every other god is an idol

We made it to Da Nang, Vietnam! The past 2 and a half weeks here have been crazy! Team Harvest has been working with a college ministry, participating in English clubs. We have a topic that we focus on each week (ex. Christmas, travel, hobbies, etc.) and we teach the students the definitions of the vocab words, the pronunciations, and how to use it in an everyday sentence. Following the lesson, we typically play some games that incorporate the words- such as hangman, fishbowl, or pictionary. It’s been such a fun experience getting to work with college students and experiencing the lives of people our age here in Vietnam. It’s definitely a change of pace from Guatemala where our team was working with a children’s ministry, but it’s been so incredible!



The culture here is also very different from Guatemala and America. The most common religion in Vietnam is Buddhism, with over 50 million Vietnamese people adhering to the religion. A large portion also identify as non-religious; barely 1.1% identifying as Protestant. Across the bay from where we are staying, a 67 meter-tall statue of “Lady Buddha” is visible (about the equivalent of a 30-story building). Buddhist pagodas and temples are not difficult to discover and the odds of finding a Buddha statue or shrine in every Uber or restaurant is fairly high. While being a Christian in this country is not illegal, street evangelism is. The main way that Christianity spreads is through the building of relationships, then sharing the gospel.

I’ve been convicted about how I abused the freedom of religion that is provided and protected in the United States. In a country where sharing the gospel is legal, I shied away out of fear of man, laziness, pride, and whatever other excuses I made. But all of the sudden I find myself in a nation where most of the people have never even heard the name of Jesus, let alone have the hope that comes from having a personal relationship with Him. The song ‘You are the Lord’ by MBL Worship accurately describes the reality of religion in Vietnam: “every other god is an idol, that cannot see and cannot hear. there is one true, living God.” The majority of this nation kneels before false gods that are nothing more than metal or wood, and yet, what idols are we bowing to in the United States? The latest iPhone? Another promotion at work? While the things we idolize may not be physical statues or sculptures, the truth is the majority of America is bowing before something or someone other than God. We have to be praying and sharing the Good News in countries where it is legal and illegal. We have to be seeking the Lord’s Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. We have to be an answer to the Great Commission. Every nation, whether it is legal or illegal to share the Gospel, needs to hear it.