The length of time between Christmas and New Year may only be a week in most Western countries, but in Vietnam (this year at least) it is just over a month. For, although Vietnam makes use of a solar calendar for official documents, etc, it is the lunar calendar which dominates the daily lives of the Vietnamese (particularly as it relates to their religious beliefs). This year Vietnamese New Year (or Tet as it’s called) is on January 29^th (in the solar calendar, of course!), when over 80 million people in Vietnam will have wished each other Chuc Mung Nam Moi (or “Happy New Year” in English).

During the Christmas period, there were a significant number of people who expressed an interest in becoming a Christian by responding to altar calls at many of the Christmas church services. This means that they only had one month to find out more about true faith in Christ before the Tet preparations and celebrations began. Tet is a time when sons and daughters return to their home towns and families - perhaps for the only time in the year - and expectations to take part in the customs are high. It is a time when even the most lax Buddhist will take part in ancestor worship and go to the temple. So, for the new believer, it is a very challenging time. How can they show respect and honour to their families and ancestors without taking part in the traditional rituals and activities associated with ancestor worship?

Sadly, during the Tet period, experience shows that there will be a significant number of people that professed faith in Christ just a month earlier who will keep quiet about their new beliefs and still continue their old religious practices. Worse still, some may decide that the cost of following the Lord is too great, and return to their Buddhist and ancestor worship roots.

During Tet this year and the weeks that follow, pray that there will be many who see this as a time to make new beginnings. That Vietnamese throughout the land would seek and find in Jesus Christ, an answer to their greatest needs that cannot be found in superstition and fear.

Pray for:

• Those who are young believers, or the only believer in their family – that they would remain faithful to God this Tet time.
• Any believers who slip back into their traditional ancestor worship practices this Tet – that they would recommit their lives to God.
• Those who are not yet believers, who are beginning to wonder if there is more to life that what they have been brought up to believe – that they will come into contact with Christians who can share the gospel with them.