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2010-06-01 issue:

Vietnam Mennonite Church ordains 26 pastors

Vietnam Mennonite Institute in Theology and Renewal officially opens.

by Jewel Showalter of Eastern Mennonite Missions

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After what felt like a long, cold winter of hard work and preparation, the Vietnam Mennonite Church (VMC) is enjoying a lush springtime of growth and development that parallels the rapid economic and social development of the country.

The 26 newly credentialed pastors and their wives sing a song of consecration after the ordination. Photo by Gerry Keener.

Pastor Nguyen Quang Trung, chairman of the VMC, officiated at a joyful March 20 ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City, graduating 30 students from an in-service pastoral training class and ordaining 26 Mennonite pastors who had come from provinces and cities all over Vietnam.

Trung had led a small group of faithful Mennonites during three decades when the church was not officially recognized by the government. This public celebration, in which government officials even sent congratulations and colorful bouquets to the newly credentialed leaders, moved him.

More than 100 Mennonite leaders and lay believers joined the festivities, held in a large banquet hall near the church’s headquarters.

Pastor Nguyen Minh Sang, general secretary of the denomination, led in an opening prayer of thanks to God for blessing the church. Vice chair Nguyen Hong An led a period of worship.

Trung, assisted by Gerry Keener, a nonresident missionary with Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM), handed out certificates to 30 graduates who had been meeting one week per quarter for the past four years.

In the ordination service, Trung charged the 26 pastors, all of whom had completed the certificate program and were serving in pastoral positions in Mennonite churches, to commit themselves fully to the work of the Lord. He urged them to share the gospel with godly passion.

Another celebration came a week later with the official opening of the Vietnam Mennonite Institute in Theology and Renewal. The new school, which offers a bachelor's degree program in theology, had just enrolled 14 students and finished its first week of classes. Palmer Becker, under special assignment by Mennonite Church Canada, and Keener collaborated to teach "The Biblical Story" as the first course in the new bachelor’s level program.

Pastor Sang reported that the VMC now has 90 local churches and about 8,500 members with 140 pastors and evangelists across the country.

Mennonite Central Committee first entered Vietnam in 1954, followed by workers with EMM in 1957. A local Mennonite church grew to around 150 baptized members before being closed in 1978. The missionaries all left in 1975.

For the next 15 years, without contact with North America, Nguyen Quang Trung kept the vision of a Mennonite church alive, and he repeatedly attempted to register the church with the government.

In 1997, EMM workers Gerry and Donna Keener went to Vietnam and quietly connected with Mennonite leaders and churches for fellowship and leadership training.

Although the Keeners spent most of their time working in administration and teaching at the Saigon South International School, they were always delighted when opportunities for pastoral training with Mennonites emerged.

Then in 2007, when the Vietnamese government officially recognized the Vietnam Mennonite Church, the doors opened for the church to legally organize its own leadership training schools.

In March, the Keeners began a half-time role as nonresident EMM missionaries to Vietnam with a focus on theological education and leadership development for the Vietnam Mennonite Church. The Keener family had moved back to the United States in the summer of 2009, but Gerry was delighted to be present for the launch of the Vietnam Menno­nite Institute, the graduation and ordinations.

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