• Providing Bibles and Bible studies that demonstrate God loves and values women
• Educating families and supplying them with resources to overcome oppressive cultural influences
• Counseling and supporting new believers to endure and rise above unspeakable torment
• Teaching vocational skills to women so they can provide for themselves and their families
• Training Christian women to read and break the cycle of illiteracy.

At Women of the Way monthly meetings around the United States, women gather to:

• Learn about the history, theology and current events regarding Christian persecution
• Pray on behalf of women who suffer for their faith
• Support financially specific projects to assist women of the Persecuted Church
• Encourage women through letter writing campaigns and visits to the field.

Susan Boren, who attends a Women of the Way chapter in Orange County (CA), visited Colombia this spring and came home with a changed heart:

“The trip transformed my thinking. At home, I read and hear stories, or listen to sermons that affect me momentarily, and then I tend to forget them. However, when I came face-to-face with those who lived the stories, they became deeper and more personal. I will never forget the women and children of Colombia. This was truly a life-changing experience.”

Huckaby, also National Director of Women of the Way, adds: “I am amazed at the resourcefulness of WOW groups across the country which have raised awareness, prayer and funds through auctions, walk-a-thons, banquets, bazaars and so much more. Being a woman in America in the church is an extraordinary opportunity and a huge responsibility. Women’s groups in churches are generously accepting the challenge.”

For information about a WOW chapter near you and how your church can start a chapter, contact Open Doors USA at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (524-2535) or go to www.odusa.org. To sign up for a free WOW Newsletter designed for women’s groups in churches, call the toll free number. The fall 2004 issue focuses on Colombia and includes testimonies, information on the church in Colombia, a quiz, Bible lessons and action/prayer points.

An estimated 200 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with another 200 to 400 million facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors serves and strengthens the Persecuted Church in the world's most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development and prayer and presence ministry. To partner with Open Doors, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (524-2535) or go to our USA web site at www.odusa.org.  To request a complimentary six-month subscription to our monthly newsletter Frontline Faith, call 888-5-BIBLE-5 or register on-line.

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Vietnam’s Evangelical Fellowship Responds to New Religion Law

Call to prayer sent to hundreds of house churches.

Special to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY, September 1 (Compass) -- The Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF) has just released a statement on Vietnam’s new Ordinance on Religion, due to take effect on November 15. 

The VEF is an organization of about 30 unregistered house church organizations representing many hundreds of house churches. The August 30 letter states, “This Ordinance will create many problems and disadvantages for the church, especially for our gatherings for worship. At the same time, it is likely to permanently outlaw our house church organizations, none of which have been recognized since 1975. Many articles in this Ordinance will also provide a legal basis for local authorities to hinder and persecute the church.”

This new law purportedly guarantees religious freedom in one article but uses most of the remaining 40 articles for detailing a long series of complicated regulations to insure close state management of religious activity.

The VEF reportedly worked and prayed long and hard to forge the consensus for this letter.  It is a courageous statement, especially in that it asks prayer for the government of Vietnam to withdraw the Ordinance issued on June 18, and to stop all forms of persecution and hindrances to the church’s activities.

 Though this letter is a request to Christians in Vietnam, it was sent abroad with a request for wide international distribution to gain greater prayer support.

VIETNAM EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP  

R5 Duong D3 Cu Xa Van Thanh Bac,                          

Ward 25, Binh Thanh District, HCM City                                            

' (08) 512.0966

----------------------------------------------------

August 30, 2004

A CALL TO PRAYER

To all the Pastors, Preachers and Members
of the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship.

On behalf of the Board of V.E.F., we respectfully send this letter to you Pastors, Preachers, and Members, greeting you in the Name of our Lord Jesus.

Praise the Lord for His salvation and grace and for including us in His Kingdom in the Name of Jesus Christ!  Because of this we have the privilege to worship Him and to serve Him -- our Sovereign and Faithful God (Ephesians 1:3-10).

As Christians will know, immediately after April 30, 1975, many churches were closed, and Bible schools and church institutions were used for other purposes. Because of the requirement of our spiritual needs, we formed churches in private homes to maintain our worship and spiritual activities.  From 1975 until today, we have, for the sake of the Lord Jesus, suffered much persecution and discrimination from different levels of the government.

On June 18, 2004, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly issued an official Ordinance on Religion, No. 21/2004/PL-UBTVQH11 scheduled to come into effect on November 15, 2004. This Ordinance will create many problems and disadvantages for the church, especially for our gatherings for worship. At the same time, it is likely to permanently outlaw our house church organizations, none of which have been recognized since 1975. Many articles in this Ordinance will also provide a legal basis for local authorities to hinder and persecute the church.

In this situation, we feel the call of God to follow the example of the saints in the time of King Xerxes of the Medes-Persian Empire (Esther 4:13-16), that is to humble ourselves, calling upon our God for the church and for freedom to worship God in Vietnam.

On behalf of all pastors of the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship, we are authorized to respectfully proclaim to all the Lord’s people, a call to all Pastors, Preachers and Christians to devote three days each month, from September to November 2004, as follows: September 5-7; October 3-5; November 7-9, in order to fast and pray for the following requests:

1. that the Almighty Lord would continue to protect and vindicate the Church (Acts. 5:38,39).

2. that all believers in local areas would faithfully gather to worship the Lord and stand firm in all circumstances (Acts. 5:41-42).

3. that all leaders of the churches, all leaders of small groups, all of the host families of churches would have the wisdom and courage needed to lead the flock (Acts. 4:29-30).

4. that the government of all levels from the central to the local, throughout all of Vietnam, will soon recognize God’s sovereignty so that they will withdraw the Ordinance issued on June 18, 2004, and so that they will give up their prejudices towards the Church, and stop all forms of persecution and hindrances to the Church’s activities (1Timothy 2:1-2; Proverbs 21: 1).

May God’s peace be with you.

Respectfully, on behalf of the VEF Leadership Committee

Rev.  Pham Dinh Nhan

Chairman

Note: A translation of The Ordinance on Beliefs and Religions, made public Monday, July 12, is found on the World Evangelical Alliance website, http://worldevangelical.org/persec_vietnam_18june04.html. Several leading Catholic priests also called for the recall of the Ordinance.  Their commentary can be found on a Freedom House posting at:   http://freedomhouse.org/religion/country/vietnam/Commentary%20on%20Ordinance.pdf

Sidebar: Among Vietnam’s 81.6 million people are 8 million Christians, including 1.2 million evangelicals -- with an estimated 250,000 Hmong believers. Evangelicals are growing at an annual rate above 6 percent, according to Operation World.  On the World Evangelical Alliance website, the Geneva Report 2004 states, “The government of Vietnam recognizes as legal only some 20 percent of Vietnam’s 1.2 million Protestants. Those belonging to the Evangelical Church of Vietnam - North (recognized in mid 1960s) and the Evangelical Church of Vietnam - South (recognized in 2001) find their activities severely curtailed. The oppression of the majority of Protestant Christians in Vietnam, mainly minority Montagnards in the Central Highlands, and Hmong and Dao in the Northwest provinces, remains systematic and severe.”

Copyright 2004 Compass Direct

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 Asia Pacific Asylum Seekers Shelter in Japan's Beijing Embassy [VOA]
Steve Herman - Tokyo

Twenty-nine people, believed to be North Koreans, are in the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. Earlier, the group broke into the compound of a Japanese school in the Chinese capital. The incident is likely to spark a sensitive round of diplomacy involving several Asian nations.
The 11 men, 15 women, and three children are said to be asking for asylum in a third country. Video footage broadcast in Japan showed a stepladder, folding chairs, wire cutters, and a woman's sandal near holes cut through two fences surrounding the Japanese school in Beijing.

Japanese officials say the asylum seekers briefly scuffled with guards outside the school.

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Akira Chiba says the group was quickly taken by car from the school to an embassy office.

"Now we are trying to find out where they came from," said Akira Chiba. "At this moment we are not sure if they are from North Korea, but apparently they are speaking in the Korean language."

Mr. Chiba says there was no confrontation with Chinese authorities.

For the past three years, dozens of North Korean refugees have sought asylum at foreign diplomatic facilities and schools in China. Most have been taken to a third country before going on to South Korea.

But if the Chinese authorities catch them, the refugees are sent back to North Korea.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans fleeing starvation and repression at home have crossed into China. Many hope to eventually reach South Korea.

Meanwhile, Vietnam denied it was involved in last month's airlift of more than was 460 North Korean refugees. A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Hanoi says reports about Vietnam's role are groundless.

Diplomats and human-rights workers say the refugees flew to South Korea from Vietnam, but Seoul has not confirmed that.

North Korea reportedly withdrew its ambassador from Vietnam to express its anger over the airlift. Pyongyang has criticized its fellow communist state by accusing it of conspiring with South Korea and the United States in the incident.

Pyongyang lashed out after the airlift, saying the refugees had been kidnapped by the South.

 Also see:
 
29 North Korean refugees rush into Japanese school in Beijing [ChannelNewsAsia]

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Refugees From Vietnam Unimpressed With Kerry [CNSNews.com]
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) – They can't vote in November’s U.S. presidential election, but many Vietnamese living in the West would like to see the campaign focus more on Senator John Kerry’s approach toward Vietnam today. Many were incensed when U.S. legislation aimed at forcing the Vietnamese government to improve its human rights record stalled in the Senate because Kerry blocked its progress... [more]

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