As you may know, our group has been in Vietnam for almost a week. For the first six days, we had rest and recreation. We visited two cities, Da Lat and Nha Trang. On our way to Da Lat, we saw pine trees, waterfalls, and cabins. The countryside look isn’t too far, from what we would see in the U.S. It’s quite amazing. After much sight seeing and fun, we were quite anxious to meet the church.
Yesterday, we met seminary students, local pastors, and church leaders in a church located in an upstairs building somewhere in Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon. We sang a few worship songs and shared testimonies and messages. We also had a chance to fellowship with one of the local youth groups in Saigon. We sang worship songs together and shared to them what the church was like in the US.
According to Open Doors USA, Vietnam is ranked number eight on the most persecuted countries. We were anxious to hear what kind of persecution the church went through so we questioned the leaders of the church. One pastor describes evangelistic outreaches, “You can share the gospel to people one on one in the park. However, you can’t gather a crowd.” He also explained that foreigners could be kicked of the country for sharing their faith.
Today is Sunday and we joined in a service at a tribal church. We traveled four hours to this church, which had a congregation of 1,000 people, and they spoke in a different dialect.
Home churches are big in this congregation. I’m not quite sure about the details but what I know is that each home church has a congregation of about 200-300 people. They’re in need of a church building, which cost around $2,400.
We have a lot to learn about the church in Vietnam. It’s so diverse, so large, different levels of persecutions in different places. Despite what could happen to us, we ask for your prayers. We know that the power of prayer is immeasurable. Pray that the Lord may open up opportunties for ministry in these last five days in Vietnam. We’re hoping to visit a leprosy hospital, do evangelism; pretty much whatever God may have in store for us.
I'll be posting up a video on what took place in the Philippines shortly.
God bless friends and family!