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• Area: 182,000 sq. km.
• Geography: Fertile, forest-covered state of southwest Indo-China on the Mekong River
• Reduced by 2-3 million in the 1975-79 holocaust and accompanying wars, famines and flight of refugees
• Capital: Phnom Penh 1,000,000 or more
• Urbanization: 16%
• Formerly known as Kampuchea

• Khmer: 85.2%
• Indigenous minorities: 3.6%
  • Cham 206,000
  • Mnong 19,000
  • Paong 19,000
  • Kui 16,000
  • Tampuan 15,000
  • Jarai 10,000
  • Kru'ng 10,000
  • Brao 5,000
  • Chong 5,000
  • Stieng 3,600
  • Kravet 3,000
  • Somray 2,000
  • Pear 1,400
  • Lamam 1,000
• Other minorities: 11.2%
  • Vietnamese 600,000 to 1,000,000
  • Chinese 340,000
• Many new immigrants: Lao 17,000
• UN personnel 20,000 (in 1993)

Official language: Khmer
Languages with Scriptures: 3 Bibles; 1 NT; 1 portion
Literacy: 48%

Rich with agricultural potential, Cambodia has been reduced to bare subsistence because of the devastation to land and people by war, massacres, political isolation and socialist bureaucracy. The major economic activity is provided by foreign aid and the large UN military presence.

Cambodia was ruled by powerful kingdoms from the first to fourteenth centuries. For 500 years thereafter, it was a pawn in regional and global conflicts with Thai, Vietnamese, French, Japanese, and US invasions or occupations. Cambodia was a tragic victim of the Vietnam War (1970-75), which opened the way for the extreme Marxist Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975. This was followed by one of the most savage slaughters in this century. Almost all former military personnel, civil servants, and educated or wealthy people and their families were killed, and the nation turned into a vast labour camp.

The terrible genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge in 1975-1978 and the subsequent civil wars have devastated the people. Their lands are strewn with mines, many are maimed physically and emotionally, with families decimated and numerous widows and orphans. The Vietnamese army ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1978, but civil war between four contending armies raged with superpower support until 1991. UN-supervised elections were held in May 1993 despite opposition by the Khmer Rouge.

Many fear a return to further war and to the "killing fields" of the '70s. The election of 1993 may fail to give peace and economic progress. Violence, intimidation, and corruption marked the election preparations. The longing for peaceful transition to democratic government in 1993 is threatened by the continued intransigence of the Khmer Rouge.

For centuries Cambodia has been in spiritual darkness. Ubiquitous spirit shrines, strong opposition of Buddhism to any ideological rival, and hatreds generated by 20 years of war all reveal the nature of the conflict. Buddhism has been the national religion since the 15th century. Durign their reign, the Khmer Rouge sought to eradicate all religion. 90% of Buddhist monks and most Christians perished during that time. Since 1978 there have been periods of more tolerance, but only since 1990 have Christians been allowed to worship openly, but are still treated as second-class citizens.

The Cambodian Church has struggled to survive. Beginning in 1923, CMA missionaries laboured for 42 years before the breakthrough began. There were only 700 believers in evangelical churches in 1970, but by 1975 this had grown to 9-12,000. Only 2,000 survived the slaughter -- many fled to Thai refugee camps where a great harvest was reaped for the Kingdom. Since 1990 the church in Cambodia has had more freedom for worship. By 1993 there were 30 groups or congregations meeting in the Phnom Penh area, others around Battembang and among the Mnong.

Christian ministry to physical needs is a major concern. CMA missionaries have translated a range of materials, and continue to do so. There is a real need for teaching materials, for false teachings multiply as the doors open wider; few of the believers have the background knowledge of Scripture to combat such error. The United Bible Society and others are providing Khmer Bibles and New Testaments. A new Khmer New Testament was completed in 1993. SGM Scripture portions are widely appreciated. The Jesus film is available in Khmer and Vietnamese, but has not yet been widely used.

information source: Johnstone, Patrick. Operation World. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993.

For more information on tentmaking opportunities, please contact the Global Partnerships office.