The Evangelical Church, which has grown out of the missionary efforts of the CMA, has roots throughout the country. Its structure is congregationalist. The individual congregations enjoy considerable autonomy, and there is, at the national level, no synodal authority. Two leaders, one in the North and one in the South, are regarded as spokespersons for the church: Pasteur Hoang Kim Phuc for the North and Pasteur Nguyen Van Quan for the South. The church is far more numerous in the South than in the North. In the North the church is served by some 25 pastors. Most churches hold evangelistic meetings on Thursdays in addition to the two Sunday worship services. Training classes for new Christians are held for periods of 6 to 8 weeks. Pastors receive their support entirely from their congregations. The seminary was briefly closed because of destruction caused by American bombing, but it was reopened in 1973 (Bible and Theological Institute in Nhatrang). In 1972 contact was made with the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, at which time the Vietnamese Prot leaders expressed criticism of America’s role in the war. Similar contacts were made with the World Council of Churches in 1973, which resulted in the initiation of aid grants through the WCC to the church. In 1954 many Christians moved to the South, and new foreign missions, as well as a number of other church-related organizations, entered the country. In 1973 there were 23 foreign missions and agencies with some 275 foreign mission personnel in South Vietnam. Eighteen other foreign missions and agencies provided support but no personnel. As a result of the fall of the Thieu regime in 1975, organized Prot churches and agencies were largely dispersed, and many Prot, including many pastors of the Evangelical Church, left Vietnam as refugees. Some particularly enterprising Vietnamese Christian converts, who became economically affluent, went back and started new churches in Vietnam — both in the North and the South. Today there are in the South about 1,000 local communities served by some 400 pastors; in addition, there are about 1,000 deacons who often fulfill pastoral functions. There are in the region of Hô Chi Minh City alone about 40 communities with 40 pastors and 55 deacons. In addition to the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, a total of 10 small indigenous groupings, according to some sources, have been established by Vietnamese Christians independent of Western foreign missions. These include small independent denominations formed during the 1960s. Among these are the Church of God and Vietnam Christ’s Church (224 Phan Dang Luu, Ho Chi Minh); the latter is the result of a schism in the Evangelical Church in 1964.
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