TOGETHER IN UNITY
Over 4,500 souls crowded the stage to receive Christ during the Franklin Graham crusade.
After many years of restrictions on Christians, the Vietnamese government finally softened its stand, approving their request for a two-day Spring Love Festival, where American Evangelist Franklin Graham was invited to preach the Gospel. From an officially-approved crowd of 5,000, the organizers received a total registration of 20,000 and when the event finally started, over 42,000 people came.
The local Christians had been preparing for this event since 2018. More than 70 denominations joined together in unity and mobilized churches to pray. Every day, they prayed for the people; Christians, non -Christians, and the government. They trained Christians in the local churches to effectively share the gospel.
During this preparation period, the Vietnam Evangelical Alliance (VEA) was launched, forging the unity of North and South Vietnam churches, both official and underground house churches. Foremost leaders came together, asking God what to do since evangelical Christians comprised only 2% of the population. They needed to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom and they decided to invite Franklin Graham to come. It was not possible in 2019, so they postponed to 2020 but then the pandemic came. However, it became an opportunity for Christians to reach out with food, medicines, clothes, and basic necessities, regardless of religious affiliation. The
Over 4,500 souls crowded the stage to receive Christ during the Franklin Graham crusade.
government saw this. In December 2022, just before Christmas, the church leaders submitted their request to hold the Crusade. Approval was given in February.
Praise God for His favor. The 4-5 March event resulted in over 4,500 people signing decision cards to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. We believe that there were more. The stage was crowded, full of people coming forward to receive Christ.
Our country team reported, “More than 80 different denominations, with 300 local churches, came together in unity. This is
what we are concerned about — how to teach the new believers to grow in Jesus Christ. I believe that the Sow for the Harvest (SowH) discipleship manual is one of the best materials we can use. We want to work with Ethnos Asia to spread this to the 300 churches. We want to mobilize all the churches across the country to pray, to do evangelism and discipleship. We also want to raise a younger generation of leaders in the country and to follow up on what happened in the past.”
Praise God for the new converts who have been added to the church. May each be channeled to the right church to nurture them into maturity. Pray that the unity of the church be preserved and remain strong for the furtherance of the Gospel.
Our country team is coordinating with main church leaders for the SowH Discipleship Training. Pray as we reach out to the 300 churches to strengthen them with this training.
Let us continue to stand guard as intercessors for Vietnam. God is doing a great thing in this nation!
“Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were
added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of
bread, and in prayers.”
