January
The Publication Work in Vietnam – An Overview
The publication work in Vietnam started as early as the late 1960s when some brothers here first got into contact with the ministry of Brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. It was then a spontaneous burden of these brothers, who were among the few that knew English, to translate these riches into Vietnamese to nourish and supply the saints, who were all in Christianity at the time, occurred. With pen and paper and a single heart for the Lord, the translation work continued through the early 1980s when the saints officially started the church life in the Lord’s recovery. As the saints in Vietnam grew in life and in numbers, the need for ministry translation also grew larger. It was not until 2006 that we started having fellowship officially with LSM, and the publication work began officially with 3 full-timers.
As of January 2022, there are 9 full-time saints laboring in this work, along with some volunteers, to feed nearly 4,000 saints in the Lord’s recovery across the country. By the Lord’s abundant blessing and the faithful labor of these saints, 235 titles of various categories of this rich ministry have been translated. Featured titles include the entire Life-study of the Bible, the complete set of Rhema literature, Life Lessons, the Elders’ Training volumes, Lessons on the God-ordained Way, God’s New Testament Economy, The Gospel of God, and many more, including materials for children and the young people. We also have dedicated saints laboring on the translation of the seven annual feasts.
Another great blessing from the Lord was the Vietnamese translation of the New Testament Recovery Version. This project began in September 2014 and finished at the end 2018 by the faithful labor of a team of 5, two of which had to learn New Testament Greek for the task. By the Lord’s leading, we are now preparing for the translation of the Old Testament Recovery Version. Some saints serving with the publication work have already started learning Hebrew. If the Lord wills, the project will start at the beginning of 2023. Other translation projects in the works include the high peak of the divine revelation titles, the Collected Works of Watchman Nee, and the Collected Works of Witness Lee. May the Vietnamese-speaking world of more than 97 million people within the country and more than 4 million overseas be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah, as water covers the sea (Isa. 11:9)!
Ministry Distribution
At present, mass distribution and propagation of Christian books in general and our ministry books in particular still remain extremely limited due to political reasons. However, the Lord is not limited. In 2012, we launched a website called www.suoinuocsong.com (Suoinuocsong is literally translated “Living Stream”) for the sole purpose of introducing Watchman Nee and Witness Lee’s ministry. This website has been a great source of truth and life supply for all the churches in Vietnam for the past 10 years. Readers can read online for free as well as order printed copies on this site. Alternatively, they can call in to the publication office directly to order. Recently, we have involved more young people, including college students, to help make book distribution more efficient. In the mean while, we hope that they will pick up the burden to not only be constituted with, but also to propagate the truth.
Since July 2021 some titles have been made available to buy as eBooks via Google Play Books, which makes the ministry even more accessible to saints both within and outside the country. Many have testified of being greatly helped by the availability of the ministry, especially electronically. A brother from Ho Chi Minh City, frustrated by not being able to pass an exam for baptism in his denomination, looked for the truth about baptism online and was led to our website. He immediately contacted the serving ones and the brothers went quickly to baptize him. He was overjoyed and spread the good news to his family and colleagues. His whole family and many of his colleagues are now meeting with the saints in the church life. Praise the Lord for His working through the ministry in this brother. There are many other cases like this.
The Saints’ Enjoyment of the Ministry
Just as it started the church life in Vietnam with truth and life, this ministry has been supplying the churches here with truth and life for the past 40 years. Every mornings many saints gather in small groups for morning revival online. They pursue The Holy Word for Morning Revival (HWMR), albeit several months behind the related conferences and trainings. One thousand copies of HWMR are sold per release on top of the HWMR online subscription service. Elders and responsible ones all over the country also enjoy The Ministry of the Word magazine, with more than 200 copies sold per release. Saints here also meet in small groups for a weekly corporate pursuit of the Life-studies. Children, young people, and college students all have their own meetings where they pursue ministry materials selected specifically for their age group. A number of saints have also faithfully participate in the seven annual feasts.
Another line of truth pursuit is the Vietnamese New Testament Recovery Version. Some pursue personally, while others gather in small groups to read it with footnotes, following monthly or yearly schedules. We all benefit greatly from the Recovery Version. Many have testified that the Vietnamese Recovery Version, in clear and modern Vietnamese, is easier to read than the version available in Vietnamese before. The footnotes are helpful to open up the text in the way of life, and the outlines give a clear bird’s-eye view of each book. Through the life supply of the genuine New Testament ministry, we have witnessed many saints, even one generation after another, saved from the world, released from religion, grow, and mature in the divine life to be built up with one another.
Saints pursuing the ministry books and the NT RcV
Churches in Vietnam reading the NT RcV once a year
NT RcV seminar for young people and students
Rhema Vietnam
Rhema Vietnam started in November 2020 with the specific burden of actively reaching out to seeking ones in Vietnam, especially Christians, which accounted for 8.5% of the entire population, despite limited freedom. Since then, thousands of eBooks have been downloaded from our website, and more than 400 have asked for printed sets. We divided the entire country into seven regions: the North, the Middle Central, the Highlands, the South Central, the Southeast, the Southwest, and Ho Chi Minh City—the largest city in Vietnam. Rhema seminars are held on the first Lord’s Day of each month with 80 attendees on average, around 10 to 15 of which are new ones. So far we have covered five topics: the Mystery of Human Life, the Economy of God, the All-inclusive Christ, the Knowledge of Life, and the Glorious Church. As a result, many readers have joined Bible studies with local saints, and some have actually been brought into the church life.
A believer from Hanoi testified, “I’ve read many Christian books, but I’ve only seen outward things. But when I read these books, I was touched in my spirit because they are not doctrines or outward letters or mere teachings, but rather the heart of the writer and his personal experience of Christ…And I was really impressed with the word economy. This word is new to me, but it’s in the Bible…God’s economy is His dispensing of Himself into His chosen and redeemed, sanctified, conformed and glorified people. I thank the Lord for His wonderful economy…I thank the Lord and the brothers who gave me this set. And I believe that when you read these books, you will touch the Lord. He is really sweet and real in every one of our lives.” How we thank the Lord for what He has done in Vietnam.
Prayer Burden
1. For the Lord to grace the saints laboring in the literature work abundantly: pray that they would serve Him and the Body in His rest and under His yoke.
2. For the preparation of the Old Testament translation project: pray that the Lord would cover the serving ones’ tripartite being and consecration.
3. For the future translation projects, especially the high peak of the divine revelation titles.
4. Please pray for the saints to have their appetite preserved and capacity enlarged to receive even more riches of Christ through this ministry.
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Middle East Blending Conference
The Middle East Blending conference was held online on December 17 of last year. About 200 saints from 12 countries and regions attended. The content of the conference was the messages from the 2021 Thanksgiving conference “Living in and with the Divine Trinity”. The last session was an update on the current situation of the Middle East countries. Brothers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE fellowshipped on the present situation and presented their needs for the saints’ prayer. May the Lord continue to strengthen His work in this area that more saints can be perfected to function, the small groups in various places can be started or strengthened, the churches can have increase, the meetings in several target cites can be recovered or established, and more local saints and families can be gained for the testimony of Jesus.
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