World Watch Monitor | Dec. 18, 2018
Christian leaders in Vietnam largely agree that little has changed since the new Law on Belief and Religion came into effect January 1, 2018. Its potentially positive provisions are unevenly applied, and completely ignored in remote areas where ethnic minorities continue under heavy persecution and yet convert to Christianity.
On 8 December in Ho Chi Minh City, about 100 congregations of the largest registered church in Vietnam, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South), were allowed for the first time eight years to hold a large, outdoor, public Christmas event. Billed as the Emmanuel Christmas Music event, featuring music and drama in a hi-tech, three-hour program, it attracted an estimated 20,000 people to Phu Tho Sports Field. About 1,000 people responding to the call to become Christian believers following a Gospel message.