Empowering Emerging Leaders in Cambodia and SE Asia
Gil & Joyce Suh
South and South East Asia Network Nourishment Retreat
"I've been to many programs and seminars, but this is the only one that helped me think about my personal relationship to Jesus and my spiritual formation." "In the sacred stories and Japanese screen exercise, we were able to take off the masks." "I've never been able to spend time like this--my wife and I were able to really talk...." "It was a safe space." "I have students who have almost become confused by thinking too much about scripture--I'm going to do lectio divina with them." "I think of the church in Revelation and God 'knowing our deeds' but asking 'where is your first love’? This retreat was about getting back to our first love." This was some of the verbal feedback received for a retreat which we held earlier this month for 23 key national leaders in our region.
Over our time in SSE Asia we’ve come to recognize that local leaders who are mission partners are often under tremendous pressure. They have a great vision for their people and their country, but also at times shoulder a heavy burden. Sometimes mission agencies actually add to that burden by the expectations placed on them. Programs for helping do ministry are brought over which are often very good. But not many mission organizations at the same time meaningfully attend to the emotional and spiritual health of the participants.
We developed a week-long program that was focused on helping a group of key leaders and some of their spouses gear down and contemplate God’s shaping work in their own lives, think about how what they do ought to flow from who they are in Christ, and spend time remembering Christ’s love for them as his beloved.
We’re very thankful to be working for Resonate Global Mission. With Resonate, we can offer a palate of excellent programing that can be used to develop leaders and resource them for raising disciples and planting churches. But Resonate also has room in its vision and ministry to lead a retreat like this and see how God is further strengthening his mission workers. What a blessing it has been for us to work with a team to serve our mission colleagues in this way. Praise God for how he was at work among us. Pray for wisdom for next steps.
Global Mission Leaders from throughout SSE Asia with Facilitation Team
Romania Strategy Review Trip
“Romania? Where is that? Why are you going there?” That was a common reaction from friends here in Cambodia when I (Gil) told them I was going to Romania. I went to Romania for about a week in mid-May. I led a “Country evaluation” for the Romania field of Resonate Global Mission. About every five years or so, each field receives a team like ours for a “country evaluation”. The purpose is not a job performance evaluation but more of reviewing our strategy in that particular country. Although Resonate has a general vision, mission and key outcomes for all the countries we serve, each country has certain mission strategy according to the context of society and church. The context can change rather rapidly as can the circumstances of missionaries and partners we work with. So a small group of missionaries from other countries is formed to do a review, visiting ministry sites and conducting interviews.
For this particular review, our team of four came from Oman, Lithuania, Canada and Cambodia. Our colleague serving in Romania, Steve Michmerhuizen, was our host who drove us many miles to visit places and meet people. Romania is a beautiful country with rich cultural traditions but also has a painful history of oppression. As we visited places and met people, our primary question was “What is God doing in this land? Is our current mission strategy in line with that?” Our anchor text was Isaiah 43:18-19 which is about God doing a new thing and calling us to see it. We worked hard to observe, listen, record and process things. We gladly affirmed a lot of what our colleagues do in Romania and made a few recommendations for further consideration and planning. Resources and effort were put into the review process, but I believe it’s important and valuable. Steve and many people we met were encouraged, and our mission direction in Romania next 5 years or so became clearer.
I personally enjoyed interacting with the team members and the mission partners in Romania. And I couldn’t help but seeing similarities between Romania and Cambodia which are both post-communist countries that are among the poorest in their regions. After initially experiencing the rapid explosions of churches in 90s and 2000s, growth has plateaued in recent years due to factors like migration, dependency, secularism and materialism. We asked people we met whether Romania still needs foreign missionaries and help of external organizations. Everyone said yes, but most of them said Romania needs the kind of outsiders who would empower, train and mentor Romanians to do what they themselves need to do. “Do not do things that we can and should do ourselves!”, one of the Romanian pastors exclaimed. That echoes the sentiment of Cambodian leaders we work with. Please pray for the work of our organizations and other mission agencies to ably empower and support local believers and their pursuit of calling.
At Fara Limite, Innovative Ministry For Roma People in Lupeni
Praise and Prayer items
The initial phase of “Deep Leadership”, a joint leadership training program, has been completed successfully. The next phase will start in June for 6 months.
“Koinonia”, a ministry to college students/young adults, continues. Thankfully, a couple of Cambodians stepped up to take leadership for the weekly Bible study and fellowship at dorms as well as for the monthly gathering.
Gil participated in Glocal Summit in LA in April as a workshop speaker. It was encouraging to see many mission practitioners of our denomination, CRCNA, gathered in one place and sharing their stories. The biblical theme of new wine and new wineskin helped framing all of our various stories and contexts into God’s mission in the world.
Last a few months have been quite challenging for all of us living in Phnom Penh. Due to lack of power supply, there was daily city-wide power cuts for over 2 months. Some places had issues with lack of water supply as well. This is due to lack of urban planning: too many houses and buildings are built without adequate infrastructure. There has been some easing of the situation since the rain came. It remains very hot with temperatures constantly 90F and above.
Resonate Cambodia will host a vision trip for a group of leaders and a few of their family members from CRCNA next two weeks (May 28-June 7). Please pray for safe travels and great learning experience together.
Joyce will be in Michigan USA and Ontario Canada between June 13 and Aug 17. This is not a scheduled home service but rather a personal trip to spend some time with our boys in Grand Rapids and with her mom and family in Ontario. She will attend a couple of trainings and continue her regional work while there. Gil and Mary will remain in Cambodia. Mary will do some volunteering at a local school and work on her IB preparation for her final year in high school.
Please pray for Joyce's nephew Matthew and his wife Melissa. Their child Ariel (age 2) has been diagnosed with leukemia and will be receiving treatments for the next 2 years.
As we approach Resonate's fiscal year end, we remain short in our fundraising goals. Please consider a special donation as the Lord leads. We are extremely grateful for how we see the goodness of the Lord through your prayers and giving. For online giving, click HERE
come to recognize that local leaders who are mission partners are often under tremendous pressure. They have a great vision for their people and their country, but also at times shoulder a heavy burden. Sometimes mission agencies actually add to that burden by the expectations placed on them. Programs for helping do ministry are brought over which are often very good. But not many mission organizations at the same time meaningfully attend to the emotional and spiritual health of the participants. 
We’re very thankful to be working for Resonate Global Mission. With Resonate, we can offer a palate of excellent programing that can be used to develop leaders and resource them for raising disciples and planting churches. But Resonate also has room in its vision and ministry to lead a retreat like this and see how God is further strengthening his mission workers. What a blessing it has been for us to work with a team to serve our mission colleagues in this way. Praise God for how he was at work among us. Pray for wisdom for next steps. 
f four came from Oman, Lithuania, Canada and Cambodia. Our colleague serving in Romania, Steve Michmerhuizen, was our host who drove us many miles to visit places and meet people. Romania is a beautiful country with rich cultural traditions but also has a painful history of oppression. As we visited places and met people, our primary question was “What is God doing in this land? Is our current mission strategy in line with that?” Our anchor text was Isaiah 43:18-19 which is about God doing a new thing and calling us to see it. We worked hard to observe, listen, record and process things. We gladly affirmed a lot of what our colleagues do in Romania and made a few recommendations for further consideration and planning. Resources and effort were put into the review process, but I believe it’s important and valuable. Steve and many people we met were encouraged, and our mission direction in Romania next 5 years or so became clearer.
I personally enjoyed interacting with the team members and the mission partners in Romania. And I couldn’t help but seeing similarities between Romania and Cambodia which are both post-communist countries that are among the poorest in their regions. After initially experiencing the rapid explosions of churches in 90s and 2000s, growth has plateaued in recent years due to factors like migration, dependency, secularism and materialism. We asked people we met whether Romania still needs foreign missionaries and help of external organizations. Everyone said yes, but most of them said Romania needs the kind of outsiders who would empower, train and mentor Romanians to do what they themselves need to do. “Do not do things that we can and should do ourselves!”, one of the Romanian pastors exclaimed. That echoes the sentiment of Cambodian leaders we work with. Please pray for the work of our organizations and other mission agencies to ably empower and support local believers and their pursuit of calling. 
댓글목록