that Oscar Suarez has arrived in Cambodia and has started his term of service with MCC Cambodia as our next International Seek Facilitator. Oscar is a Mennonite from Colombia. He spent 11-months teaching at a school in Ohio, USA as part of MCC’s IVEP program and previously worked as a Music…
Reflections on breaking relationship and breaking bread together
I’ve been reading a book by J. Nelson Kraybill titled Stuck Together: the Hope of Christian Witness in a Polarized World. It’s a very inspiring book that speaks to the kind of presence I personally believe Christianity should have in the world. Nelson writes from a lifetime of experience and seamlessly weaves together contemporary real…
Seek – Ramy’s Life Story and Testimony
Yesterday afternoon Ming Ramy shared her powerful testimony with the 2024 Seek cohort. I wanted to share my summary of her testimony with you. This is based on my notes from listening in Khmer so I know I got a few details wrong – it’s often hard to know which ‘bong’ is being referenced in…
2024 Prison Fellowship Cambodia Annual Conference
We’re aware of three organizations working in prisons in Cambodia. Two of the three – Peace Bridges and Khmer Vulnerability Aid Organization – are already current MCC partners, Prison Fellowship Cambodia is the other. I’ve been wanting to connect with Prison Fellowship to see if we could work towards a partnership with them too but…
Seek – Sreyhem’s Life Story and Testimony
On Friday, Sreyhem Roberts shared her life story and testimony with the Seek cohort. Sreyhem was five years old when the Khmer Rouge took power and was an early convert to Christianity through an underground House Church in the 1980s. She told us about her life, what it was like to be a Christian at…
Article: In Memory of American Grandpa
I recently shared a news article from Dhaka about Art Defehr’s early work with MCC Bangladesh and thought that I’d share another one. I don’t plan to do this too often so don’t worry that this will become an article blog. Currently, MCC Asia and MCC Europe are launching initiatives to strengthen our connection with…
Reblog: Finding My Seat at the Table
I wanted to share a blog post by Kiron Mateti that was posted by Mennonite Church USA. Kiron is a member of Plains Mennonite Church and his wife, Rachel, actually went to the same Christian school as my youngest brother Tim for awhile. I love how he writes about going from multicultural to intercultural. It’s…
How many Christians are in Cambodia?
As part of their horrific year zero policies the Khmer Rouge regime banned all religious practice in Cambodia and persecuted the local Christian Church almost to extinction. Buddhist institutions were allowed to reform soon after the regime was driven from power but Christianity remained illegal throughout the 1980s and the few Cambodian Christian believers who…