Vietnamese Authorities Alleged of Destroying Section of Mennonite Church

The Vietnam Mennonite Church centre in Ho Chi Minh City District 2 was allegedly torn down by authority officials on Tuesday 19th July, according to Compass Direct. It is not only the Church building but also it is the home of the persecuted Church leader Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and his family.

Currently, Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang is in prison serving a three-year sentence for allegedly resisting an officer. When the incident happened on Tuesday, only his wife, Le Thi Phu Dung and two of her three small children were in the house.

It was reported by Compass Direct that around 70 workers, allegedly sent by the Vietnamese authorities, came to the Church on Tuesday morning. They claimed the four-meter addition to the main centre of the Church building had been built without a permit, and started destroying it using their sledge hammers and electric saws.

Later, they continued to destroy an additional 4.8-meter portion, including the church meeting hall and the apartment of the Quang family above it. After 4 hours, only a pile of cement, rebar and wood was left at the site.

According to Compass Direct, Quang has attempted to appeal to the workers not to destroy the church. However, one of the workers said, "Please sympathise with us, we are only hired hands and are only doing this because we need to put food on our tables. We don’t want to destroy the church, and we’ll be very careful not to destroy any of the church’s moveable property."

The Vietnam Mennonite Church has a long history of persecution. Three Vietnamese house church leaders have submitted testimonies to the International Relation Committee of the House of Representatives in Washington D.C., on Monday 20th June.

The three leaders are Rev. Tran Mai, general director of the Inter-Evangelistic Movement of Vietnam, Evangelist Truong Tri Hien of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, and Rev. Pham Dinh Nhan of the United Gospel Outreach church

In the 14-page long testimony, Mennonite missionary Truong Tri Hien, who fled Vietnam last year, documented 77 actions against the Vietnam Mennonite church and headquarters that took place between 8th June 2004 and 31st May 2005.

On Wednesday, a delegation of the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship led by the Rev. Pham Dinh Nhan went to visit and comfort Quang and her children. Quang reports that her husband is in failing health, suffering from forced labour and mistreatment in the prison.

Compass Direct said that Quang has written two appeals to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai asking how the Mennonite Church might become legal, but she has received no answer. Police regularly raid small, quiet prayer and Bible study sessions at the Mennonite centre.

The US Department of State has condemned Vietnam for violating religious freedom. Earlier this year, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) designated Vietnam a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for persecuting minority Protestants, Catholics and independent Buddhists.

Last week, the severe Christian persecution in Vietnam was even highlighted for debate in the House of Commons in London. One of the MPs said, "...We should be taking up such cases and telling the Vietnamese authorities that we know what is going on and that they must desist."

House church leaders in Vietnam informed Compass that they remain "highly sceptical" of Vietnam’s supposedly liberalised religion laws inviting unofficial churches to register. Since the announcing the Ordinance on Religion in November 2004, no churches have accepted the invitation to register.