US embassy cable - 04HANOI711

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000711 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KIRF, PREL, PGOV, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR, ETMIN 
SUBJECT: POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS FOR NORTHERN PROTESTANT CHURCH 
 
REF: 03 HANOI 3216 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The situation for the Evangelical Church 
of Vietnam: North (ECVN) continues slowly to improve, with 
the long-delayed appointment of an ethnic minority preacher 
in Lang Son province as well as concrete steps towards 
holding a general congress soon.  The meeting, which would 
be the church's first since 1988, is now tentatively 
scheduled for early May.  About 800 churches in the 
Northwest Highlands have now received "certificates" of 
affiliation with the ECVN.  The ECVN is hoping to re- 
establish an official relationship with the Christian and 
Missionary Alliance (CMA) in the United States, which had 
originally founded the church, but from which ties have been 
cut since 1954.  The ECVN's new optimism and plans are 
welcome developments.  End Summary. 
 
Upcoming General congress -- at last 
------------------------------------ 
 
2. (SBU) In a February 27 meeting with DRL/IRF's senior 
advisor Will Inboden, Le Khac Dung and Dao Van Khue of the 
ECVN's executive board predicted a "70 percent chance" that 
a long-awaited 32nd general congress for the ECVN could be 
held this year, probably in May.  Pastor Au Quang Vinh of 
the ECVN church in Hanoi (who has been acting as unofficial 
head of the ECVN in the absence of formal approval by a 
general congress) told Dr. Inboden that the likelihood was 
only "50/50," however.  Separately, Pastor Vu Quang Huyen of 
the ECVN church in Nam Dinh City expressed more optimism to 
poloffs in late February, claiming that dates had already 
been set for May 4 to 6 in Hanoi.  Pastor Vinh confirmed to 
Pol/C on March 9 that no dates had been set and claimed that 
they would not be set until the Committee on Religious 
Affairs (CRA) agreed to the formal recognition of a pastor 
for the Haiphong Church, which has been pending for 
"unexplained reasons" for "years."  The ECVN and Haiphong 
authorities also continue at loggerheads even over 
appointment of a parish council (reftel). 
 
3. (SBU) All of the EVCN interlocutors pointed to various 
signs of progress for the northern Protestants.  Most 
significant was the CRA's recent recognition of Ly Tien Luu 
(an ethnic minority Dao) of the ECVN church in Lang Son as a 
preacher, after years of acting in an unofficial capacity. 
The regularization of Luu's status gives the ECVN 13 
registered preachers, of whom only three are formally 
recognized as pastors, however.  (Note: The position of 
preacher  --"truyen dao" -- was originally a temporary first 
step for seminary graduates before they could be assigned to 
a parish and become a pastor  --"muc su.")  Also significant 
is that all but one (Haiphong) of the ECVN's parishes have 
now held internal meetings to vote on their own leadership 
boards and determine delegates for the general congress. 
 
New charter and activities? 
--------------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) The ECVN plans to rewrite its charter in advance of 
the congress, a process that began in early March under the 
guidance of Pastor Vinh.  The new charter, which Vinh said 
would be modeled on that of the Southern Evangelical Church 
of Vietnam (SECV), would have to be accepted by the CRA 
before the congress, another potential obstacle, he noted. 
 
5. (SBU) All of these church leaders saw the hoped-for 
upcoming congress as an opportunity not only to reestablish 
the legal footing of the ECVN, but also to revitalize the 
church's activities.  A new board of 15 members will be 
elected, replacing the current one of three aged leaders 
(the others have died off or retired since the last 
congress).  Dung and Khue said that the members of this 
board would similarly require CRA approval, but predicted 
this will not be as difficult as in the past.  They 
suggested that 17 or 18 members might be voted to the board 
on the assumption some may be vetoed by the CRA. 
 
6.  (SBU)  Pastor Huyen suggested that the ECVN might also 
establish a board for "missionary" activities during the 
meeting.  Pastor Vinh described active but ongoing 
evangelistic activities currently taking place in Hanoi, 
with congregation members inviting non-believer families and 
friends to attend weekly discussion sessions at the church. 
Both Vinh and Huyen separately talked of the likelihood of 
establishing some type of Bible training course soon; Pastor 
Vinh envisioned a month-long seminar over each of the next 
six years as a precursor to the establishment of a full time 
Protestant seminary in Hanoi.  The congress might also 
establish a board for charity activities and a vocational 
training school for poor students, Pastor Huyen suggested. 
Northwest Highlands 
------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Pastor Vinh also noted some improvement in the 
situation for ethnic minority Protestants in the Northwest 
Highlands.  He noted that he had previously received 
frequent appeals from Protestants in the Highlands for 
intervention on their behalf, but that he has had none so 
far this year.  The ECVN continues to document Protestant 
congregations in the Northwest Highlands that wish to 
affiliate with the ECVN, and issue "certificates" asking 
local officials to allow them to practice their faith 
freely.  Eight hundred of these certificates have been 
issued so far, covering 110,000 congregation members, he 
claimed. (Note: this is an increase of 100 congregations and 
10,000 believers since December. End Note) Pastor Vinh 
claimed that the certificates were instrumental in improving 
treatment for unregistered Protestants by local authorities. 
Dung and Khue noted separately, however, that the CRA had 
warned the ECVN against issuing these certificates, saying 
that the ECVN should not make such affiliations without 
being well acquainted with the minority congregations. 
 
Ties with the outside world 
--------------------------- 
 
8. (SBU) The church leaders all commented on the recent 
visit to Vietnam of the President of the Christian and 
Missionary Alliance (CMA), Peter Nanfelt.  (The ECVN 
originally encompassed the 16 churches founded in the north 
by CMA missionaries in the early 20th century.)  Though 
official ties have been formally severed since 1954, the 
ECVN leaders said they wished to "express their gratitude" 
to the CMA for having established the roots of the church, 
and also wanted to explore whether titles to properties in 
Vietnam could be found in central CMA archives.  Pastor Vinh 
said he hoped that reconnecting with the CMA, and especially 
its Viet Khieu churches in America, could help the ECVN 
expand.  More guardedly, Dung and Khue said they would ask 
the GVN to "help" the ECVN develop these ties.  Pastor Vinh, 
Dung, and Khue all said that the ECVN would ultimately like 
to join with the SECV and become a single denomination for 
all of Vietnam, but predicted this would not come in the 
near term. 
 
9.  (SBU)  Pastor Vinh suggested the USG could help push the 
GVN into allowing the ECVN to renovate its largely ruined 
church in Thanh Hoa as well as to acquire land to build a 
new church in the city of Vinh, where the original ECVN 
facilities had been seized by the GVN many years before, and 
the church building later destroyed. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
10. (SBU) COMMENT: Despite some ongoing problems, the ECVN 
appears to have been rather reinvigorated in recent months, 
and the convening of a general congress -- after such a long 
delay -- would be a major big step forward.  Ambassador 
plans to encourage this development in a meeting with CRA 
Chairman Ngo Yen Thi on March 16.  At least these ECVN 
leaders appear -- unusually, in our experience -- to be 
looking to the future with new optimism and ambitious plans 
for growth and outreach. 
BURGHARDT