How we came to be in Cambodia
We are the Beck family. We have lived abroad for over a decade living in both South Korea and Cambodia. But the journey along the way is really the story. In truth, we're no different than anyone else, just a family that loves Jesus and wants to honor Him wherever He puts us. It just so happens that our family is equipped and willing to live abroad. Because of that we've found ourselves on a grand adventure as we live to see the Kingdom of God made famous in this world.
When all of this began in 2007 our only thought was that Elizabeth had made a promise to God to tithe 2 years of her life living abroad. So with our first child in tow we decided to move to South Korea and fulfill that promise Elizabeth had made. We had no idea the path that God was putting us on would forever change the plans that we had made for our lives.
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."
Proverbs 19:21
During our first year abroad it was my job (Eric) to be the stay at home parent and raise our 11 month old daughter while Elizabeth worked at an English school. What God did in that first year of living abroad was absolutely amazing. Every preconception we had about the man and woman's role in the home, about significance and worth, about faith and living out that faith was stretched and challenged. It was a painful time but also the moment God used to bring us out of our comfort zones and be willing to step into obedience to following His lead.
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Through all the changes we were experiencing we recognized that we had a deep need to be a part of a godly community. But as a foreigner in a foreign land you realize that community is hard to come by unless you are intentional to develop it. So during that time we began a small bible study in our home that by the end of the first year had grown into a significant number of foreign and Korean people coming each week to be a part of a community that loved them and genuinely cared for them.
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God had begun to do something amazing among the intranational community in Chuncheon Korea and we recognized that it wasn't that we were anything special. Rather God desires to use people who are willing and who make themselves available to Him.
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This began a 5 year process of working with 2 other pastors (one American and one Korean) to plant an international church in our city. The aim of the church was to develop church leaders, to train them and then send them back to their home countries prepared to serve and lead in their communities. This idea of discipleship and mentorship was deeply woven into the DNA of the church.
The Transition to Cambodia
After spending 5 years serving as an associate and then lead pastor of the church, our family began to realize that as much as the church wanted us there they no longer needed us there. We felt God was telling us that our time in Korea was coming to an end. So we began to pray and ask Him where He wanted us to be next.
During that season of prayer I had the privilege of leading 2 short-term mission trips into Cambodia for our church. While I was in Cambodia I befriended a Korean-American missionary who shared a similar ministry aim as myself. He invited students from around Cambodia to come and live with him while they attended university. During that time living together he mentored and discipled them, showing them how to live as a Christian in the context of their culture.
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When we were about to leave Cambodia on the second mission trip we spent a day at the beach to let the students play together. During that time this man and I decided to get coffee and talk while the students were at the beach. He began to share with me about his desire to begin a new mission center in a costal city named Kampot. He felt God was moving him and his wife towards this type of ministry as they grew older. He then said, that he is looking for someone like me who could take over the discipleship ministry in Phnom Penh. He asked me if I would pray about it. So when I arrived back in Korea, that's what Elizabeth and I did. We prayed.
As we prayed, we began to talk to others about the chance to live and serve in Cambodia. The more often we shared about the discipleship ministry, the more clear it became that this is where God was leading us. We didn't have all the details and we didn't know what exactly our lives would look like, but we trusted the God who was leading us, and that was enough.
Since 2016
Since our time in Korea we have transitioned to running a dormitory/discipleship ministry in Cambodia.
We continue to discover what it means to make disciples as Christ did. Especially in the context of the Cambodian culture. We are honored to work in this country and among such great people. It remains our aim to develop men and women who will passionately love God and will be used as leaders to bring hope and change to this great nation.
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Thank you for joining us in this ministry. To God be the glory!
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