Dec. 15, 2008 issue
Lancaster leaders praise Vietnamese endurance of persecution
By Jewel Showalter Eastern Mennonite MissionsPage:
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HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Nguyen Quang Trung remembers previous years when he invited a handful of Mennonite believers into his home to celebrate Christmas.
Gerry Keener, left, an EMM worker in Vietnam, hosts international guests at a sidewalk café in Ho Chi Minh City during the Vietnam Mennonite Church celebrations. Around the table, from left, are Felicia Sibanda, Betsy Headrick McCrae, Michel Ummel, Keith Weaver, Felix Curbelo Valle, Don Sensenig and Richard Showalter. — Photo by Elina Ciptadi/MWC
The meetings were often interrupted by police. Sometimes he’d be hauled off for questioning and levied a fine for meeting illegally.
Not anymore. At its first legally organized conference Nov. 15-17, the Vietnam Mennonite Church elected Trung as its president.
Trung, a skilled administrator and determined visionary, has led during more than 20 years underground, waiting to see the emergence of this church.
Keith Weaver, moderator of Lancaster Mennonite Conference, and Richard Showalter, president of Eastern Mennonite Missions, attended this inauguration of the Vietnam Mennonite Church as an officially recognized denomination in Vietnam.
“It has been a privilege for LMC to play a small part in this amazing drama,” Weaver said. “We cherish the apostolic bond God has forged between us — and look forward to walking together into the future.”
Don Sensenig, a former EMM missionary in Vietnam, attended along with the current EMM team in Vietnam — Gerry and Donna Keener and Orpha Gehman.
After the confer-ence, Weaver and Showalter joined other international delegates in visits to four Mennonite congregations outside Ho Chi Minh City.
“We were moved by the fervent testimonies, beautiful hospitality and Spirit-anointed simplicity of the believers,” Showalter said. “There were also many stories of suffering for the sake of Christ.”
One pastor explained how his house church transformed into a larger congregation with a meetinghouse. The local authorities harassed them regularly, but now they’ve apologized.
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