Vietnam

“He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.”

(1 Samuel 2:8a ESV)

The government of Vietnam recently brought Decree 95 into effect, placing local Christian churches under more pressure.

Decree 95 was announced on 29 December and came into effect on 30 March. It effectively allows the government to shut down religious groups for a range of vaguely specified violations by extending some Articles and measures outlined in the 2016 Law on Religion and Folk Belief (LRB).

Vu Chien Thang, deputy minister of Home Affairs and head of the Government Committee of Religious Affairs, had insisted that this prior legislation needed strong enforcement measures.

Essentially, the new law requires all religious groups to register with the government, as well as adding measures relating to the dissolution of religious organizations and religious education institutions, and detailed procedures for receiving and reporting foreign aid. Anyone found in violation of the laws may be sent to compulsory education or rehabilitation centres or subject to temporary detention and even prison sentences.

While the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of belief and religion, the government requires churches to exist for five years before they can apply for registration. Even when they do register, many house churches are denied, while others have to wait years without any progress.

As a result of these regulatory burdens, many local Protestant house churches simply choose not to register at all, placing them in an even more precarious situation. Lacking legal status, local churches are unable to open bank accounts and must use cash for all their transactions.

Furthermore, for the past 30 years, house churches in Vietnam have been highly dependent on financial aid from international organizations. The new decree will make it significantly more difficult to raise and receive foreign donations, creating more challenges for these churches to continue operating.

Currently Vietnam has 11 legally registered evangelical denominations and many unregistered house churches. While Christians living in larger cities and those with closer relationships with local government officials tend to be able to worship freely, life is more difficult for believers among ethnic minority groups and in rural areas who still face social exclusion, discrimination, and attacks.

Despite the challenges of the new decree, Hien Vu, program manager of the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) in Vietnam, says pastors and church leaders are determined to continue with their ministries.

“They are used to these restrictions,” Vu commented, describing their attitude as “We’ll deal with it when it comes, but we’ll do whatever God calls us to do.”

Previously, many of the laws relating to religious activities were not strictly enforced. However, with the introduction of Decree 95, the ability for Christians in Vietnam to practise their faith freely and worship together is likely to become much more challenging.

Christians in Vietnam make up 9.7 percent of the population and the communist state is currently ranked 35 in the Open Doors World Watch List of the most difficult countries to be a Christian.

 

Home Group Prayer

Dear Lord,

We pray for the faithful Christians in Vietnam, particularly those who are members of house churches. We pray that despite the restrictions and challenges they face, they may be able to continue to operate and grow, and spread your Word among the people there.

Give wisdom to the church leaders in their dealings with authorities and provide them with the resources they need to minister to their congregations. Protect all those who trust in you from persecution and discrimination.

In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.

“You are the salt of the earth. …  You are the light of the world. … let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:13, 14, 16 NIV)

It’s easy these days to gloss over or ignore any news reports you read about Covid-related crises, especially as the entire world has been dealing with the pandemic for almost two years now. However, in Vietnam, a real and urgent Covid-19 crisis has been unfolding in the last few months, triggered by the highly contagious Delta variant that has hit the country particularly hard.

This recent Covid crisis has come as a surprise and caught people off-guard in a country that was applauded and admired last year for its success in keeping the virus under control through aggressive contact tracing and quarantine measures. Average daily cases of Covid-19 hovered around 200 at the start of June but surged to more than 12,000 a day last month. As of mid-October, daily cases are almost at 4,000. In total, there have been almost 850,000 infections and more than 20,000 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began.

In May, the Revival Ekklesia Mission house church in Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) was publicly singled out by authorities and blamed for an outbreak in June. They were threatened with criminal investigation and permanent closure despite numerous other outbreak sources left unmentioned by the government or reported in the media.

The government has since made a desperate bid to stem the sharp surge and spread of Covid-19.  In the outbreak epicentre of Ho Chi Minh City and 18 other provinces, the government imposed a strict lockdown that prevented citizens from leaving their homes, not even to buy food. Soldiers were deployed to enforce the restrictions by patrolling the streets. These lockdown restrictions were eased in early October.

The government has now abandoned the “Zero Covid” strategy that had been so successful before the Delta variant, but the impact of the lockdown has been widespread, with many of the poorest and those who have lost jobs going hungry without access to daily food and basic necessities.

There have been multiple examples of local churches going above and beyond to respond to this desperate need, even amidst the persecution and threats of prosecution after churches and Christians began to be blamed for spreading Covid due to two house churches that were traced as sources of two early outbreaks in March and April this year.

Church leaders have been delivering hundreds of food packages to the neediest members of their congregation as well as the poorest in their communities, despite the risk of exposure to Covid. One leader shared how there has been an opportunity to show compassion to the soldiers patrolling the streets in the heat and humidity without sufficient hydration, by loading his car with bottles of water and handing them out to the grateful soldiers.

In this dire situation, there have also been opportunities to share the gospel message. One example was a pastor including details of his online church service with food packet deliveries to those in need, many of whom are unchurched. He reported that average Facebook visits for his church exploded from a few hundred to 15,000, prompting him to make his services evangelistic.

While the Covid situation is starting to improve and the authorities are reopening the country, let’s press in to pray for Vietnam, specifically that:

• the spread of Covid-19 and the Delta variant in particular ceases and cases drop significantly to safer and more manageable levels across the country.
• the government secures more supplies of official vaccines, so they can boost the overall vaccination rate across the country which remains low (less than 10 percent of the population were fully vaccinated by the end of September).
• aid, food, necessities and medical supplies reach those most in need, including the poor, unemployed and those suffering from Covid-19 infection.
• those who have lost family members and loved ones during the pandemic have an opportunity to grieve properly, as many of those who died in this latest outbreak were buried industrially and family members were not permitted to hold funerals.
• the local church and Christians in Vietnam are able to take advantage of this unique time and opportunity to share the redemptive message of the gospel to counter the despair and hopelessness during the pandemic and for persecution of the church by the authorities to stop.

 

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,
just as in fact you are doing.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV)

The Vietnamese government has accused a pastor couple of causing a major coronavirus outbreak and begun a criminal investigation into the activities of their house church, Revival Ekklesia Mission (REM).

Pastor Phuong Van Tan and his wife Pastor Vo Xuan Loan, and their son, daughter and son-in-law have all been hospitalised with the virus, and are further accused of not reporting their illness.

Health officials alleged that the couple allowed REM church members in Ho Chi Minh City to pray and sing without masks or proper social-distancing restrictions. They claimed they were able to trace a COVID-19 outbreak, which has since led to the city’s lockdown, to the church. This is despite the government banning meetings of more than 20 people since mid-May, the church gathering mostly online, and only seven people present in person at the meeting where the pastors purportedly contracted the virus.

The cluster of cases at REM church has coincided with outbreaks elsewhere in Vietnam and the discovery of a dangerous new variant of the virus that combines traits of the “Delta” and “Alpha” variants.

But the targeting of the church is clear. On 28 May, the Government Committee for Religious Affairs issued a bulletin requesting local authorities to specifically target house churches for inspection and education to do with COVID-19 regulations. On 30 May, REM church’s registration was “temporarily suspended.” Then on 1 June, local security police announced that the church was under criminal investigation for spreading COVID-19.

Christian leaders have responded by asking that the government show compassion to REM church and its members rather than hostility and persecution.

Christians in Vietnam fear that authorities are using the REM outbreak as a reason to impose extra restrictions on all religious bodies, especially house churches. Although authorities in Hanoi found that congregants at REM church’s two Hanoi branches tested negative for COVID-19, all religious gatherings in the capital have been forced to close with immediate effect.

From her hospital bed in Ho Chi Minh City, Pastor Loan has given her own account, which differs from some claims by the health officials. Though she had travelled to Hanoi before the meeting in question, she believes she contracted the virus only after her return from the capital, and was not the source of the cluster. She also denied that the congregation gathered without wearing masks.

“It is not true,” she said. “I am the one who always asked people from my church to wear a mask. I brought masks to all the people of the church and to people in the community.” Pastor Loan added that the church had received a donation of 2,000 masks that she distributed to church members and neighbours.

REM church was founded in the 1990s. As a small church in Vietnam, it joins the many others that have suffered harassment from the government. Vietnam is ranked 19th on the 2021 Open Doors World Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

Home Group Prayer 

Heavenly Father, we come before you humble and ready to follow in your way. We are thankful that within this turbulent and challenging time you remain the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Thank you that we can bring our prayers and petitions to you, knowing that you hear us, and you care for each of us and our every need.

Lord! Today, we lift to you our brothers and sisters in Vietnam, and we think especially of Pastor Tan and Pastor Loan. Lord, would you heal them, their family, and church members fully from the virus. Please help them to have the courage to continue with their ministry in spite of the difficulties. We are so thankful for their hearts for you and we pray you encourage them in their work.

We pray also for the health officials and other government bodies. Lord, soften their hearts and turn them towards you. Lord, would you reveal yourself to the people of Vietnam, that they might know your love and your mercy.

Amen.