The gospel is reaching places that may have been unimaginable a generation ago. Evangelist Franklin Graham recently preached to 24,000 people who filled the Cần Thơ Stadium in Vietnam during the Season of Love Festival.
The revival comes amid increasing persecution of Christians in Vietnam. A new government decree has made operating churches even more difficult, requiring religious groups to submit financial records and allowing local officials to suspend religious activities. Metro Voice News reports that 2024 saw unprecedented violence against Christian workers in the region, while news outlets document hundreds of believers being imprisoned for their faith.
More than 315 churches and pastors came together to plan and pray for the two-day outreach. As a result, 14,000 people participated on the first night and 10,000 stood in the pouring rain on the second night to hear powerful messages on salvation. Altogether, more than 1,200 made decisions for Christ.
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“The gospel transcends all languages and cultures,” said Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. “We praise God for the hundreds of people whose hearts were moved, and they responded to the invitation to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior and follow him as Lord of their lives.”
The rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm.
“Rain is a sign of God’s blessing in the Bible, and today we saw God pour out his blessings on Vietnam,” he said. “It was a privilege to see so many people respond to God’s invitation to receive Jesus Christ by faith tonight.”
According to the association, opportunities to share the gospel in the communist nation are increasing.
“We’re there to share the love of Christ,” Festival Director Derek Forbes said, adding that the government keeps giving them opportunities to host outreaches. “We really have been given a lot of freedom,” he said.
The ministry held its first evangelistic outreach in the nation in 2017 for its Love Hanoi Festival and then completed the Spring Love Festival in Ho Chi Minh City last year. They set up the outreach in the Mekong River Delta, Cần Thơ, because of its 13 sprawling provinces full of rice fields and rural farmland. As Metro Voice News has documented, the transformation of Vietnam through Christian ministry has led to remarkable personal testimonies of faith.
“It makes it a bit different environment than last year in Ho Chi Minh,” Forbes said. “There are churches, but they are smaller and fewer in number.”
Graham is asking Christians around the world to pray for these new believers in Vietnam.
“It was a privilege to see so many people respond to God’s invitation to receive Jesus Christ by faith tonight,” he said. “Would you join me in praying for these new believers and for all of the churches here that are now coming alongside them in their walk with Christ?”
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice