Shortly before the fall of Saigon in 1975, Le Quoc Chanh, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), came with his wife and young son to the home of missionary Sam James.
Chanh told James that he and his family had the opportunity to leave the war-ravaged country on a boat but weren’t sure what to do. They were going to spend the weekend praying. James, whose wife and children had already evacuated, pledged to join the Chanhs in prayer.
“Monday morning, they came back to my house,” James recalled. “Pastor Chanh told me they had decided to stay in Vietnam. He said that God had given him a flock to pastor, and he could not abandon his sheep.”
Both men knew the enormity of this decision.
Many churches closed their doors as turmoil and uncertainty enveloped the country. Grace Baptist was the only church that remained open and held services in the early days of the new Vietnamese government.
Today Grace Baptist still meets at its original location — the site in mid-November for services celebrating 50 years of Baptist work in Vietnam. Vietnamese Baptists, former missionaries and visitors from the United States and Cambodia gathered for worship, preaching and celebration. Nearly 725 people, including a number of government officials, attended the Nov. 15 service.
Chanh was seated on the front pew.
Although elderly and in poor health, Chanh retains the title of senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church. He stood briefly to accept a plaque from Bobby Welch, who represented the Southern Baptist Convention and was keynote speaker for the morning service.
Chanh’s son, Huy, is the associate pastor and has assumed many of the day-to-day responsibilities of the pastorate. Huy, who also serves as executive secretary of the Vietnam Baptist Convention, was the main organizer of the celebration.
In 2008, through Chanh’s and Huy’s leadership, the Vietnam Baptist Convention was organized, and it was officially recognized by the Vietnamese government to carry out its work among the country’s nearly 87 million people. The convention’s primary objectives are to start new churches, disciple believers, train workers, develop leaders, publish materials and meet human needs in the name of Jesus.
Baptist work in Vietnam began in 1959 when Herman and Dottie Hayes, the first Southern Baptist workers to the country, arrived in Saigon. Over the next few years, missionary families continued to respond to the call to work in Vietnam, and by 1975 the missions force had grown to nearly 40 families scattered throughout the south and central areas. (BP)
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