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600 SW 3rd Street, Suite 2201Pompano Beach, Florida 33060

1-800-391-8545

Medicine for the Poor Healing Bodies and Souls

— Vietnam —

How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let

us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.1 John 3:17-18

PROJECT 0495

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MEDICINE FOR THE POOR PROJECT 0495

Project Synopsis

DescriptionHelp local Vietnamese churches provide free medicine for the poor in their communities.

PurposeTo spread the Gospel “in truth and action” in a country where proselytizing is forbidden.

LocationRural villages throughout southern and central Vietnam.

Cost$12,925 will help equip Vietnamese churches with fully stocked cabinets of medicine and first aid supplies.

Summary• Cross International has

partnered with SoMedCo – the community service arm of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam-South (ECV) – to meet the medical needs of those who can’t afford treatment.

• Churches in poor, rural communities are equipped with fully-stocked medicine cabinets.

• Volunteers are trained by SoMedCo to administer first aid and to recognize and treat common illnesses.

• The sick go to the churches for free medicine; they come away with the seed of God’s Word planted in their hearts.

• The program is an open door to evangelism in a country where proselytizing anywhere other than inside a church building is forbidden by law.

• The medicine also benefits poor Christian families who would otherwise receive no care.

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MEDICINE FOR THE POOR PROJECT 0495

The NeedIn Vietnam, a majority of people do

not believe in God. For that reason, millions of the country’s inhabitants have no hope beyond this earthly life — a life that, for many, is hard, squalid and dreary. Poor families lead a hand-to-mouth existence, sleeping on dirt floors, drinking parasite-infested water, enduring treatable illnesses and trying to squeeze a harvest out of their tiny, nutrient-deficient plots of land. Clinics, hospitals and pharmacies are often hours away, even by car, though most poor rural families travel by foot or bicycle. When it rains, the water leaks through their makeshift huts, drenching their few possessions and turning their floors to mud. They have no dreams for the future; only empty stomachs and long, sleepless nights.

If a Vietnamese family has a Christian neighbor, that person is most likely regarded with suspicion. Christianity, they’ve been taught, is the religion of western colonialists and enemies of the state. A Christian neighbor may yearn to dispel these fears and tell his neighbors the truth about Jesus, but evangelization in Vietnam is a punishable crime. Despite relaxed restrictions on religious expression, Vietnam’s Communist government still forbids proselytizing outside the doors of an officially recognized church. Vietnamese Christians — especially among the country’s ethnic minorities — can face discrimination, harassment and even arrest.

These challenges are great, but God’s power is greater.

In recent years, God has been working from within to change Vietnam. Ministering through local pastors and missionaries, He is touching the hearts of the lost and needy. In 2001, a network of evangelical churches in south Vietnam won official recognition from the government. This recognition increased their freedom to worship, but left intact the legal barrier to sharing the Gospel with their neighbors.

Today, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam-South is depending on Cross International to help reach those neighbors in a way that faithfully represents God’s Word while complying with the law of the land and even gaining the blessing of local officials. The method: acts of mercy.

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Ministry DescriptionVietnamese Christians have a message for their neighbors, and SoMedCo, the community service arm

of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam-South, is helping make that message heard. Its poverty relief projects are bringing the Gospel “in action and in truth” by providing practical solutions to the daily challenges of life for the rural poor.

One of those daily challenges is medical care. With support from Cross International, SoMedCo equips rural churches with a large cabinet and a full stock of basic medicines and first-aid supplies. Often, these churches are the only locations within walking — or even driving — distance where the poor can find antibiotics or even a simple aspirin. The medicine is distributed to the sick at no charge (or for a token amount affordable to the very poor); and as the supply is depleted, each local church is responsible for replenishing its own cabinet.

In addition, each church identifies medical professionals within their congregation (or trains lay volunteers) to administer first aid, do basic medical screenings for indicators such as blood pressure and body temperature, and provide the appropriate medications. These health screenings can result in early detection of problems that could lead to life-threatening conditions in patients who might otherwise never receive any care at all.

The offer of medical care for the poor comes with no strings attached. It benefits poor Christian families as well as nonbelievers who now have a reason to step inside a church for the first time in their lives. There, they experience love and compassion that shatters their negative preconceptions of the Christian faith. Their gratefulness causes them to want to know more, so they start asking questions. They soon realize that the Christians’ love is sincere and that it comes from a deep commitment to God. They learn they can know that God for themselves if they accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Then their healing will be complete.

MEDICINE FOR THE POOR PROJECT 0495

600 SW 3rd Street, Suite 2201 • Pompano Beach, Florida 33060 • 1-800-391-8545

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© Cross International. Cost effectively written, designed and printed in-house.

MEDICINE FOR THE POOR PROJECT 0495

Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures for this project incurred during the current calendar year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess

funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.

Help Now!God is doing a great work among the churches of Vietnam, and you can be a part of it! Cross

International has committed to helping cover the costs of the SoMedCo medicine cabinet program — such as supplies, training materials, transportation and staff salaries — so they can continue to bless impoverished rural communities. Now we are asking you to help us fulfill that commitment and impact lives for Christ.

A gift to Cross International for the SoMedCo medical outreach will equip Vietnamese Christians to transform their communities. Through your support, motivated pastors and volunteers will bring physical and spiritual healing to their needy neighbors. Their compassionate witness will be a light in dark places, pointing the lost to the foot of the cross and giving them an experience of Jesus’ amazing love.

“It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick,” Jesus said in Mark 2:17. “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Now is your chance to help bring healing to the sick and the Good News of salvation to the world. Please pray for Vietnam and give your gift today!

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“Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.”Mark 16:15