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 The
330,000 Cham people living today in Cambodia immigrated centuries
ago from Vietnam. They are poor people generally, farmers and
fishermen who live in very difficult circumstances. Most Cham
live along the Mekong River and its tributaries. Few roads and
a somewhat closed society make it difficult to reach their villages.
The civil war in 1975 killed about
100,000 of the Cham people. They were hunted down by the Khmer
Rouge and tortured and terrlbly persecuted. Some recent
efforts by the Cambodian government to encourage the Cham have
improved their situation, especially their pride in being Cham.
This could open doors for Cham to be more exposed to the rest of the
world, and, God willing, to find the only way possible to forgive
the abuses they have suffered historically.
 Most
Cham (88%) follow a kind of Shiite Islam mixed with animism.
Others follow Hinduism and animism. There are very few if any
born again Christians in Cambodia, although a few Cham who
immigrated to France and USA in the past few decades have become
Christian. There was some work done to reach them with the
gospel historically, but no churches were planted and no known
results were obtained. No one is working today to reach them.
Pray for the Lord of the Harvest
to send a church planting team to bring the good news to the Cham.
Tourism may open the Mekong River more to outsiders, pray for
visitors that can share Christ. Pray for cross-cultural
workers to go out from established Cambodian churches to the Cham
with the gospel. Pray for the Cham themselves to start seeking
God, the Lord will surely reveal Himself to them!
Population: 330,000 ---
Religion: Islam, Hindu --- Language: Western Cham
Churches: None --- Christians: None --- Resources:
Few --- Bible: None
Other Countries: Vietnam,
Thailand
Resource Links:
Joshua Project
Photos are in the Public Domain (from Wikipedia) |
