Methodist School of Cambodia

Thursday started with a visit to the Methodist School of Cambodia, which is part of the Methodist Missions Society and is related to the Singapore Methodist Church. The school has nearly 800 students and has grown to cover grades K- 11. Grade 12 will be added next year. The school is tuition based, and approximately 25 % of the students receive scholarships. There is a waiting list to attend. Children of pastors are provided with a free education as a way of nurturing the next generation of church leaders. We received a tour of the school, which was quite impressive, and to our surprise, we were greeted with "high-fives" from the kindergarten children! The mission of the school is to "mold boys and girls to be thinking, caring and giving."

In addition to this main school, there is a youth hostel program which provides housing for older youth from the countrysides who have come to the city to pursue high school or university studies.

Approximately 10 - 15% of the students are Christian, and the rest are Buddhist. I was interested in why Buddhist families choose to send their children to a Christian school. Most of the students come from middle-class fmilies that value the excellent education provided by the school, even though Bible snd Christian values are taught as part of the standard curriculum. The interim director also told us that Christian values affect the way the school teachers and administrators talk with parents about their chidren. For example, the school talks about children as being precious, wonderfully made, and created in the image of God, whereas the general Cambodian society tends to view children as lower -ranking parts of society. Also, the school, through its scholarship program, enables poor children to attend school, thereby following the teachings of Christ that all are equally precious to God. This value is in contradiction to the broader society view that the poor are not worthy to attend school.

The Methodist School is part of the community development goal of The Methodist Missions Society of the Singapore Church The other component is church planting. By participating in community development activities, the Cambodians experience the Gospel in action, and ideally the seeds are thereby planted for new churches in the future. Indeed the schools' very founding illustrates the power of community development. The land for the school was purchased in a former "red light" area of Phnom Penh, and the area has gradually changed as the school has grown. To our amusement, we learned that the church next to the school was at one time a night club!