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Life in Christ Church
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New Life in Christ Church |
“if you only love those who love you, what reward will you get?
Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” Matthew 5:46
We believe that it is only by the grace of God that we are able to be instruments of hope for the other Cambodians. We thank the Lord for the many invaluable lessons that we have learned during our four years of suffering in the Killing Field from 1975-1979.
It was God's plan that Sally and I got married in 1978 when we were enslaved in a communist work camp under the “Pol Pot Regime”. If I had not married Sally, I would not have become a Christian and I would not be in Cambodia today serving the Lord. My wife has been patient with me for 25 years, so I can be useful for God's Kingdom. In 1979, we escaped from the Killing Field to a Thailand refugee camp where we heard the gospel and became Christians. The Lord has taught me so much through my wife and equipped me to serve Him.
In 1980, we were sponsored to live in Hawaii and started our new lives together in the “Land of Freedom”. Everything was new to us - the culture, the law, the food and the work. I started working as a construction laborer and progressed to become a carpenter and then a licensed building contractor in 1987. As the Lord prospered the business, we often recalled the suffering of our people in our homeland; Sally often had nightmares. After much prayer, we realized that we could not escape God's call for us to return to Cambodia, even though we escaped the Killing Field.
 Keat and Sally Kove, Kevin, Mark and Hannah Kove |
So we closed our construction business in 1991 in order to receive Bible
training. In 1991-1993, I studied Bible Doctrines and Systematic Theology
under Ariel Ministry, with Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaun. During this period, my
wife and I traveled to Cambodia to evangelize, to help churches and to
seek ministry opportunities.
In 1994, my wife and I, along with our two sons, moved back to Cambodia to plant “New Life in Christ Church”. In the process, we trained full-time Cambodian staff to evangelize and disciple new believers. It is true that children and young people are more receptive to the Gospel as well as many hopeless widows whose hearts are ready to accept Christ and experience new lives because it is not natural for men and women to seek God unless God allows hardships in their lives to get their attention and draw them closer to Him. If everyone has enough money, good health and a happy marriage and family, they would ask, “Why do I need Jesus?”
Our ministry progress is slow, even though many confess faith in Christ; it takes time for the Cambodians to break through centuries of Buddhist traditions and superstitions. Because of that, it is a slow process to disciple the new converts for they lack the bible background and the tradition of Christianity that we enjoy in America.
Building spiritual leadership also takes time in Cambodia because the Communist slaughtered most of the educated professionals, as well as the Christians during the Communist Regime from 1975-1979.
It is our hope that Cambodia would have an increase of manpower to accelerate the training, because new Christians do not have the strength to stand alone in this Buddhist culture without a church fellowship and training for spiritual growth. Some Christians fear rejection; they know that as soon as they stand up for what they believe, their relatives and friends will reject them. So we have to make home visits to encourage them with the Word of God, to show them our love and to accept them just as God accepts and loves us.
We realized that we would have to invest our lives in Cambodia because building spiritual men and women is not as easy as building houses, especially in a culture with a Buddhist foundation. The new Christians require much attention and fellowship.
It is a challenge for my wife and me to undertake this ministry and we want to give all the credit to our Lord for what He has done in our lives and all that He has helped us to accomplish in this ministry.
It is easy and natural to thank God for the blessings that we ask for. But there are five things that Jesus taught us to be thankful for:
1.
Thank
God for allowing obstacles in our ways so we don’t forget to ask
for Divine wisdom. (James 1:5)
2. Thank God for trials to test our faith. (1 Peter 1:5-7)
3. Thank
God for suffering in doing God’s will so He can get our attention
and draw
us closer to Him. (1 Peter 4:12-19)
4. Thank
God for allowing thorns in our flesh, so we can be humble and
totally
depend on God’s amazing grace.
(2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
5.
Thank
God for allowing weakness in our lives so we dare not boast of our
accomplishment or success. But boast only the cross of our Lord Jesus.
(2
Corinthians 11:21-30)
THE CONGREGATION