By Chee Hoe Koay
Not all Navigator ministry starts out as Bible study groups. In one poverty-stricken village in Cambodia, a very fruitful ministry has taken the shape of a mattress factory. This business endeavor has not only brought the Gospel to the village, but it has also provided fair labor for dozens of people and met many of their needs. This factory is a great example of the transforming power of the Gospel at work.
The story begins in 2008, when a Navigator couple began teaching Cambodians to produce and sell hand-sewn mattresses in Phnom Penh. (These mattresses are made in a local style, more like large quilted mats than the boxy mattresses commonly found in the West.) They named the factory Agape. God blessed the business. In its first ten years, its capital multiplied ten times.
One of the business partners was Heryanto, the country leader of The Navigators in Cambodia. In 2017, Heryanto and his wife, Susie, decided to move Agape to a village where they had a believing friend. Due to the poverty level and the remote location of that particular village, almost all the mothers leave their young children at home so they can go out to work. Young people often drop out of school to work in factories. Heryanto and Susie knew the move would be risky for the business, because the village is quite remote. However, their main goal was not to turn a profit, but to build the Kingdom of God. They trusted God’s promise in Matthew 6:33.
Even in the village, the business has continued to succeed. Agape sells mattresses to some big distributors in Phnom Penh. As Susie says, “Thank God—He does the marketing!” The business is very profitable, because Agape is the only producer of this type of mattress in Cambodia. The owners of Agape have had to intentionally limit growth in order to avoid the prevalent tax corruption in that area. (If it were larger, it could tempt tax officials to ask for bribes.)
Agape is now influencing the lives of 40 people in the village by providing accessible work, educational opportunities, and the Gospel. Women take fabric home to cut and sew. Men stuff cotton into the mattresses. Most of the employees have never completed primary school, so Agape runs a literacy program. At least four workers are now able to read the Bible. Agape also provides temporary jobs for high school students during their school breaks. This gives the students the opportunity to join Agape Bible studies, which take place in a large group as well as one-on-one.
Agape is different from other businesses; it loves the workers and strives to show them the love of Christ, instead of just using them to earn a profit. The business also invests some of its profit in community development programs. It organizes a small credit union for its workers to encourage them to save money and manage their family finances. Workers are taught how to run small shops or raise chickens and ducks at home to supplement their income. Agape operates with a Biblical work ethic, teaching employees to provide a good quality product and be honest as well as efficient.
The lives of many employees have changed because of Agape. One 42-year-old man was depressed when he came to Agape. He later put his faith in Jesus and began discipling four other men. He started in a very low-level job. Now he is the head of production. One single mother with four teenage children used to be an alcoholic. Through Agape, she and her children became believers. She is changing her habits and relies on the prayers and encouragement of the Agape community. Another employee was a disabled and illiterate teenage boy who wanted to join Agape’s fellowship time. They offered him a job weighing cotton, and now he has learned enough to read Bible verses and write simple notes.
The staff of Agape appreciate your prayers that they will continue to find cotton and other raw materials at reasonable prices. They long to see their workers growing to know and fear God. Susie and Heryanto say, “May God, who has blessed Agape to be a blessing, be glorified!”
