Luis Palau to join with believers in Vietnam for historic outreach

  
    BEAVERTON — Oregon-based international evangelist Luis Palau will join with Christian leaders throughout Vietnam for a major outreach this spring. With events scheduled in Ho Chi Minh City (old Saigon), Hanoi, and Danang, these celebration events will focus on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the first Protestant church in the nation. The outreaches will represent the first foreign mission to Vietnam since the nation’s reunification in 1975.
     Speaking to 500 Vietnamese church leaders in Hanoi last spring, Palau commended Vietnam’s pastors for their unity, respect for authorities, and passion for church growth. And now, with nearly every evangelical denomination inviting Palau back for the upcoming celebration, local leaders are anticipating attendance for these historic events to reach into the hundreds of thousands.
     The effort will include a series of pastoral conferences, evangelism and discipleship training, and regionwide festivals throughout the nation, starting with events in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi this month. Palau and his team will return to Danang and Hanoi in June for follow-up events and also will include training of local gifted evangelists, an effort that has never been attempted in Vietnam.
     Not only will this be the first time an outside evangelist has been allowed to share the Good News openly in Vietnam — a tremendous indication of the advances and goodwill among government leadership —this is the first time all denominations have come together in unity and partnership. Representing nearly 100 percent of the evangelical churches in the nation and more than 2 million believers, this is being treated as a major milestone for the nation, and for the Gospel.
     Vietnam, the world’s 13th most populous nation, has seen tremendous church growth over the last several years, growing from 100,000 believers in 1975 to more than 2 million in 2010.
    Church leaders have a vision to see that number increase to more than 10 million by the year 2020 (representing more than 10 percent of the nation’s population). They see Palau and his team as playing a strategic part in this growth over the next several years.
      For further information about Palau’s efforts in Vietnam, as well as other evangelistic efforts around the world, visit www.palau.org.