THE MINISTRY IN HO CHI MINH CITY
This past week, Maida and I traveled to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to change our Thai visas. We were told by the school we’re getting these new visas through to go to Ho Chi Minh. However, the day after we arrived, they emailed us saying we actually needed to go to Laos instead. The gut reaction to this is to view our trip immediately as a “waste of time.” But that’s not the case.
Ho Chi Minh City is the home of the Friends Network Vietnam team. While we had met each of them briefly during this past annual retreat, we were the least familiar with what their ministry looked like. As Emily Rider, one of these missionaries, toured us around the city, she mentioned that the coming Sunday would be their morning worship as well as an evening game night. While I didn’t have the time or resources to produce a full out documentary on the subject, I did have my point-and-shoot photo camera with me. So I decided to do some candid photography of a day in the Vietnam team’s ministry.
About 10-15 people showed up to worship. Emily played guitar to lead in singing the hymns while Jessie spoke the liturgy. Bibles were distributed, each page displaying the text in both English and Vietnamese.
Soon enough, evening came and it was time to start the game night. This was quite a big turnout. A couple dozen people came in attendance. Some were Christian, many not. Prominent games featured were chess, Phase 10, and Jungle Speed. A throughline I noticed throughout game night was that everyone was really good at smiling very big. Despite there not being direct talk about the Holy Spirit, the Spirit’s joy was felt.
Growing up, I only really worshiped with other Christians who had believed their entire lives. However, being overseas mission work allows for you to worship with people who are brand new to Christianity. This provides for some totally new perspectives to the conversation and questions I would never even think of. Getting to discuss the Bible with a group of both lifelong and new believers is a lovely experience.
After service, we got to spend some time getting to know the team’s local friends more. The person pictured to the right is named Jenny. As we walked with her to a local restaurant after the service, she told me about becoming a Christian 3 years ago after being introduced to it by a friend, and later being connected to the Friends Network group. Just last year, she was baptized. She recently decided to move to Ho Chi Minh City from her smaller rural town. She did this to leave behind a rough environment and be in closer proximity to her Christian community. Emily said that she loves to study with them multiple times a week.
We arrived at Emily and Jessie’s apartment a bit early for Sunday morning worship. While we waited for others to arrive, Jessie showed us his Vietnamese picture book of Bible stories. This book is a valuable part of his ministry. First, it allows him to practice his Vietnamese. Second, he uses it to meet strangers in public. He will often take the book to a coffee shop and practice reading. If he stumbles upon a word he doesn’t understand, he’ll ask someone else sitting nearby to help him translate it. What often starts off as a kind favor from a local can quickly turn into lengthy conversations about Christianity.
On the surface, a game night may not seem like “ministry work.” Rarely does the subject of religion ever come up. But anyone who could have the pleasure of sitting in that apartment would see that it’s a lovely portrait of what friendship evangelism is all about. Emily and Jessie have friends who they’ve known for years now, yet they have no interest still in hearing the gospel. Emily told me that it’s ultimately not in her hands to transform someone’s heart. That’s God’s job. All she needs to do is be a loving friend and plant seeds.
“Everybody needs somewhere to belong. Young people all over the world are craving community, and that’s exactly why we do our game nights. It may seem trivial to some, but to our team, these game nights have proven to be one of the best things we do. Our friends get to see we truly care about them and want to spend our time with them. Then, they’re more willing to spend their time learning about what we believe. There, they can see they do belong, not just to our group, but in the family of believers.” -Emily Rider, FN Missionary