Vietnam Mennonite Church Recognized by Authorities

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NEWS RELEASE
Mennonite World Conference
For Immediate Release
March 15, 2006

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - The Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Religious Affairs has recognized one of the Mennonite congregations in the city.

In a document signed March 6, the head of the committee, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc San, said the committee was approving the request for registration of religious activities of the Vietnam Mennonite Church represented by Rev. Nguyen Quang Trung.

This represents a significant development in a process begun by Trung in the mid-1980s.

The earlier Mennonite church property was appropriated by the local government in 1976, so Trung's home in Binh Thanh district is designated the temporary headquarters of the church. A nearby rented property where the congregation meets is also designated as the temporary place of meeting.

Reports indicate that a prominent Baptist congregation in Ho Chi Minh City and some Adventist congregations were also recognized at the same time.

Trung, president of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, and leaders of the Baptist and Adventist groups were contacted by the Religious Affairs Committee in August, 2004 and invited to submit documents in preparation for registration. Trung was committed to do this, but many members of the Mennonite church administrative committee objected to his conversation with government officials at a time when six Mennonite leaders were imprisoned and awaiting trial.

After action was taken to remove Trung from church leadership, he formed a separate church administrative committee and continued the process.

Several months later, Mrs. Le Thi Phu Dung, wife of imprisoned pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, also contacted the city's religious affairs personnel to pursue registration for the Mennonite congregation in the city's District 2. This congregation is not recognized in the recent government order. It is reported that Trung was told that the District 2 congregation could not be included because of its stance with the authorities

The District 2 congregation was repeatedly harassed by local authorities following the arrest of the six leaders in a 2004 incident. Since Pastor Quang was released from prison in amnesty lastAugust, harassment has lessened. Attendance at their Sunday evening worship services is now approaching the same numbers as before the incident, and leadership training sessions are taking place.

Recognition by the Ho Chi Minh City government officials of the Binh Thanh congregation applies only to the city. Trung reported that the city officials promised that they would inform officials in other areas of this action, so it may affect other places.

A government visit in January to the Binh Thanh church conveying official New Year's greetings was followed by a similar gesture by authorities to the Mennonite church in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho. The Mennonite church in the central Vietnam city of Hoi An also reports new freedom. One local ward has offered to sell land to construct a church building.

In a March 9 communication to Mennonite World Conference and other international Mennonite church bodies, Trung reported that the city's officials said they would guide the Mennonite, Baptist and Adventist churches in a process so that the government's top Religious Affairs Committee would authorize national assemblies granting official legal status.

The large Evangelical Church of Vietnam in the south was granted legal status in 2001. Now, various congregations that were not recognized by the authorities at that time are being registered on a congregation-by-congregation basis.

Even though the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, both in the north and south, has legal status, the majority of evangelical Christians in Vietnam today are related to unregistered house churches. Many of these churches seek recognition.

Some Christian leaders, however, still prefer non-registration, concerned that reporting activities to the local government and seeking permission for new branch churches would stifle church life.

A Mennonite World Conference release from Vietnamese Ministries