Thái Nguyên Province in northern Vietnam is home to two of Vietnam’s largest ethnic groups: the Tay and Nung.

More than one million Tay people live in the northern provinces. Most Tày people practice Then, an indigenous religion involving the worship of guardian or protector gods, gods of the natural environment, and ancestors and progenitors of human groups. Many patterns of this religion are inherited from Taoism and Chinese folk religion: the god of the universe is the Jade Emperor, who in some local traditions is also identified as the Yellow Emperor (Hoàng Đế). 

The Tay usually place an altar for the ancestors in a central location in the house. The altar room is considered sacred; guests and women who have given birth are not allowed to sit on the bed in front of the altar.

The Nung people live further north and cross into southern China. Many Nùng practice an indigenous religion with animistic, totemic, and shamanic features similar to other Tai ethnic groups.

Nùng religious practices are also heavily influenced by Buddhism and Confucianism. The Nùng worship Quan Âm (Guanyin) as the goddess of compassion and kindness.

A village shaman leads local religious services and oversees animal sacrifices and communication with the spiritual world. Nature spirits are known as the phi in Nùng cosmology. Ancestor worship is also practiced.

While few of the Tay and Nung people are Christians, those who are have a serious passion to reach the unreached in their villages for Jesus. A few weeks ago, our translator and friend, Pastor Le Minh Dat, received a message and a request from the Bắc Kạn district of Thái Nguyên province. A network there, whom Dat knows, asked if he could help. They asked him to travel to Bắc Kạn district, bring large quantities of new Vietnamese books, and stay for a week to help them learn how to use them best. 

Requests like that one are rare and almost impossible to ignore. So, as of this writing, we have decided to provide several hundred copies of each book, provide an instructor, and cover transportation and lodging costs for Pastor Dat to provide the training. We still need to finalize a few details, but so far, 20 church planters in Bắc Kạn and nearby districts have signed up for the training. The area is populated by members of both the Tay and Nung ethnic groups, and so far, all local missionaries and church planters are from those groups. 

The trip will require Dat to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. (Pastor Dat lives an hour south of HCMC). Once there, he will load the books and climb aboard a bus for the four-hour trip into the northern highlands of Bắc Kạn.

While we are still calculating the need, we estimate that the total cost for transportation, lodging, and books will be approximately $1,200 USD. If you would like to help with this important opportunity, connect to our Support Page.