by Leanne Purvis
“If I was in the boat with Jesus I would grab His leg and never let go” exclaimed the lady after hearing about Jesus calming the wind and seas in Mark 4. There is no greater joy than watching people see Jesus for who He is- the King of Kings and their personal Saviour. As we’ve been praying which ministry God would have us serve with, it is exciting to be invited to partner with an organisation praying for people with the same vision as us. Since accepting the invitation to share the Good News of the hope, love and freedom in Jesus in Cambodia 7 years ago, God has been growing in us a vision to teach and mentor the local pastors and people.
Often times this vision has seemed impossible, particularly for two fifty year old Aussies to share God in a very different culture. After 3 years of short term mission trips sharing the gospel and seeing lives changed we felt God asking us to serve alongside local pastors encouraging and mentoring them, in their own language. Our lives continued to be changed over the next 3 years as we prepared to live in Cambodia. Constant decision making, a pandemic, and lifestyle changes can be exhausting, but all part of the process and preparation. We found the organisation WEC and Worldview, their missionary training school, perfect training for cross cultural ministry. Gaining partners during deputation involved 8-10 hour round trips on the weekends, whilst working and dealing with nearly 50 years of possessions was draining, yet encouraging as people partnered with us in various ways to help fulfil God’s vision and mission to us. Being part of WEC Cambodia meant we had an identity and support base from the beginning.
Approaching the end of our 2 year ‘protected’ language learning phase the idea of mentoring pastors in Khmer seemed impossible as we still struggle to have simple everyday conversations. Due to subtle difference in Khmer vowel sounds, we have learnt to laugh at ourselves and dig deeper into God, for example when people think I am asking how many father’s they have, rather than my intended question of where does your father live.
Questioning whether we needed to let go of this vision, at least for the short term, we heard of a Christian partner who has been praying for people to help serve and establish a ‘Bible School’ to support local pastors and believers, which has been on their hearts for about 7 years. As we explored this ministry opportunity and observed one of the Bible School classes last weekend, it was exciting to see how God was working and weaving His plan, and a real joy to pray and share with the lady who was reminded of God’s presence during her own storm. I could even share my Worldview reflective mediation painting, depicting Jesus meeting us in the storm. God is sooo good!
Despite all the challenges, we praise God He is a God we never want to let go, who has placed a vision on hearts we cannot let go of. Rather it is God working out the vision, continually reminds us He is the King of Kings who will never let go of us!
Leanne and her husband Alan recently moved to Cambodia to encourage the local churches and pastors, assisting with discipleship and church planting. They aim to partner with others to reach the unreached with the freeing good news of Jesus. To found out more, please visit https://www.reachingcambodia.info