Our church began as a small group from the original New Life Fellowship in Phnom Penh. In early 1999, some Christians moved to Phnom Penh Thmey and began to study the Bible in their homes. The group began to grow, but many were unable to travel to the main church due to the long distance. At that point, the leaders decided to plant a new church.

In the fall of 1999, an old wooden house was rented and repairs were made so that the small group of believers could begin to meet under the stilted house on Sunday mornings as a church body. A dormitory ministry was also established to support young men from the province who needed a place to stay while studying at the university in Phnom Penh.

The church continued meeting for a few years, but in 2002 the pastor ran into some personal problems and abandoned the church. Because of this the congregation floundered and many left. There were about 25 members remaining, most of whom were residents of the dormitory. In March of 2003, Sophea and Jenny Sem came from the original NLF church to lead the church in Phnom Penh Thmey. They organized the remaining believers into a small group that met together on Sundays. New activities were set in place to strengthen the church. Prayer meetings, outreaches to women, English classes, and youth events began to bring life back to the church body. As a result, the church began to grow again and in 2005 there were eighty members who attended regularly.

The history of our church is rich with God’s blessings, and our ministry has sprouted into a great opportunity for reaching the lost in Cambodia. We are a young church, both in history and in the age of our members. We are also young at heart. We are a very active church, filled with joy and passion. We believe that as the family of God we should have times for being serious, for prayer, for studying the Word of God, and for worshiping. We also believe there should be times of fellowship, playing, and eating together, just like a natural family. We hope that the members of our church will find hope, joy, love, and peace as they live and worship together as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

Recently, God has been at work again on a big scale as we have taken steps to secure a new and permanent home for New Life Fellowship, Phnom Penh Thmey. In 2013, God began impressing on Ps. Sophea to buy land on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, where land was not yet developed.

Steve Kaylor & Hope Church trusted Ps. Sophea that he had heard from God and partnered by giving US$12,000. The church added US$4,000 and bought an investment property to save towards this. In just 2 years, that plot of land was sold for US$50,000 and put towards the purchase price of the land which was US$150,000. NLF PPT added US$25,000, TCF $50,000, and other donors the remaining US$25,000.

Then in 2016, just one year after the land was purchased a housing development with 6,000 new homes began in that area and the land value increased 750%! Because of the developer needing the services, the roads were built, the water, electricity, drainage and other infrastructure were all done. God’s timing was, and is, impeccable and if we had waited just one more year, we would never have been able to purchase the land.

In 2018, plans were drawn by Sopheak Cheng (a US$10,000 cost that he did for free) and initial quotes were sought, all in the US$1,200,000 range. The mountain ahead to raise that amount of money for the building was debilitating. God had so obviously been in this process up until now, we wondered what He would do and how we could move ahead on what we knew He was saying.

In 2020, COVID hit the world and Cambodia was locked down inside the country as well as for visitors from outside. Despite Covid still lingering around, in February 2021, God was pushing us to move ahead with the building. A couple, (members of NLF PPT), who own and operate a housing development business, offered to begin the building process and would continue until US$100,000 was spent. The foundations began. As God blessed their business, they extended the limit to US$500,000 which would complete the entire structure. They used their company to construct the building which means the total spent reflects only materials and staff costs. This is why it could be built for US$500,000 not a much higher price as was quoted by other companies.

New Life Fellowship Phnom Penh Thmey was challenged to raise an additional US$400,000 to cover all the other systems and equipment the building would need to be ready for use, such as air conditioning, security systems, light and sound for the sanctuary, chairs, office equipment, soccer field, café, etc. Over $200,000 of that was raised from within our congregation and our Cambodian family. Many sacrificed greatly to make this dream a reality, from selling possessions such as cars, jewelry, etc., to be able to have something to contribute! The remainder has been supplied by partners around the world.

The building was finished as of December 2022 and the first weekend services were held there on Dec. 3-4. Christmas saw over 1000 people come through the building and be touched by the love of God and hear about the good news of God sending His Son to earth.

Our official grand opening is scheduled for March 3, 2023.