At a glance

Some quick statistics touching key factors in understanding Viet Nam.  Thanks to OMF for putting this infographic together.  They have a number of other good resources on Viet Nam that you can view on their site as well.  A full half of the population of Viet Nam is under the age of 30.  What a great opportunity and responsibility we have to reach this nation with the Gospel while they are still young!  The Kinh ethnic group is the majority people group (87% of the population) and what people typically refer to as “Vietnamese.”  Only 0.5% of the Kinh people have a saving faith in Jesus Christ.  Frequently you will see higher percentages of the “reached” in Viet Nam but this is typically skewed by a high percentage of some minority people groups that have had a Christian influence and other statistics that often include a cultural identification of Christian.  But the Kinh are almost completely unreached.  This is urgent.  This is something we must address.  We must get the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Kinh people.  In addition to the Kinh, Viet Nam is home to 69 other unreached people groups greatly in need of the Gospel.  Finally, the infographic here calls out “three main belief systems” as being Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism.  The inclusion of Confucianism is one not often included when speaking of Viet Nam.  But it should be.  The strong foundation of Confucianism in Viet Nam is perhaps one of the greatest barriers to the Gospel and it is often overlooked.  The most prominent spiritual stronghold in Viet Nam is that of Animism and within that the practice of ancestor worship.  An estimated 98% of the population of Viet Nam is engaged in animistic practices, beliefs and ancestor worship.  Confucianism then has a very strong synergistic relationship with ancestor worship as they both consistently reinforce filial piety and serve as a barrier to the Gospel.

A post shared by OMF International (U.S.) (@omf_us) on Feb 23, 2017 at 5:20am PST