A Legacy of Faithfulness & an Invitation to Partner

In April 1975, as the North Vietnamese forces surrounded Saigon and fear gripped the city, a young pastor named Dinh Thien Tu made a courageous decision. With a borrowed van and a megaphone, he climbed onto its roof and openly preached the gospel in the streets—calling people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, fully aware that such boldness could cost him his life. Despite repeated warnings from friends and family, Pastor Tu continued proclaiming the good news.

The Lord protected him, and after the fall of Vietnam, he continued to minister to his congregation. God’s anointing was evident. Within 13 years (1975–1988), the congregation grew from just 40 members to more than 5,000 believers gathering weekly for worship, becoming the largest single Christian congregation in Vietnam at that time.

The authorities eventually moved to silence him. In 1991, Pastor Tu was arrested by the secret police and disappeared for four months before his family learned he had been imprisoned. He spent 26 months in harsh conditions where many inmates died. Yet God preserved him. Even in prison, when he heard that the gospel work was continuing, he joyfully cried out, “Hallelujah!”

Before his arrest, Pastor Tu sensed persecution was coming and divided the church into small cell groups. When the main church was shut down, these groups became the foundation of what is now known as the Vietnamese house church movement. For this reason, Pastor Tu is widely regarded as the father of the Vietnamese underground church.

After his release in 1993, he immediately returned to discipling believers and training leaders. God again brought remarkable fruit. Through leadership training and innovative children’s evangelistic outreach, hundreds—and later thousands—came to faith, and more than 400 churches were planted across Vietnam.

In 2010, the Christian Fellowship Church of Vietnam (Lien Huu Co Doc) was formally recognized by the Vietnamese government as a legal Christian denomination. Today, alongside over 1,200 pastors and Christian workers, the church continues to preach the gospel, train leaders, and plant churches throughout Vietnam—from urban centers to remote regions, among ethnic Vietnamese and other ethnic minority groups.

Because Lien Huu Co Doc is deeply rooted in indigenous culture and distinctly Vietnamese, it receives little outside financial support. Yet the mission continues faithfully—and partnerships from believers around the world are welcomed and deeply needed.

An Invitation to Partner

The Christian Fellowship Church of Vietnam stands as a living testimony of God’s faithfulness through persecution, perseverance, and prayer. Through One Mission Partnership, believers around the world are invited to prayerfully explore how God may be leading them to walk alongside this faithful Vietnamese church family.

We would be honored to begin a conversation and discern together how you or your organization might partner in God’s work in Vietnam.

If you have questions or would like to learn more, please feel free to contact me directly at johnny@theonemission.org. For more information on how to give in support of God’s work in Vietnam, please visit our website: http://theonemission.org

With gratitude,