Awakening Lives to World Missions (ALWM) is grateful for our partnership together in the Gospel! In our global mission work, we mobilize and equip congregations to be personally and fruitfully engaged with taking the Gospel to the nations, just as Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). ALWM International also works directly in Vietnam and Cambodia through our ministries in each country.
What are we doing in Vietnam? Working there, in a country with limited religious freedom, and strong government control over most of society, presents special challenges that are yet well worth it. Vietnam has a population of 97 million, and about 2% are evangelical Christian. In addition, there are also 67 distinct unreached people groups, with virtually no believers at all, which includes more than 8 million people! More than 52% of the people in Vietnam are Buddhist, with many non-religious. When Jesus commands us to make disciples of ‘all the nations (ethne)’ these are included in our call! Encouraging the believers here and helping Vietnamese churches to reach out with the Gospel and touch people at their point of need is the purpose of our Vital Links/ALWM ministry all year, as well as when our mission teams visit each summer. Dr. Hang and her team of volunteers provide medical and evangelism outreach ministry with our key indigenous churches, with designated funding from ALWM and our supporters and partner congregations.
In June, our summer mission team had an outreach day at Agape Church in Long Thanh. We worshipped all together with Pastor Bill Moberly, ALWM director, preaching on John 3:16. The community was invited, too. One man from the village became a believer in Christ! Young and old visited the worship service and the outreach afterward. We shared the Gospel, through the Word and our witness, to the packed room of church members and neighborhood visitors. We also did some health teaching, distributed reading glasses to many, prayed for people, played games, made crafts and heard about the work of this congregation with babies and unwed moms. The pregnant women come to the church via our Vital Links pro-life ministry carried out by of our staff and volunteers. They are adding much needed space with two new rooms and a bathroom to house pregnant moms and their new babies through the generosity of Living Word Lutheran in Milbank, S.D.!
Another day the team served at our Gospel House Kids Day, as we gathered with 35 children, plus volunteers. Most of these children, now aged 4-15, were rescued from abortion directly through the witness of our team leader, Dr. Hang, and another key volunteer whom I can’t name here for security reasons. Over the last 14 years our pro-life staff members have seen the Lord save more than 270 children! Many go home to their families, and some have been left behind for our staff to find them homes. That beautiful summer day the children sang and danced for us, then we had a fun day of crafts and games!
We are already accepting registrations for our ALWM Vietnam Mission Team for June 10-24, 2020. Some on the team will also serve at a four-day conference for college students we are sponsoring in partnership with IFES Vietnam (working in the U.S. as Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship). We take care of all the logistics and provide training. We have personally had nearly 1,000 people from 18-80 on short term mission teams since 2004. Pray about joining us!
Written by Pastor Bill Moberly. Awakening Lives to World Missions is an NALC Ministry Partner. For additional information or to partner, please visit alwm.org.
