August Blog...

Vietnam, The Nam, depending on your age you may be well familiar with the Vietnam War and the plethora of associated films and TV programs depicting it.  Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Tour of Duty, Good Morning Vietnam, Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter to name just a few.  Forest Gump did a tour there, Rambo went back there and Bill Clinton avoided it by going to Canada.

 

The French Foreign Legions worst moment although ironically they record it as their finest hour was in Vietnam where they were overrun by Communist forces at place called Diem Bien Phu.   And similarly too the world’s mightiest nation America has been forever changed by the set back they received in it.  In fact no other nation arguably had more effect on the politics of the Free world during the late sixties and beyond for a decade than Vietnam.   It is true when they say that the Vietnam War defined a generation.

So what was it going to be like for me to go and work with the Underground Church in Vietnam which is still a Communist Nation 33 years after the war officially ended?  What would the nation be like now when 50% of the population is aged under 30?

Vietnam was until recently on the US State Departments list of countries of particular concern.  That is a country that inhibits or prevents freedom of religion to such an extent will be noted by the US Government and receive trade cuts as a punishment.  As the government in Hanoi has embarked on a focussed period of economic development for the nation and are keen to avoid unfavourable trading status there have been steps to loosen the hold over religious activity.  In Vietnam at present a set quantity of bibles are permitted to be printed and a state run church operates throughout the nation.  In fact in its show case city to the world Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) churches formally associated with the underground movement have now received registration to operate without hindrance.But this is a beginning and there is still a long way to go, persecution is ongoing especially for rural people.  There is a real fear in communist country governments that there will be a revolutionary attempt to overthrow them.  This is not an irrational fear, because it was through revolution they stormed into power the first place! So like what is currently happening in China, there is still pressure and control, applied to any group who are not registered with the government.In fact like China, there is a battle waging between progressive forward thinkers and more stoic communist hardliners, both of whom belong to the communist party and the line between the two is a little hazy at best.  I  remember a comment in the book “Mr China” (about foreign investment in the PRC in the 1990’s) where the author summarises by saying that despite the drive within to open China up to the world there is still an indefinable spookiness or evil (my words) still evident in China.  And this is no different in Vietnam.  The real beauty and blessing of my trip was to see how much the Vietnamese church both registered and unregistered, but particularly the latter has achieved.  In fact if we exported their programs to NZ we would be the better for it!  Youth programs, women’s programs, pastor training, teams and infrastructure to support the persecuted are very successful.  This is due in no small part to the dedication of their leaders.  Take this as an example:The people involved in the women to women course will pray and fast each year for revival for 30 to 40 days and have been doing so strictly for the last three years! The ladies we interviewed believe this is why the North and in fact the whole country is opening up.They also fast for 3 days every quarter and 2 times a month they will pray and fast during an overnight prayer meeting.Before I left I had the privilege of speaking to a group of young Christian adults many preparing for and studying at university.  I came away from the meeting (sitting on the back of a moped in the Saigon twilight, with the soft tropical air floating past) with an overwhelming sense that the people I had just met will be the new leaders of Vietnam.Let us continue to pray for this dynamic country so that it will truly become God’s own, least another principality more evil than the last takes control.