Through the power of technology, a local church is blessing Christians in Winnipeg and Vietnam. 

Tony Huynh is the founder of New Hope Vietnamese Church in Winnipeg. He was born in Vietnam but since came to Canada as a refugee in 1979. 

"July 26, 2020, is the first time we got together. What we did is because we were small we got together in my house for the first time," says Huynh.

For the first few months, the new members would meet in person.

"All of a sudden lockdown happened again so we transitioned over to online. We were doing it through Zoom and YouTube."

Even though the group enjoyed being together in person, going online allowed them the opportunity to be a part of the church on the other side of the world. 

"We have people watching in Vietnam and other areas. Because of that, we'll continue to do Zoom and load it on YouTube."

The new church doesn't have a lead pastor just yet, and they've invited some local and international pastors to speak.

"When we first started, we were thinking of guest pastors through the internet. Then we had a pastor in Vietnam that has joined us since we started and he's been preaching for our services."

Pastor Hoang Tran out in Vietnam is the guest pastor that speaks often at New Hope in Vietnamese. 

"We knew him before planting the church and asked him to be a guest speaker. When we told him our situation, he started helping us by preaching on Sundays. 

The church also offers the members a Bible study on Thursday evenings which Pastor Hoang leads. It starts at 6:30 pm in Manitoba while it's 6:30 am the next day for the pastor in Vietnam. 

"I'm hoping that slowly with less restrictions we'll have more opportunities for outreach and meeting new people," says Huynh.

They've also recently had Pastor Andaza Hezekiah of Joy Fountain Church share a message as a guest speaker. 

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