Where is Binh Chau?
Binh Chau is located approximately 100 miles east of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam. It takes about two and half to three hours to drive by car or bus due to heavy traffic and poor road conditions.
Population of Binh Chau:
The town of Binh Chau and several surrounding smaller towns and villages consists of about 30,000 people.
Tourist Attractions:
Binh Chau is located on the South China Sea and contains many beaches of white sand. In recent years it has become a major tourist attraction due to the development of a natural hot springs area into a resort, complete with hotels and recreational activities.
Occupations of Binh Chau:
The people of Binh Chau are mostly fishermen, farmers, or small shop owners. It is a poor community where many residents make only an average of $8 or less a day in wages.
Spiritual condition of Binh Chau:
There are about 150 Protestants, about 300-350 Catholics, and the rest are Buddhists who practice ancestral worship, and even witchcraft and voodoo.
To our knowledge over 99.9 % do not know about Jesus. As far as churches, Binh Chau has a large Buddha temple located on about three acres of land and a Catholic church located on 3-4 acres of land.
Education in Binh Chau:
Most are poorly educated, because as children, they had to work to help support the family or their parents could not afford to send them to school. Most parents there today want to see their children go to school, but many can still not afford to do so. It costs about $125 a year to send each child to a good school to receive a proper education. When you make only $150-200 a month and have more than one child, it is a difficult, if not impossible task.
Lifestyle in Binh Chau:
Fishermen are away from their families for days or weeks at a time out on the sea. Farmers put in long days working their fields. They work hard, but also play hard as smoking, drinking, and gambling are embedded in their culture. Because the parents are working hard to survive from day to day, many children are left to take care of themselves or each other. There are few activities to keep children busy and out of trouble. In many cases, they are exposed to smoking, drinking, and gambling at a very early age. It is easy for them to fall in with the wrong crowd.
About the ministry in Binh Chau:
Jesus in Vietnam Ministries, is a compassion ministry founded by Dennis and Mai Spencer. Vietnamese families suffer from deprivation, lacking sometimes even the necessities of life. In obedience to the many Scriptural commands to help the poor they are enabling families to survive in difficult circumstances. When shown mercy these families are very receptive to the Gospel. The Spencer’s also focus on children, who are the future church of Jesus Christ in Vietnam.