Cambodia
Arriving in 1923, Alliance missionaries were the first long-term Protestant workers to enter Cambodia, and Alliance efforts grew into the one of the nation’s largest evangelical communities, the Khmer Evangelical Church.
Alliance missionaries were evacuated from Cambodia in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge came to power. By the end of 1979, 80 percent of Cambodian believers had been martyred during the horrors of Pol Pot’s Killing Fields. From the small seed of some 2,000 remaining believers, the evangelical Church in Cambodia has since grown to more than 200,000 believers.
Nonetheless, Christians in Cambodia number less than 2 percent of the population. More than 75 percent of Cambodia’s 14,000 villages do not yet have any Christian presence. The needs for evangelism and church planting in this war-ravaged country remain great. Grinding poverty for the vast majority of people, which leads to health and social problems, continues to be a major challenge. To these ends, Alliance workers and their national partners are involved in training church leaders, youth ministry, discipleship ministries, planting new churches, medical work, and church-based community development to help meet the spiritual, nutritional, medical, literacy, educational, and AIDS-related needs of local communities.

National Church
Khmer Evangelical Church: 65 organized churches, 157 unorganized groups, 24 ordained ministers, and 4,348 baptized members
Team Initiatives
- Plant churches among the Khmer, Vietnamese, Jarai, Bunong, Kachok, Kuy, Tumpuen, and other minority groups in Cambodia.
- Strengthen our ministries to train church leaders in both the rural and urban context.
- Significantly impact the spiritually and physically needy through medical ministry.
- In cooperation with the national C&MA church, develop Cambodian church-planters who will impact Cambodia far and wide.
- Translate the New Testament into both the Bunong and Kuy languages.
International Workers in Cambodia
The Alliance at Work in Cambodia
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New Churches Planted in Cambodia Despite COVID-19
Spiritually oppressed people are being freed, and those with chronic illnesses—including a man lame from birth—receive healing in these new village churches.
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Caring in Cambodia
An Alliance worker in Cambodia shares how God prepared her team months ago for what is unfolding today. Video included.
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52 Baptized on Christmas Day!
A recap of Christmas events reveals how God is moving in the former Killing Fields of northwestern Cambodia.
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The Inspiring Faith of New Believers
How can believers seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness in a community struggling with extreme poverty?
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Alliance Workers Give Thanks
“We get to be a part of God’s love story for ALL people!”
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Demographics
- Population
- Population—13,607,069
- Infant mortality rate—71.5/1,000
- Life expectancy—58.9
- Capital City
- Phnom Penh (1,169,800) pop.
- Geography
- The size of Missouri, Cambodia (69,900 sq. mi.) consists mainly of a large alluvial plain ringed by mountains, and on the east is the Mekong River.
- Languages
- Khmer (official)
- French
- English
- Ethnicity/Race
- Khmer—90%
- Vietnamese—5%
- Chinese—1%
- other—4%
- Economy
- Per capita income—$2,000
- Inflation—3.1%
- Unemployment—2.5%
- Literacy rate—70% (2003 est.)
- Government/Political Climate
- Communist forces captured Phnom Penh in 1975; a 1978 Vietnamese invasion touched off almost 13 years of civil war. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire. The remaining factions of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in 1999. Today Cambodia is a multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy.
- Religion
- Theravada Buddhist—95%
- other—5%
Support the Mission
Alliance ministry in Cambodia is primarily funded through the Great Commission Fund. Help fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission and make a gift to the GCF today.
Give to Special Projects
These field-approved projects are funded by donations in addition to the GCF. Click and give today.
Cambodia Team
- Vietnamese Church Bldg/Phnom
- Banlung Church Building/Laobunsiek
- Cham Ministries
- Lao Ministry in Cambodia
- Stray Noy Church Building
- Vietnamese Basic Educ Project
- ELIM Center Student Scholarships
- New Hope Scholarships
- Urban Ministry Training Center
- UMTC Scholarships
- Home Based Functional Literacy Tutoring Project
- Sustainable Ministry Center
- Copeland Medical Ministry
- Bibles/Discipleship Materials
- Publishing House Ministry
- Addiction Rehab Center Pilot Project
- New Hope Medical Ministries
- Thyroid Project
- Poipet Medical Project
- New Hope Ministries
- Cambodia Ministry Center Improvements
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