ORALITY TALKS INTERVIEWS
by Joseph Handley & Meng Aun Hour
Abstract: In this insightful interview, Meng Aun Hour from Cambodia shares his country's challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly its economic impact. He discusses the struggles of churches, pastors, and communities, emphasizing the vital role of creative orality methods, like storytelling, in leadership training. Despite setbacks, the School of Discipleship has grown remarkably, planting around 75 churches. Meng highlights the lessons learned, emphasizing God’s faithfulness, the importance of patience, and the certainty of His ultimate plan for Cambodia's future. This condensed version is reposted with permission.
My name is Joe Handley (JH), and I have the privilege of serving with A3. Today I have the honor of talking with my friend Meng Aun Hour (MAH), who is from Cambodia, and we’re going to hear what God is doing in the midst of this pandemic in that country and how He’s working, especially to develop leaders, because this is a really challenging season for all of us worldwide, particularly right now for those who live in Asia.
JH: Wonderful! Let me just start with a question about the pandemic. This has been a very hard year. Tell us about how Cambodia has gone through this pandemic year as a country.
MAH: Yes, our country’s situation from February 20 this year was not good. COVID-19 spread around the community so badly, and many people got affected. The whole country was placed under lockdown, and institutions like the churches, the schools, and the markets were closed. The government did not allow the people to come out of their houses. It was hard to even go out to buy food. We were not told ahead of time; the whole area was totally locked down right away. So we were stuck in the province and could not go back to the city of Phnom Penh for about two weeks.
JH: And the economy has hit the country very hard, is that right?
MAH: Oh, that’s right! COVID-19 hit our economy hard. One example is a factory worker, who is from the countryside, needed to rent a room in order to stay close to his work. Then when the pandemic came, the factory closed down, and the factory worker had no money to pay for his rent and food. The workers had no more work, and they could not even send money to their families back in the countryside. Tourism was also hit hard. In Cambodia, tourism is a big source of income for the locals. But when the pandemic came, there were no more tourists coming from Guam, and the locals lost their sources of income.
We have what we call weaving factories in the area. The factories make clothes to sell in the markets, but the markets closed down too, as well as the factories. So there was no income for the factory workers.
The government could not help us. They could not bring the tourists, they could not sell the clothes, and they could not even help the farmers provide a market for their produce. Our produce was usually sold to nearby countries like Thailand and Vietnam. Because the markets were closed, the farmers just threw away their produce because no one was buying them, and everyone became hungry without anything to hope for.
JH: How have churches and pastors been affected by the pandemic? Has anyone died as a lot of people faced COVID-19 themselves as the economy hit the churches?
MAH: Economically, everybody was really hit by the pandemic, most of all the Church and pastors like me, you know.
We run an orphanage and a teaser school for street children, and the funds to operate them were not coming. We needed money to pay the school salaries of the staff, and the funds came from the offerings of older churches. But when they closed the Church, the church could not take offerings. We called people to worship when the lockdown eased, but not many came to worship onsite.
Many people say that in Cambodia, Christianity is only for poor families because the rich may not need help from God or anyone since they are rich.
But we know that all people need help, and it’s basically the path to our Lord Jesus. That is why they say Christianity is just only for the poor. But we know that the help we need is not only financial or physical. We need more than that! We need the saving grace of the Lord.
In the school, we have street children who go out to the streets collecting recyclable materials from the garbage and selling them to earn money to buy their food just for a day or, worse, for a meal. They have to work daily for their daily bread. And so when people were not going out and stores and factories were closed, there was no garbage. Therefore, the street dwellers had nothing to eat, went hungry, and died.
There was a man who used to be our church member. He was very much affected by COVID-19 in his workplace. Because of the pandemic, their company had to cut his salary up to 70%. This was unacceptable to him. His ego said, “I do not want this to happen to me!” So he decided to resign and wait for another opportunity to get a job from another company. In the course of waiting, he was infected with COVID-19 and had to be confined in the hospital.
Thank God his family tested negative, and he was the only one who stayed in the hospital, alone without his family. However, after another test, all his family members were found to be COVID-19 positive and eventually were also confined in the hospital.
They are members of our community and of our church and Bible Study groups. So our church sent them some financial help and assistance for their hospitalization. Families like them received help from our church, and I led them as their pastor. We raised funds and gave away almost $1,000.00. We praise God because, in our small way, we were able to help pastors and their families, some neighbors, and some school alumni.
Our church members, Bible Study members, and neighbors have suffered tremendously in this pandemic. Lives became risky from the virus, people were stressed and worried due to loss of employment and sources of income, and most people were hungry and afraid. But praise God! Our church was very helpful to many, and we are doing our best to help both physically by providing food packs and spiritually through prayers, encouragement, and learning God’s Word.
JH: Well, that’s awesome, thank you for setting the pace for that meeting to tell us you’re very involved in helping the neediest and developing leaders in your area.
You know, you work with A3, you work with the United Pastors Fellowship, and you lead something called the School of Discipleship. How did those programs run during the pandemic? How do you keep the momentum going?
MAH: Right now, everything is not the same because of COVID-19. People cannot go to other places because of the lockdown. We can only go to some places with low numbers of COVID-19 cases.
In order to continue the ministry and the leadership trainings, we keep and maintain our relationships. This is what we realized: A good connection with one another, a good relationship with one another keeps us growing in the Lord, in our faith, and in our fellowship. If we are together, connected like in a string, we can do many things. So every time we meet, we always encourage one another.
JH: That is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing! May I pray for you and Cambodia?
MAH: Please do! Thank you, thank you.
JH: Father, what a joy it is to be with my friends today. I pray your favor upon Meng and his family. I pray you will continue to use him powerfully for your namesake. We pray for the Church of Cambodia, which has been so devastatingly hit by this pandemic. May you provide for each and every one. May you protect them all!Lord, we’re inspired today by what you’re doing, even though there’s a pandemic. You are doing amazing things, thank you for this! Bless them, and we pray, Jesus, for your favor on Cambodia’s COVID-19 cases. May you protect the nation. Thank you for man’s wisdom, but ultimately, you are the one who will carry us through. We trust in you. In Jesus’ name. Amen, amen, amen. Thank you, man!
MAH: Oh, you’re welcome, thank you very much!
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Rev. Joseph W. Handley Jr., Ph.D. (@jwhandley), is the president/CEO of A3. Previously, he was the founding Director of Azusa Pacific University’s Office of WorldMission and lead mission Pastor at Rolling Hills Covenant Church. He co-led one of the first multi-nation- al high school mission congresses in Mexico City in 1996 and is a contributing blogger for the Billy Graham Center’s Gospel-Life Blog. Joe serves as co-catalyst for the Lausanne Movement in Leader Development and on the advisory team for DualReach, and the boards for ReIgnite Hope and BiblicalTraining.org. Joe strives to accelerate leaders for mission movements. Learn more about Joe at https://a3leaders.org/senior-leaders/bio-joe-handley -
Pastor Meng Aun Hour is the Senior Pastor of Followers of Jesus Church in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He directs the United Pastors Fellowship and Helping Hands Foundation in the country. He serves on the boards (as chairman) of Theological Education by Extension, School of Discipleship, United Churches of Cambodia, and Timothy All Project. He is the Vice President for Program Development and National Director for A3 Cambodia.
This story was originally published in Orality Talks Journal volume 1 issue 1, edited by A3 president Joseph Handley. The full article can be found here:
https://oralitytalks.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/OralityTalks-Journal-Vol-1-No-1-2024.pdf#page=7 This condensed version is reposted here with permission.
