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At All Saints we recognize that all churches are called to proclaim the Gospel not only in your own town (Judea), or state (Samaria), but to the Ends of the Earth. To that end, we count it a great joy to support various missionaries and missionary organizations. In particular, it is our high privilege to support the ministry that the Whitaker family has in Phnom Penh.
Gregory and Heidi Whitaker were called by God to be missionaries to Cambodia. They were sent by the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS) They moved there in 2013 with their three daughters and have been serving within the fledgling Anglican Church of Cambodia at the Church of Christ our Peace where they minister to locals as well as ex-pats. |
See the latest update from the Whitakers below:
August 2, 2018
Hello All Saints Church!
Life has been busy, but good busy, our past five years here in Phnom Penh. The English-speaking congregation that I pastor has grown from around 60 to about 220, and we have seen some great stories of God in people’s lives, plus loads of NGO and mission leaders have been sustained in their various callings to translate the Bible, fight trafficking, teach literacy, do community development, church plant, and much more. All credit to God who does his work through small people like us. Our Khmer-speaking congregation was dying slowly, but by God’s grace, the past year and a half has seen a lot of growth. Ten Cambodians were baptized last week, and the tears were deeper than the baptismal pool ha ha! The congregation is more vibrant than before, with more young adults coming. The size has increased from 15 to around 80. Thankful!
For Heidi, she has grown in her ability to mentor and coach Cambodian physicians. She is helping to start a pediatric section for a mission hospital that trains Cambodian residents, and it is moving forward slowly but surely. Again, so grateful to God.
How about you all? Hope the church is well in the Lord. I do want you to know that we are more than happy to have a group of 2-6 people come visit us here in Phnom Penh to see the work, attend services, visit Cambodian Christians, and more. We have hosted several teams now the last few years, and it is a blessing. No pressure to do so, we just want you to feel welcome.
Nowadays, we have some fundraising questions. First, we are really thankful you are supporting us so faithfully!! Really. You guys have blessed us and have not forgotten us, and we’ve been able to do what we do, because of you.
Two needs are upon us, now that we have been here 5 years. Here they are briefly!
Need One. Around 5-7 years on the field, just when missionaries start to become way more effective, their funding usually drops. And they have to ask again. So, here we are at about 70% of what our agency SAMS wants us to raise. Challenging times it seems. We are around 10K short per year of where SAMS needs us to be. (We feel like we live fairly frugal lives- I mean, my wife Heidi is Dutch ha ha, and we’re doing what we can do to cut costs.)
Need Two. Out of our own funds, and from others when they can, Heidi and I help promising Cambodian Christian college students here with their tuition and school expenses. If you would like to give to our current student, Sokkhea Long (please consider it!), then let me know, and I’ll fill you in on how to do so. More info below on this need, if you want to read it.*
Ok, in the end, we choose to trust the Lord for all things. In 2005, the Lord told me, “Gregory, never worry about money, if you do what I tell you, because your bank account is the Body Of Christ. Just focus on pouring into her, and trust me to have her pour back into you.” Ok, Lord, I’ll trust you the best I can.
Blessings,
Gregory
Link to a PDF about our work: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Wa04NbT16y5BIafze_aYufdqaMAlqHra
*Sokkhea Long hopes to start studying for a BS in Business in October. That’s the beginning of the school year here.
Scholarships are generally non-existent here. Special loans for university are not available, so students sometimes take exploitative loans which creates more issues in their future. Their desire to come to the city and attend university also often puts them in situations that make them more vulnerable to being trafficked in various forms.
Like many, Sokkhea comes from a village and a family in the countryside that really struggle to make ends meet. The father died a few years ago, complicating the situation. Her mother grows a small amount of rice for the family, and Sokkhea is the first to be able to attend university. She wants to learn how to create and sustain ethical businesses, especially ones that can support the poor. I love her heart! So great!
Heidi and I are setting up a special account with SAMS to take in funds for this situation. This makes it possible for people to get a tax deductible receipt, and 100% of those funds go to the student (no percentage goes to SAMS for administration).
I’m needing to raise $7000 for Sokkhea which will supply her tuition and school fees for all four years. She only makes $120 per month, and she has no other support for her education, and she helps support her mother and brother as well. So, $7000 feels like millions to students like her. We want to empower her to do well in university, grow, and be Christian leaven in the Cambodian business sphere.
Hello All Saints Church!
Life has been busy, but good busy, our past five years here in Phnom Penh. The English-speaking congregation that I pastor has grown from around 60 to about 220, and we have seen some great stories of God in people’s lives, plus loads of NGO and mission leaders have been sustained in their various callings to translate the Bible, fight trafficking, teach literacy, do community development, church plant, and much more. All credit to God who does his work through small people like us. Our Khmer-speaking congregation was dying slowly, but by God’s grace, the past year and a half has seen a lot of growth. Ten Cambodians were baptized last week, and the tears were deeper than the baptismal pool ha ha! The congregation is more vibrant than before, with more young adults coming. The size has increased from 15 to around 80. Thankful!
For Heidi, she has grown in her ability to mentor and coach Cambodian physicians. She is helping to start a pediatric section for a mission hospital that trains Cambodian residents, and it is moving forward slowly but surely. Again, so grateful to God.
How about you all? Hope the church is well in the Lord. I do want you to know that we are more than happy to have a group of 2-6 people come visit us here in Phnom Penh to see the work, attend services, visit Cambodian Christians, and more. We have hosted several teams now the last few years, and it is a blessing. No pressure to do so, we just want you to feel welcome.
Nowadays, we have some fundraising questions. First, we are really thankful you are supporting us so faithfully!! Really. You guys have blessed us and have not forgotten us, and we’ve been able to do what we do, because of you.
Two needs are upon us, now that we have been here 5 years. Here they are briefly!
Need One. Around 5-7 years on the field, just when missionaries start to become way more effective, their funding usually drops. And they have to ask again. So, here we are at about 70% of what our agency SAMS wants us to raise. Challenging times it seems. We are around 10K short per year of where SAMS needs us to be. (We feel like we live fairly frugal lives- I mean, my wife Heidi is Dutch ha ha, and we’re doing what we can do to cut costs.)
Need Two. Out of our own funds, and from others when they can, Heidi and I help promising Cambodian Christian college students here with their tuition and school expenses. If you would like to give to our current student, Sokkhea Long (please consider it!), then let me know, and I’ll fill you in on how to do so. More info below on this need, if you want to read it.*
Ok, in the end, we choose to trust the Lord for all things. In 2005, the Lord told me, “Gregory, never worry about money, if you do what I tell you, because your bank account is the Body Of Christ. Just focus on pouring into her, and trust me to have her pour back into you.” Ok, Lord, I’ll trust you the best I can.
Blessings,
Gregory
Link to a PDF about our work: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Wa04NbT16y5BIafze_aYufdqaMAlqHra
*Sokkhea Long hopes to start studying for a BS in Business in October. That’s the beginning of the school year here.
Scholarships are generally non-existent here. Special loans for university are not available, so students sometimes take exploitative loans which creates more issues in their future. Their desire to come to the city and attend university also often puts them in situations that make them more vulnerable to being trafficked in various forms.
Like many, Sokkhea comes from a village and a family in the countryside that really struggle to make ends meet. The father died a few years ago, complicating the situation. Her mother grows a small amount of rice for the family, and Sokkhea is the first to be able to attend university. She wants to learn how to create and sustain ethical businesses, especially ones that can support the poor. I love her heart! So great!
Heidi and I are setting up a special account with SAMS to take in funds for this situation. This makes it possible for people to get a tax deductible receipt, and 100% of those funds go to the student (no percentage goes to SAMS for administration).
I’m needing to raise $7000 for Sokkhea which will supply her tuition and school fees for all four years. She only makes $120 per month, and she has no other support for her education, and she helps support her mother and brother as well. So, $7000 feels like millions to students like her. We want to empower her to do well in university, grow, and be Christian leaven in the Cambodian business sphere.
