A Visit to the Church in Vietnam
August 25 – September 6, 2008

By Michael Parker

Dear friends:

Having just returned from a trip to Southeast Asia, I thought that many supporters of the PC(USA)’s Office of International Evangelism would be interested in how the church is developing in this region.  I traveled with Paul Friesen, our Regional Liaison for this area. We first visited several ministers in Cambodia who are shepherding house churches outside of Phnom Penh. Their work is in an early stage of development, but it is very promising. Then we took a bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. After many miles of rice paddies in the Mekong Delta, we slowly entered the huge metropolitan sprawl of what was formerly Saigon. Vietnam now has a remarkable 8 percent annual growth rate, implying a burgeoning economy that was readily apparent from the frenetic activity of the city — crowded, busy streets, filled with cars, motorbikes and wary pedestrians.

Paul and I spent several days with Don Dawson and his group from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS). Since 2003 World Mission Initiative at PTS, has been sending groups and individuals to support the Presbyterian Church and others and encourage them in their work.  We met together with a group of pastors and their wives from a people group in the midlands of the country.  This was mostly a retreat in which the PC(USA) and the local group could get to know each other. We taught each other simple hymns in our respective languages and prayed together, but most moving were the stories that we heard. They spoke of their perplexity about how to conduct their funerals, revealing the tension between traditional methods and an emerging Christian practice. One Amerasian spoke of his frustration in trying to locate his American father. Another spoke of his feelings of being “enslaved” because of the oppression practiced by the surrounding Vietnamese majority. Several expressed their deep appreciation for this American group that had traveled halfway around the world to be with them to affirm and support their work.

Pastor Khoa with his wife, Marylien. Photo by Michael Parker

On the last day of the trip we were once again in Ho Chi Minh City in order to meet with Pastor Bay Khoa, his wife, Marylien, and several of those who work with them. Pastor Khoa is the head of a church of some 5,500 members, organized into sixty-two churches and fifty small groups of under twenty people.  Only nine of these congregations have their own buildings. Most meet in house churches. Their leadership includes ten pastors, sixteen candidates for the pastorate, thirty-three evangelists, four elders and sixty workers.

The first thing that we discussed was their effort to have their church recognized by the Vietnamese government. The government has objected to the name Presbyterian because there are apparently two other groups that have chosen to adopt the name.  Pastor Khoa and his group said that they have determined to call themselves the United Presbyterian Church of Vietnam (UPCV). There will be a meeting of the church leadership in October when this name will be proposed and, if all goes well, formally adopted. The government has also objected that this group does not have an office or a recognizable church building. Pastor Khoa then presented a number of proposals to remedy this situation. I took the opportunity to propose that the UPCV and the PC(USA) write a formal covenant agreement that would outline the principles upon which we would have a partnership relationship.  Later on, I explained the PC(USA)’s commitment to partnership relationships with other churches.  In response to a lengthy list of expensive projects that came to about $300,000, I informed the leaders that the PC(USA) would like to help them in some financial matters but that we did not want to receive annual “wish lists.”  Rather, we hoped to come along side of them to help them to develop their own resources and grow their church according to their own understandings. All of this seemed to be well received.

When asked to select the two or three things they really wanted, the leaders immediately offered the following:

• $200,000 to raze their house church in Ho Chi Minh City and rebuild it as a formal church building. The building is not currently in a very good location, but we were assured that new road construction planned for in the next couple of years would put the church in an excellent position.
• They would like office space for their emerging denomination. This would include space for a theological training facility.

My own thoughts on this, which I developed in consultation with Paul Friesen, are that the renovation of the church is a good idea, but that the training institute and the development of separate office space are more problematic. The temporary renting of space elsewhere in the city might meet the immediate need for office space. The investment of much money in a training institute is probably not a good idea. It would be better if Khoa’s church worked with other recognized Protestant denominations in Vietnam to develop a single non-denominational college or seminary. Khoa and his followers do not seem to realize how expensive and complicated it is to establish and run a large and effective institution of higher education. 

My overall impressions of the possibilities for the church in Vietnam were very good. The Catholic Church currently has 8 percent of the population while the Protestant churches have about one and 1.5 percent, or about 1.2 million people. Most of these are in house churches. The UPCV could receive official government recognition as early as next year. When that happens, numerous house churches all over the country may gravitate toward it, quickly enlarging the church. Moreover, Khoa already has house churches throughout South Vietnam; he has some in the middle section of the country, and he has three as far away as Hanoi. This is a church that seems to be poised for growth. 

The PC(USA) might help in the following ways:

1. Financially support the renovation of the current house church in Ho Chi Minh City.
2. Send a co-worker next year to work at their theological training center. This person would also serve as a liaison between the PC (USA) and the Vietnamese church.
3. Engage in long-range plans to develop a non-denominational seminary for the Protestant churches of Vietnam.
4. The Vietnam Network in the United States should embrace these proposals — or something like them — and then work to develop the financial support necessary to see that they are realized.

These are my current thoughts on the subject. At the Vietnam Network meeting on December 2 in Louisville, I hope that they will be thoroughly discussed and a definitive strategic plan for Vietnam adopted. Until then, let us continue to think, pray, and work as God leads for the people of Vietnam.

Michael Parker
Coordinator for International Evangelism
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)