City Churches
Most village churches will be limited in the number of people they reach and the ministries they provide. Most village churches’ vision is limited to their location and is limited by the leadership level of their pastor. A City Church is larger by its nature and has the potential to have more influence. The strategy for the City Churches is to be a “hub” and resource for the village churches in its area.
New Life Fellowship of Churches is a fellowship of more than 300 churches currently in Cambodia. We are a family of churches and relate to one another as a family. We have Apostolic Leaders and Teams who work among our self-governing local churches. We have been in Cambodia since 1994. Our focus is evangelism, discipleship, leadership training, releasing into ministry, and church planting.
Village churches will be pastored by bi-vocational pastors. The pastor has land, usually a farm or rice field, and family nearby. However, a City Church is like starting up a business. The pastor and his family usually move to the city and have no land, house, or farm. We do expect our City Church Pastors to eventually be supported by the church and to have a second job to provide income for their family. Also, our target is youth and young adults.
This demographic usually doesn’t have much money. Therefore, like any business, the City Church will take a few years to be self-supporting. One of the biggest needs for self-support will be land and a building. If the city church must continue to rent facilities it is unsustainable. The congregation of City Churches is a long way off from being able to purchase their land and buildings. In the immediate term, funds will be used to launch the City Church and will primarily be used to cover rent & salaries for staff”
The other need is ministry money. Although the local church receives offerings from its church members, the offerings are not enough to support the church ministries and staff. It’s been our experience that all of our City Churches grow. As we do the work of the ministry the Lord adds. Finances are needed for staff and ministry activities, as well as material needs for the ministries.