(photo on the right) Larry Blackburn of Oklahoma, left, and Hoi Chung, pastor of Le Tho Phoung United Methodist Church in Vietnam, sing during Mission Bible School at the church. (photo on left), Tommy Walters helps a child with crafts during Mission Bible School at Le Tho Phuong UMC in Vietnam.

Vietnam welcomes first VIM team
Below is the first of two related stories in this issue of "Contact" May 1, 2009
Also see:
'Many times I had pictured myself returning'

Please help our people find Christ

In February, Oklahoma Volunteers In Mission expanded their international service. For the first time, a team ministered in Vietnam.

The group of 14 Oklahomans went to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) to help renovate a building for use by a church and to add a parsonage.

Three U.S. military veterans who had fought in the Vietnam War were members of that team. Four decades after the war, their return to the country on behalf of the Church was a powerful experience, said Jeremy Basset, VIM director.

"We have high expectations of being able to send three more construction teams within the next year to 18 months, and also to launch a medical mission program in the rural areas of Vietnam," Rev. Basset reported in the VIM Share magazine.

In 2006, Basset met a Church leader from Vietnam when both attended the 2006 World Methodist Conference, in Seoul, South Korea. They discussed possibilities for partnership ministries.

Basset then traveled to Vietnam in 2008. He met clergy couple Ut and Karen Van To, who are United Methodist missionaries serving in that nation. They are assigned through the denomination’s General Board of Global Ministries. Both are elders of Michigan Conference.

After the Vietnam War, the couple had fled the country in a rickety boat loaded with people. Its engine failed, leaving them adrift for days without food and water. Pirates boarded the craft, seizing possessions and some of the women. Clutching her 4-month-old son, Karen was not taken hostage.

More than two decades later, the ministers felt called to return to their native land and help lead the embryonic United Methodist work there. Basset said they now lead a thriving Church of almost 70 congregations, located throughout that nation.

"Their passion for their own people was remarkable," said Basset of his visit with the couple. "They have left their two adult children in the U.S.A. to return to serve their own people once more. What an amazing experience it was to see how this Church is being formed."

He continued, "I saw a church located not in big buildings on busy thoroughfares, but down the back alleys and on dirt roads on the edge of town, or deep in the middle of industrial areas, ministering to the marginalized and the poor."

The missionaries’ request: "Please help us help our people find Christ and build their lives on the hope of the gospel."

Returning to Oklahoma, Basset shared their request as he preached at Oklahoma churches.

"The response when I mentioned Vietnam was amazing," he said. "It was as if they were drawn by God’s Spirit to go!"

Future teams will continue the renovation and construction projects. The February group also presented a Mission Bible School, and Basset led a three-day clergy training session on "The Mission of the Church."

Basset said, "There is much for us to learn from the passion and commitment of this Church, still struggling in places to be recognized by the government of the country, and in places still meeting in secret. We believe this partnership will only deepen and strengthen with time."

(Vietnam stories and photos in this newspaper are from the Spring 2009 VIM Share magazine)