I was asked by someone in a previous blog about underground work in Vietnam and smuggling Bibles and my response to that - here is what I wrote.

“My call is to raise up local churches to be the missionary. Therefore, that means I want the person in the pew to go. If that’s the case I teach them to be disciples living out their faith using their vocation. Dine and dash evangelism can’t be the modus operandi of a local church if you’re going to engage the whole church. BTW, you don’t have to smuggle Bibles in Vietnam, they’ll even give you permits to print them. A lot of people are confused about what you can and can’t do in Vietnam.  It’s much more than you might think. You just have to respect their laws and work with them.”

One of the problems in the world today is accurate information and clear media representation, and not just secular but religious. There is no doubt that Protestants have had a tough challenge in Vietnam. Neither is there any doubt it’s improving dramatically. Some people want it to be there like it is here–overnight. We don’t even do it good here! Think of our response to so many Muslims in America since 9-11. There isn’t a huge outcry over that. They see it the same way.

There are people with agendas outside Vietnam as well as inside. Often, local situations are exaggerated or misrepresented in such a way that the facts and situation is exploited for personal gain.

One situation is the story that the government of Vietnam took over land because a Hmong person became a Christian. Not true. When the Hmong person became a Christian, they no longer offered worship to their ancestors on their land to which the other brothers and sisters who were animist demanded the land back so they could worship and appease the spirits of their ancestors. The law was brought in by the family–what does freedom of religion mean for the Hmong animist tied to the land who is trying to respect their ancestors.

BTW, the church is doing incredible in Vietnam and the north in particular. My heart was broken, though, as I was in a meeting and how they were recognizing churches a lot faster in one area, but several “denominations” from the US showed up and were all vying for new churches. The result was it confused the pastors and the officials so it’s driven everything to a halt until they can figure it out. Imagine it, the Church in the West is crippling the church in the East. This is just unacceptable, despicable, and disgusting. We are getting in the way of what God is doing by trying to claim specific congregations. God help us! God forgive us. God get us out of the way so we won’t be an impediment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One final thought–as I was in many meetings with government leaders one thing really hit me hard. I was in those meetings not because I was a pastor of a mega-church in America or because they agreed with the Gospel. I was there and have been there because there are societal issues about which we and the Vietnamese are concerned. For me, my driving motivation was the Gospel which gave me an opportunity to share. Our credibility was the work that we’ve done in the past, not what we are promising to do. This may seem small but it’s not–it’s huge.

FINALLY - ED STETZER - WRITE THAT BOOK!!!!! I was in San Diego with Ed at a conference. Several of us were talking about needing a book for missional church on “theological realities” and “historical” tracing of movements and end results to serve as a guide, base, and encouragement. It would be a more technical book, but I’m convinced many of us need it - me being one - and it would serve us well.