Every Sunday morning at 8 a.m., in the village of Beaung Ang Chan, just beside the COSI Orphanage, you will be able to hear the sweet voices of some village children praising and worshipping the Lord! Since January 2004, this group of children has been faithfully gathering together under the mango trees in the large compound of a particular believer’s house. Though the Village Children’s Meeting is barely one year old, there are about 90 children who have been meeting regularly on the mats under the mango trees. Under the Mango Trees A Report on the Children’s Ministry in the Village

Initially, there was only one combined group, consisting of children from all age groups. However, since October, the ministry workers realized that for the sake of catering to the different learning needs, it would be wiser to split the group into 2 categories, the below-6-years-old group and the above-6-years-old group. On the 28 th November 2004, when we visited the Children’s Meeting, there were about 43 children in the first group, and 47 in the second group. Most of the children come from the village of Beaung Ang Chan, where the families are relatively poor compared to the other villages, but we also heard that there were 7 children who would faithfully travel 3 kilometers from their village just to get here every Sunday morning! The Younger Group The Older Group A Report on the Children’s Ministry in the Village

Since the Village Children’s Meeting is part of the Village Church ministry that was birthed through COSI outreach ministry and the Methodist Church in Cambodia, the Christian workers who minister to these children come from COSI and the Methodist Centre. Mak Yun (Mother Yun) is the main pastoral figure who leads the weekday Village Bible Study Group, Sunday Children’s Meeting in the morning, and the Adult’s Meeting in the afternoon. She currently lives in COSI as well. There is also a young Bible College student, Borom, who comes to the village on the weekends to assist Mak Yun. Doris, from the Methodist Centre in Phnom Penh, has also been traveling to COSI every weekend, to serve in this village ministry. What is even more encouraging is that 4 COSI youths have also been helping out in reaching out to the village children. How amazing it is to watch Vesna, Borah, Chantha, and Srey Mon leading the little children in songs of praise and teaching them bible stories, especially when you recall that it was not too long ago that some of these COSI youths were suffering under conditions of extreme poverty or abandonment. How great is God’s power to transform lives! Srey Mon, Borom & Doris COSI youth Borah teaching the children A Report on the Children’s Ministry in the Village

During the Children’s Meeting, Mak Yun will be assisted by the 2 COSI boys, Vesna and Borah, and they will teach the younger group, while Doris, Borom and the 2 COSI girls will minister to the older group. The 1-hour session begins with prayer and worship, followed by some simple English language games, and then a teaching of the Bible. That Sunday that we were visiting, the teachers were telling the children about the Christmas story. They were teaching the story about the birth of Christ with the use of colorful story boards. When questions were asked about the story, there were some who raised their hands eagerly to answer. After the closing prayer, each child also receives a packet of instant noodles to bring home for their lunch. Considering that this village was relatively poor, this packet of noodles every Sunday indeed meant a lot to these children. Playing games in the compoundDistributing packets of noodles How exciting it is to witness the Children’s Meeting that Sunday morning! While the children sang their songs and listened to the Bible story, there were also some adults who sat around nearby and they occasionally focused their attention on the programme that was being conducted. COSI is no longer just an orphanage standing on its own, but it also serves as a base for building an evangelical relationship with its surrounding villages. The many Singapore teams that have come and gone in the past few years, those who have conducted little projects to benefit COSI’s poorer neighbours, be it food distribution or medical outreach, will soon realize that the Lord was just giving us the blessed opportunity of participating in His larger plan for this community – that they may come to the saving knowledge of Christ and experience His love and goodness in their lives. (Report on Children’s Ministry from Christine Poon, with the BMC Team to Cambodia, Nov 2004.) A Report on the Children’s Ministry in the Village