In the year leading up to the fortieth anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge on 17 April 1975, we are publishing extracts from the newsletters produced by Cambodia for Christ.

Newsletter 1, November 1973

“Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33v12)

This letter is an introduction to the work that God is doing in Cambodia. Many Christians in this country have expressed concern for the situation in South East Asia and especially in the war-torn lands of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The latter has been perhaps the most neglected over the years by Christian Missions and the Church worldwide.

For the past two years, the north-eastern region of Cambodia has slowly come under the control of North Vietnamese and Vietcong guerillas, and a naturally peace loving people have been thrust into a war for national survival. Up until recently, the prospects of holding the capital had not been good, and at one point – when the American bombing stopped – the general opinion was that Phnom Penh would be taken. This, however, did not take place, and news from Cambodia by Western reporters states that the city is functioning fairly normally under the circumstances. Nevertheless, though food is available, prices have rapidly escalated, and with over one million refugees in Phnom Penh the situation is not good as supply routes are continually threatened. There are also increasing numbers of orphans and homeless, the natural result of war.

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For Christians in Cambodia, there is an open door of opportunity. The war has brought with it a sense of insecurity to a people who are normally happy with their lot. The Church has a new boldness which is acceptable in the situation and the Asian manner of preliminary introductions before plain talking is slowly disappearing in the face of questions like, ‘what can we do?’, ‘who can help us?’, ‘is there a God?’. By practical means wherever possible, and by showing calm and compassion for the people, the Evangelical Churches and Christianity itself are gradually being seen in a new light, as a positive and distinctly Cambodian way of life, relevant to them today.

The door to Cambodia is wide open – the Gospel must go out while there is time left. A land of seven million (approximately the population of Scotland) needs to know that Christ can give them hope in a future that looks pretty bleak.

Major Taing Chhirc who spent 18 months in Britain was the means of awakening many of us to the urgency and need of prayer for Cambodia. Little has been known about this land closed to the West for many years, and now we realise the situation, prayer would seem to be all the more urgent.

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“Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it. Prayer is as mighty as God because He has committed Himself to answer it.”

May the Lord Jesus Christ be exalted through the testimony and faithfulness of His people worldwide.

In 1972, Major Taing Chhirc, a Christian officer in the Khmer National Armed Forces and General Secretary of the Cambodian Evangelical Church, left Cambodia along with his pregnant wife Bophana to study in the UK. In 1973, the pastor of Bethlehem Church, Sem Bun, wrote to Chhirc asking him to return to Cambodia, where the church was growing rapidly and needed his help. Before leaving the UK, Chhirc spoke at the Keswick Convention. He appealed to British Christians to get behind Cambodia in prayer and support. To this end, Chhirc’s British friends Paul and Helen Penfold, formed Cambodia for Christ, now Cambodia Action.

Chhirc left his wife and child in Edinburgh, UK, while he remained in Cambodia until the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. According to one witness, a few days after the fall of Phnom Penh Chhirc was in the town of Neak Loeung among a group of panicked, bewildered people, offering them the hope of Christ. Suddenly, five or six Khmer Rouge cadres appeared and, without warning, clubbed Chhirc to death while the stunned crowd looked on.

After its formation in autumn 1973, Cambodia for Christ published an occasional newsletter to inform Christians in the West about the situation of the church in Cambodia. These newsletters are fascinating historical documents set against the backdrop of the final months of the Khmer Rouge military campaign against the Khmer Republic.

In 2013, Mr Randolph Parrish of Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, kindly sent to CCC a set of Cambodia for Christ newsletters for the period November 1973 to March 1975, requesting that they be preserved.

With the permission of Cambodia Action, which evolved from Cambodia for Christ, we shall be publishing extracts from these newsletters over the coming months.