Vietnam Ministries:
What: To help children
from poorer families in Vietnam who
were born with cleft palate and/or
harelip. Work is now broadening to
include help to children with cerebral
palsy and cancer.
To provide opportunities for national
Vietnamese evangelists to establish
relationships with non-believers.
Why: Extensive
health problems have been registered
among
rural Vietnamese. Nutritional deficiencies
during pregnancies, poor use of pesticides
and the legacy of the massive abuse
of herbicides during the Vietnam
War are thought to have resulted
in the birth of thousands of Vietnamese
children with severe medical difficulties.
Agreements with State-run hospitals
have been reached to operate on these
children if outside finance is provided.
Children and a family member are
brought to the hospital and returned
afterwards to their villages.
AsiaLink also supports and trains
local evangelists and pastors throughout
Vietnam.
AsiaLink also supports and trains
local evangelists and pastors throughout
Vietnam through a network of house
churches.
Target Peoples: The
Hmong people. There are an estimated
150,000 believers among the Hmong. They
are of Chinese origin and many have
remained there but others have filtered
down into Vietnam, Laos and Thailand .
They are a strongly persecuted people
group.
Cost: A gift of £40
will help one child to have a better
life, and an opportunity for his
or her family to hear about Jesus
Christ for the first time. A gift
of £200 will bless 5 children.
Prayer: That the
Lord would create a strong desire among
families who have received medical help
to know of the Gospel. For evangelists
and their immediate families to be
guarded from danger and persecution.
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A Socialist republic, Vietnam came under the control of N. Vietnam in 1975. The Communist party still controls all government activity and policy. World's second largest rice exporter. Significant reforms since 1990 but rural poverty still extensive. In 1975, all open missionary work ended.
The Vietnamese constitution guarantees religious freedom. In practice, this has proved meaningless. The government controls all religious movements. Persecution of believers continues to be harsh and especially severe for unregistered churches. Meetings are only allowed in a few controlled sites across the country. In the north, where Communism has a much longer history, the situation is very serious.
Those in the north but especially among minority groups which are mainly Buddhist or animist. Chief concerns are the Giay, Hani, San Chay, Tho and Puoc which are the largest groups with no known believers. The Muslim Cham and the Buddhist Khmer. Among these, there are only a handful of known believers. There are more than 50 (researched) tribal groups scattered throughout Vietnam according to government statistics but perhaps as many as 150 distinct ethnic groups altogether that require a cross-cultural church planting effort. In many cases, especially among groups in the North, there are entire tribes with no known believers among them.