WITH CHRIST IN INDOCHINA - IndoChina1911

add to the offerings which are not yet enough to
meet their needs.
The set-up of the Bible School was fundamentally
changed to accord with this change in Mission policy.
What had hitherto been a regular full-term
Bible School was reorganized as a short-term school.
This system is better adapted to the particular features
of Cambodian life. Cambodia is almost exclusively
an agricultural country. The people are
very busy during two periods each year, seed-time
and harvest. The rest of the year they are free.
This means that there are two seasons each year
when the men can leave their homes for several
weeks at a time. The short-term Bible School has
intensive Bible School sessions during these two free
periods, and allows the students to return to their
homes for the busy seasons.
The immediate results of the change were, first,
a large increase in the number of students until now
there are four times as many as formerly. Second,
the students are all self-supporting. They are able
to get their living from their fields even while they
are at school. Moreover, the Bible School course
is available to the elders from the village churches,
and these have responded to the opportunity. Practically
all of them attend each session. Many of
them have become efficient lay preachers. They frequently
go out in twos and threes to preach the
gospel in still unevangelized villages.