wfn.org | Seminary races to keep pace with growth of Vietnamese Protestant

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Note #6945 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

church
12-November-2001
01426

Seminary races to keep pace with growth of Vietnamese Protestant church 

Christian school sets goal of producing 10,000 pastors by 2020 

by Jerry Van Marter
              
GARDEN GROVE, Ca. - In the unlikeliest of places - a former nursing home
tucked away in the urban sprawl of the Los Angeles basin - a small but
determined band of Vietnamese Christians and their Presbyterian allies are
feverishly training pastors and lay leaders to serve the rapidly-growing
(and mostly illegal) Protestant church in their country and around the
world.

The Vietnamese Theological College (also known as Union College of
California) is the only state-approved Vietnamese-language theological
school in the world. Since its founding in 1986, more than 1,000 students
have trained to become church leaders in Vietnamese Protestant communities
around the world and, increasingly in recent years, in Vietnam.

In 1991, VTC began expanding its operations, establishing satellite campuses
in Europe and Australia. In 1993 it began a modest and very quiet
theological-studies program in Vietnam, a predominantly Buddhist and
Catholic country where Protestants are deeply distrusted by the government
because of their history of aggressive evangelism.

Only one Protestant congregation is allowed to worship publicly in the
entire country. Protestant worship and ministry is carried out covertly
through a vast network of "house churches."

Despite such obstacles, the Protestant church is growing rapidly in Vietnam,
taxing VTC's ability to produce enough pastors and lay leaders to serve the
burgeoning community.

The key to Protestant growth is outreach to college students, according to a
Vietnamese pastor who asked not to be identified. He spoke to a group of 50
Presbyterian visitors to the VTC campus here as part of a "Hospitality in
the Household of God" conference sponsored in nearby Anaheim by the
Worldwide Ministries Division Nov. 1-4.

"About five years ago, some of us got together and determined that if we
could convert college students to Christianity, we could change the society
of Vietnam," the pastor said. "When students go to witness, they are
persecuted or arrested, but thanks to the Lord, 12,000 students have become
Christians in this time."

There are now 700,000 Protestant Christians in Vietnam - out of a total
population of 80 million. Vietnamese Protestant leaders expect that number
to rise to more than a million within 10 years. Such growth is putting
tremendous pressure on VTC to train more pastors and lay leaders.

Current VTC enrollment at all of its campuses numbers about 500. Another 400
student leaders are being trained underground in Vietnam in groups of 15 to
20. The purchase of a former nursing home here in 1998 represents a major
step forward in VTC's efforts to train more Protestant church leaders.

Pastor Thuy of the only government-sanctioned Protestant church in Vietnam
told the group: "We need a lot of pastors to train the newly converted. All
of the Bible schools in Vietnam have been closed since 1976, so VTC is the
only school we have to train the pastors."

VTC's long-term goal is to train 10,000 pastors between now and 2020. "And
of course we hope to have a seminary in Vietnam within the next five to 10
years," said Cuong H. Nguyen, VTC's president. "This is our goal - but who
knows?"

VTC charges no tuition, and its library - housed in a small mobile home
parked on campus - is sparse, but the Vietnamese church leaders are
determined and optimistic. The Vietnamese community, which numbers more than
one million in the United States, including 150,000 in the Los Angeles area,
is generally supportive. The Presbytery of Los Ranchos has become a major
supporter of the college. VTC has recently established a joint study program
with San Francisco Theological Seminary, which also has a campus in southern
California.

"The Vietnamese people are a huge mission field, in Vietnam, the U.S. and
around the world," said the Rev. David Dolan, associate executive of Los
Ranchos Presbytery. "The need for pastors, Christian workers and Christian
literature is so great. We hope Presbyterians will join us in prayer and
support for this vital work."

For more information, visit VTC's Web site: www.unioncollege.edu, or contact
David Dolan by email at presbytery@losranchos.org or by phone at
714-956-3691.
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