On a recent trip to Ho Chi Minh City, we met with Pastor Pham Linh, leader of the Community Gospel Churches. This network of house churches has just under 100 workers in southern and central Vietnam. At the CGC Board Meetings in January, the group requested a reprint of an additional 500 books to be used to teach new converts, especially in the Mekong region where the CGC is experiencing new growth.

This request was significant as Vietnam is the country where the idea of Clear and Simple Media began to take shape. We wrote the first publication to help Vietnamese grass-roots church planters as a tool to disciple new believers. We completed the first translations in 2006 and trained several CGC pastors to assure that the books would be used effectively. In subsequent years, four additional translations were added to help church planters working among the Steing, Bahnar, Hré, and H’mong people groups. Over the next few years, more than 7,500 copies of the book were printed and distributed. Now, more than ten years later, the “little book” is still proving to be of benefit.

“These books are very helpful to us for teaching new believers,” said Pastor Linh. “When they become Christians, they still believe many things from their old (former religious) thinking. These books help the pastors teach them from the Bible. They must know these things so that they can follow Jesus in their thinking.”

At the time of posting, the printers have the materials in hand, and the project should be completed in February.