Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city of Cambodia, is home to 2.5 million people. Serving as the national capital since the French colonial era, the city is strategically located at the confluence of two major rivers, the Mekong and Tonle Sap, making it the industrial, economic, and cultural heart of the country.

Phnom Penh is renowned for its majestic royal palace, the sprawling art deco Central Market, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, and the Wat Phnom Daun Penh Buddhist temple, all of which reflect its rich history and cultural heritage.

In 1975, when the Khmer Rouge took power, they forcibly evacuated the entire population of Phnom Penh and relocated its residents to the countryside. The city remained nearly deserted until Vietnamese forces overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, after which Phnom Penh began its gradual repopulation. Due to the Khmer Rouge’s brutal extermination of Cambodia’s educated class, the city’s educational institutions faced a long and challenging recovery process.

While more than 97% of Cambodia’s population is ethnically Khmer and predominantly Theravada Buddhist, the number of evangelical Christians is rapidly growing. Christians currently make up 2% of the population and their number is increasing at an annual rate of 8.8%, according to Joshua Project.

Cambodia’s constitution guarantees freedom of belief and religious worship, as long as it does not infringe upon the rights of others or disturb public order and security. While door-to-door evangelism and the use of loudspeakers for proselytizing are prohibited, open-ended assistance activities by mission groups are encouraged and supported.