Pastor Eric Dooley, an American Missionary, planted New Life Fellowship Phnom Penh when he came to Phnom Penh in 1993 to do pioneer evangelism among those in Cambodia who had never heard the Gospel. In 1995 Pastor Chuck McCaul moved his family to Phnom Penh to work alongside Pastor Dooley helping the new believers grow into a New Testament Church.
Through effective evangelism and discipleship, seeds of faith took root in the lives of local Cambodians. Over time, they became young disciples of Christ and began to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with their friends and family. Small Bible study classes were started with the early believers, and the group of strong and committed disciples grew. This group continued to share their faith with others, giving birth to the local church - New Life Fellowship Phnom Penh.
In 1997 Pastor Eric moved his family to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and passed the baton of leadership to Pastor Chuck McCaul. In 1999, New Life Fellowship began planting and resourcing churches throughout Cambodia's remote and rural areas. Through a combination of hosting outreach events, starting small Bible study groups in homes, training local believers as pastors, and helping build church/community buildings, the vision of New Life Fellowship to see a vibrant, growing local New Testament Church in every province in Cambodia flourished.
Pastor Chuck continued to serve as the senior leader in Cambodia until 2004, when he began to transfer the leadership of New Life Fellowship Phnom Penh to his son Jesse and his Cambodian leaders so he could focus on overseeing the rural Church plants and development work. New Life Fellowship Phnom Penh have been led by Pastors Jesse and Soar McCaul since 2006, together with a strong and growing team of Cambodian pastors and staff members.
Under the leadership of Pastor Jesse and the Cambodian leadership team, New Life Fellowship Phnom Penh church grew to become one of the largest churches in Cambodia and numerous relief and development initiatives and ministries were established. Today, including the humanitarian efforts of New Life Foundation’s Cambodia Outreach, New Life Fellowship is actively working in 15 of Cambodia's 25 provinces, with a goal of reaching all 24 by 2020. Over 300 provincial congregations have been planted. Under the leadership of Pastor Samdy Leang and the Cambodian leadership team local leaders are being trained and released into their God given callings, You can read more about our current ministry activities in the "What We Do" section of our website.