How it All Began

In April of 1975, Pastor John Dovinh left communist ruled Vietnam for the United States as a refugee. Because John was an ordained Christian pastor, he was subject to arrest, torture, and death because of the persecution Vietnam's Christians were enduring.

In the States, John served as an independent Lutheran, while he continued to study at several Lutheran seminaries. In 1985, John was ordained into the American Lutheran Church which later became the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Between the years of 1985 - 2001, Pastor John served several congregations and was a member of several special ministries and committees.

It was in 1992 that John felt called to return to Vietnam as a missionary to share the Gospel with his people. Since 1986, the Vietnamese Communist government has loosening some of its economic and social controls. Nevertheless, religious persecution was still prevalent.

Since 1994, Pastor John began to train lay leaders and he organized the Lutheran Congregations in Vietnam (LCV). By 1998, the LCV had around 600 members, 10 key preachers, and congregations. The Christians had to worship in secret in their homes much like the early Christians of the first two centuries.

In 1998, the LCV congregations decided to organize. In 1998 members of this small organization came together and elected the Rev. John Dovinh as its President. Despite the enthusiasm of these new Christians, they had to struggle with government oppression, lack of theological trained leadership, and funding.

By 2003, John had moved to Des Moines, Iowa. It was there that John met the Rev. Mark Vander Tuig, pastor at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Altoona, Iowa. John, Mark, and Britt Adair, a Vietnam Veteran and member of the LCC, came together to form the Lutheran Vietnamese Ministries (LVM). LVM would operate under the umbrella of the Lutheran Church of the Cross.

Since this time, LVM has grown to support over 25 congregations scattered between central and south Vietnam. Recently, these Vietnamese congregations voted to become officially a member of with LCMC (Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ). This is the wider church affiliation in which the Lutheran Church of the Cross belongs. LVM now takes an official name Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ Viet Nam
(LCMC-V).

Gregory B. Lindsey

December 21, 2009