Meet Kunthea – a young Cambodian lady who was sent to Canada by her non-Christian family to pursue higher education a few years ago. While here, she came to know Christ as her Lord and Saviour through the ministry of her Christian home-stay family. Since then, she has grown in her faith to the point that she found herself studying in a seminary for vocational ministry.
Today, Kunthea has graduated with a Masters’ Degree in Divinity and is actively serving with OMF Canada in two churches. First in a Canadian (multi-cultural) church reaching out to international students. Second, Kunthea has supported a Chinese church in Canada by leading their short-term mission teams to Cambodia over the last few years. More recently, she has started seeking opportunities to encourage and build up the fledgling Cambodian churches in Canada.
Kunthea is a walking testimony of the truth of Paul’s words about God’s purposes in the world: “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:26 -28)
God is on the move behind the global movement of people in places far and near. The exponential growth of diaspora communities all over the world is not an accident. The Lord in His divine wisdom has orchestrated these moves through political, economic and familial factors so that more will “seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him”. In OMF, we’re simply joining him in what he’s already doing.
Canada in particular is a land of immigrants, teeming with diaspora opportunities, both with those who plan to return, and with those who plan to stay. In recent decades, we have seen immigrant churches blossom and bloom to maturity, well on their way to becoming a strong cross-cultural missionary sending force.
We see the East Asian diaspora communities as both people to share the gospel with and people who can go on to share it with others. With our history and experience in East Asia, OMF is well positioned to reach out to, and come alongside, East Asian diasporas all over the world by
- coming alongside them to help build indigenous biblical church movements within their own communities- this is especially important with the smaller diaspora communities like the Cambodian, and Thai.
- partnering with the diaspora churches to reach out cross-culturally – the larger communities like Korean, Chinese, and Filipino ones are especially ready for this
To that end, the Lord has blessed us in Canada with a team that is currently 23 strong. Our team members are all “bi-cultural bridges” who can flow between the Canadian culture and at least one East Asian culture. Through this team, we seek to connect with East Asia’s diasporas all across the land – in their heart language and according to their heritage culture.
Rev CY Yan
Canada Director for OMF Connections East Asia
Will you pray?
- Give thanks for Kunthea’s testimony and how she is now supporting churches in Canada.
- Pray for God to bless her and make her fruitful in ministry.
- Pray for Connections East Asia and all OMF’s efforts to engage with East Asian diaspora communities around the world to share the gospel and come alongside them.
