CRWRC Helps Rebuild Cambodian Church in Salt Lake City

CRWRC News | August 13, 2009

On October 24, 2007, arsonists burned down the office building of a tiny Cambodian CRC situated in the Western suburbs of Salt Lake City. The loss of the building that the 80 church members had worked hard to update over the three previous years surfaced as a steely resolve among them, a resolve that was honed 40 years ago when many of them escaped the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge in their birth country.

After the arson attack, the congregation was “bowed down, but not defeated” in their determination to establish a faithful Cambodian presence in their neighborhood.

The following month, November, 2007, CRWRC and CRHM sent a letter to CRCs in the U.S. requesting an offering to help other churches in the area raise funds for the Cambodian CRC. Since then, enough funding has been gathered to bulldoze the remains of the original structure. The demolition was completed in part through $34,000 donated by CRWRC Disaster Response Services. In an August, 2008, financial report, Dee So, the Cambodian CRC’s secretary, said that dozens of CRCs and individuals from Montana to Connecticut had given to successfully support the effort. 

“We are grateful for your support as we take this journey in planting God’s kingdom in West Valley, Utah,” So said. “It has been slow progress, but the outcome will be worth the trials that have been and are to be endured—when the lives of the people in the surrounding area are changed by God’s Word and love.”

CRWRC and CRHM have continued to walk alongside the Cambodian CRC to outline a building program for the next phase of the project. Pastor Charlie Phim and his small congregation have raised about $90,000 for the effort, with more than half coming from church members, and they have taken out $100,000 in loans. CRWRC-DRS has pledged an additional $20,000 to the project and will provide a volunteer estimator, project manager, and construction workers once the project is underway.

Before the building process can start, the Cambodian CRC needs to raise an additional $120,000. To support our Cambodian brothers and sisters in Salt Lake City with your financial gifts, click here.