Recommended Reading: Cambodian Theology Students

Cambodia is one of six Mission Initiatives supported by Global Ministries. Mission Initiatives are endeavors to spread Methodism to countries where it did not previously exist. The Cambodia Mission Initiative is a unique undertaking because it is jointly sponsored by Global Ministries, Connexio (the mission agency of Swiss United Methodists), the Korean Methodist Church, the Singaporean Methodist Church, and the World Federation of Chinese Methodist Churches. Together, these five agencies have sponsored the growth of the Methodist Church in Cambodia, a soon-to-be-autonomous denomination.

Part of the process of a church growing toward autonomy is developing indigenous leadership, which the Methodist Church in Cambodia has done. Congregations are led by indigenous pastors, and there is a Methodist Bible School for training pastors. As part of their partnership with Cambodia, Connexio has shared a recent interview with two students at the Methodist Bible School (translated into English here). The interview is a good snapshot of what life is like for young adults preparing to enter the ministry in Cambodia. It's worth reading for the sake of learning more about Methodism in Cambodia, Mission Initiatives more broadly, and pastoral ministry in different cultures.

Recommended Viewing: Global Discipleship Webinars

Earlier this year, Discipleship Ministries hosted a series of six Global Discipleship Webinars featuring United Methodist leaders from around the world talking about ministry in their contexts. Videos from several of those webinars are available on Discipleship Ministries' website. In particular, videos from the following webinars are available:

Discipleship and Community Engagement in a Post-Christian Society with Rev. Barry Sloan

This webinar talks about Rev. Sloan's work in Germany

Discipleship Among Immigrant and Diaspora Communities with Rev. Jonavern Lungub

This webinar talks about Rev. Lungub's work with Filipino and African immigrant communities in the Gulf States of the Middle East.

Discipleship and Evangelism in a Christian-Minority Country with Rev. Lun Sophy and Rev. Andrew Lee

This webinar talks about Methodism in Cambodia, which is a fruit of joint ministry by The United Methodist Church, the Korean Methodist Church, the Methodist Church of Singapore, and the World Federation of Chinese Methodist Churches.

It is hoped that Discipleship Ministries will post the other webinar videos as well.

I found the conversation about immigrant groups in the Middle East particularly interesting, since it represents a growing area of United Methodism, but one that is beyond the experience and outside the information streams of most United Methodists in the United States.

Is Cambodia the future of the global UMC?

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.

In a recent online post, United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) highlighted their work in Cambodia.  Methodist missions in Cambodia are a joint, cooperative effort by The United Methodist Church, the French-Swiss United Methodist Church, the Korean Methodist Church, the Singapore Methodist Church, and the World Federation of Chinese Methodists.  The goal of mission work there is to develop an autonomous Methodist Church by 2016.  In addition to the variety of Methodist Churches involved, there is substantial national variety within the United Methodist missionaries in Cambodia.  The group includes a Kenyan, a Filipino-American, and a Bangladeshi.  Cambodia may be seen as a model of missions cooperation where United Methodists are active globally in partnership with other autonomous Methodist Churches and without a long-term goal of formally extending the denomination.  Yet, Cambodia may also be seen as a challenging mix of identities and organizations that might complicate the articulate and achievement of mission goals.  What do you think - Is Cambodia the future of global UMC mission efforts?  Should it be?