WorldView - Vietnam

E stablishing the Church Among All Peoples Everywhere

Vietnam: Let the Light Shine:

Can one missionary, in a short time, make a difference? Here is a powerful story of how God used one missionary and a church to impact a nation with the gospel.

by James Wright and AGWM Communications staff

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Azerbaijan/Syria—In two nations that have limited access to the gospel, God is reaching people in despair though one-on-one encounters with global workers. These people are hearing and accepting this life-changing message.

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Burying a Seed — The Power of the Local Church

What happens when global workers are forced to leave a country? Read how one seed, planted 50 years ago, produced a spiritual harvest in the lives of thousands of people.

by Joy Myers

Perfume Pagoda in Hanoi

This WorldView Edition

One of the strengths of Assemblies of God World Missions is its partnership with national churches. AGWM’s commitment to send global workers to Vietnam during the early 1970s is a small picture of God’s deep love for the Vietnamese. This nation that was experiencing the devastation of war needed to hear the hope of the gospel. Today we see the fruit of the labors of these global workers and the commitment of the Vietnamese believers as they endured persecution, but continued to proclaim the gospel. We were so glad to be part of celebrating 50 years with the Vietnam Assemblies of God. Together we work to see His name made famous!

John Easter AGWM executive director

Our Vision

Christ will be proclaimed, and His Church will be established in all nations through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Mission

Establishing the Church among all peoples everywhere by reaching, planting, training, and serving.

ietnam today is a bustling tourist destination known for its beauty, food, and hospitality. Buildings along the streets — a compelling mix of modern and ancient — tower over the food stalls that punctuate the cityscape. Those eating at tables on the street demonstrate a real attachment to pho (a fragrant beef or chicken noodle soup), banh mi (a flavorful sandwich on French bread), and spring rolls — all international superstars. The fresh herbs, vegetables, and meats, often accompanied by rice or noodles and flavored with a variety of sauces, most notably a delicious fish sauce, make this food desirable. Along with the savory food are quick smiles and warm greetings, deeply rooted in cultural tradition and characterized by warmth, generosity, and a genuine desire to make guests feel welcome and respected.

Although the attitude toward Vietnam is changing, Vietnam remains etched in the American consciousness, primarily through the prism of war. The beautifully green jungle held and hid the death that lurked beneath its canopy. Memories haunt us: the fallen sons of Vietnam, American youth lost, and prisoners of war. For some the war history and personal loss is so great they shudder at the thought of reaching out to the Vietnamese with the gospel. They are like Jonah and the people of Israel during Ninevah’s time who shuddered at the thought of reaching out to the Ninevites. But we know God’s deep desire is that everyone finds their way to a saving faith in Him.

* Names changed for security

God’s Love for Vietnam

We see God’s persistent love for the entire nation in the story of Loya* and his family and the missionaries sent to co-labor with them.

Aaron and Linda Rothganger planted the first Assemblies of God church in Vietnam.

When Aaron and Linda Rothganger, AGWM missionaries, felt God leading them to move from Hong Kong to Vietnam in August 1972, they did not realize how God would use their efforts. Because of the dangers of the war, they had to leave after just two years of service. But they left an indelible impact on that country.

While some missionaries were ministering to the American military in Vietnam, the Rothgangers wanted to establish a church among the Vietnamese. They began holding services in their rented home in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Within 10 months, the church grew to more than 100 people. On June 15, 1973, the church moved into the rented United Service Organization (USO) building. This was the beginning of a truly Pentecostal Vietnamese church. According to Aaron, the church in Vietnam then was recognized by “the Word of God with signs and wonders; lots of miracles.”

Linda and Aaron Rothganger

In two years more than 40,000 students filled out a decision card.

Relief Agency

Within a few days after arriving in Saigon, Aaron visited Two Sisters Hospital and began making plans to provide them aid. The hospitals in Saigon were experiencing significant supply shortages due to the ongoing war and the increased number of refugees flooding into South Vietnam.

Aaron requested that AGWM (known then as Division of Foreign Missions) provide funds and supplies to assist with this need. In return for this help, the Two Sisters Hospital agreed to give the AG some land where they could build a church. This acreage near Tan Son Nhat airport is where the AG based their outreach, their printing and training operations, and built a church.

The top priorities outlined by the government for the USA Assemblies of God relief agency included resettling war refugees. Rothganger arranged to relocate 2,000 families from near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) north of Da Nang.

International Correspondence Institute (ICI)

Aaron knew that to evangelize and disciple the Vietnamese he needed to develop evangelism/ discipleship materials. He took a printing press

to Vietnam, and God provided a young man to operate that press. He received funds from Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge (BGMC) and Light for the Lost (LFTL) to print this material. A Vietnamese general asked for some tracts to distribute to his troops.

As Aaron and others distributed these tracts, people began to respond. In two years more than 40,000 students filled out a decision card and wanted more information and more literature. Aaron then sent them The Great Questions of Life and other ICI material.

“When we had a group of ICI students in one city, I would inform them that the president of ICI was coming to speak to them and that he would personally give a graduation certificate to those who had finished the course,” states Rothganger. This provided greater contact and discipleship opportunities for these new believers.

Leaving Vietnam

Miraculous

As Aaron Rothganger began to evangelize Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon), he rented a theater and began holding outreaches with worship, Bible teaching, and prayer for the sick. One night, two young men carried their mother into the building. Four years earlier she had suffered a stroke and lost most of her physical abilities. She couldn’t walk, talk, feed herself, or perform most basic functions.

When the prayer for the sick began, her sons — one on each side — picked her up and held her in a standing position. As they stood at the front of the room, Jesus’ powerful presence filled the place. The woman pushed her sons away and stood on her own for the first time in four years. They reached for her, worried she might fall. She said, “Leave me alone. Jesus has healed me.”

It was not easy for the Rothgangers to leave Vietnam and the people they loved. But as the collapse of Vietnam became more evident, they were forced to leave. The work of this family is a testimony to partnership with the local church. They left behind 15 congregations of Pentecostal Christians, estimated from 8,000 to 10,000 constituents. They had established a correspondence school with 40,000 students. In 21/2 years more than 1 million tracts were distributed. These gospel seeds, planted in a nation of 18 million people, are still producing a harvest today.

In front of hundreds of people, she lifted her arms to praise Jesus — arms that were immobile just minutes before.

The Rothganger family

Early missionary letters from the Rothgangers

Enduring Results

In an amazing story of God’s grace, Loya was saved and discipled in the Rothganager’s church. Today, even though he and his wife have passed away, the story of God’s faithfulness continues to the next generation. Ruth and Barnabas,* Loya’s children, each have their own stories of how God remained faithful to them through extreme times. Not until recently did the full interplay between this family, the Vietnam Assemblies of God (VAG), and Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) become clear.

Created for a Reason

Ruth* grew up in a Christian home that had been impacted by Aaron and Linda’s ministry. She went to church, she prayed, but she wasn’t sure if God was real, or just some legend. Coming from a very poor family, Ruth felt that a good education was the way to bring honor to her family. Earning a degree, she thought, would get her a stable job, and erase the threat of poverty.

Her dream almost cost her everything. Her belief that academic success was the only

path for her caused Ruth to put extreme pressure on herself. If she was able to pass the university qualifying exam, she would be the first in her family to go to a university. If she failed, a life of despair awaited her — so she thought.

Her dream shattered after falling 0.25% short of the necessary exam score. From that day forward, she branded herself as unworthy of life.

“I was in despair and disappointed,” said Ruth. “I felt unworthy, so I decided that I had to die.”

While listening to her story as we sat in a building designated for training future ministers and missionaries, the thought of Ruth taking her own life was difficult to match with the light for the gospel she has become.

As she described that day, she talked about standing above a 10 -foot-deep lake with no knowledge of how to swim; she prepared to leap. Suddenly, a voice from the sky interrupted her, “Ruth, Ruth, Ruth. I did not create you for this reason.”

It was then Ruth realized God was real. Her life belonged to Him.

Above— Loya leading worship; Loya (circled) with early believers

Ruth

A Closer Look at

Vietnam

• 100 million total population

• 60% of the population is under 40 years old.

• 38% of the population is Urban, 62% is rural.

• 2% of the total population is evangelical.

• 50% of the population is considered Buddhist practitioners or Buddhist background people.

• 90% of the population practice ancestral worship in addition to Buddhism, other forms of animism, and Catholicism.

• 1.4% of the Vietnamese people are Christians.

• 20 tribal people groups have no Christian community or church Can

Ho Chi Minh City

Da Nang

Hai Phong

Hanoi

After this turmoil, Ruth attended a local college in place of the university. During her second year of college, God called her to attend the local Bible school. With what she admits was “stubbornness,” she ignored this calling, pushing forward to pursue her dreams of getting the right job, believing she could serve God in other ways.

The Lord convicted Ruth of losing herself and straying from Him. This conviction resulted in an act of repentance, and Ruth quit college, reluctantly choosing to attend Bible school.

“One thing I never regretted was saying yes to His call to Bible school,” said Ruth. “From that moment, God totally changed my life in ways you cannot imagine.” She then went on to serve full-time at the Bible school, and through her studies became an assistant teacher at the international church.

However, Ruth’s life took a turn in 2020 after schools in Vietnam closed due to COVID. Void

of hope and direction she began to question God and began seeking His direction.

Ruth spent the next year fervently praying for direction and feeling unsatisfied in her life. An opportunity emerged for Ruth to intern at the church as an assistant. With such an impactful role before her, Ruth began to doubt her abilities and anointing. After receiving encouragement and confirmation from the Holy Spirit, Ruth obliged.

“I feel amazing. I feel like I’m living again, like I almost died but God brought me back by His love and His mercy. Now as I’m working with [the church] I have recognized my calling more and more.”

One piece was still missing in her life, however. While growing up she remembers her dad talking about the missionary named Aaron who led him to Christ and the impact Aaron had on him. But neither she nor her brothers had ever met this man who had such a life-changing influence on their family.

Her Dad’s Testimony

On Easter Sunday, 1973, Ruth’s dad, Loya, a man from the Chiu Ru tribe, an ethnic minority in the central highlands of Vietnam, came to church. Missionary Aaron Rothganger was preaching from a series on the cross. The theme was “Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross?”

Aaron recalls, “This man came in and I led him in prayer to get saved. He truly had an encounter with Jesus.” Loya had found the church from a tract; a divine moment of provision born from desperation. Aaron invited him to stay with the Rothganger family in their home.

God had a plan for him and his family.

Aaron began to disciple Loya. The young Christian traveled with Aaron to various rallies and outreaches. Soon he began to help other missionaries plant churches. He eventually traveled to other places in Vietnam where he

continued to plant churches. The results of Loya’s ministry continue today through the churches he planted and through the ministry of his family.

At the 50 th anniversary celebration of Vietnamese Assemblies of God, Aaron Rothganger, the missionary who had led Ruth’s father to Jesus, was one of the speakers. As Aaron walked down from the platform and reached for his backpack, a Vietnamese girl grabbed his pack and said, “I’ll carry that for you.” She also told Rothganger she would help him find where they were having lunch.

As they walked along, Aaron asked, “What is your name?”

She replied, “’I’m Ruth, Loya’s daughter.” She had finally met the missionary who led her father to Christ, 50 years before.

Aaron’s life-changing impact on Loya’s family also continues through his son, Barnabas.

Loya ministering in Vietnamese church

Ruth sharing the gospel.

The Oldest Brother

As a pastor and the national church planting director for the Vietnam Assemblies of God, Barnabas* has seen God move in astounding ways. Barnabas is also part of the district leadership team in the north. His wife, Debra*, pastors a legacy church that was pastored by her grandma. After Debra graduated from Bible school and became a pastor, they transitioned this church to her leadership as primary pastor. When the church grew from 15 to 150, they moved to a new building.

A church planter who works with Barnabas felt a strong burden to start a church in a village with no Christians. An opportunity arose for him to reach this village when he heard about a dying woman. She had problems with her neck, and doctors told her there was nothing they could do. Her family prepared for the worst. The church planter thought, I will go in, I will talk with them about God, and I will ask God to bring healing to her.

He shared the gospel with them, and the whole family was saved. Barnabas says that after hearing this news, we thought, This is wonderful. This is the first family in this village that’s gotten saved. God has done a great thing.

Half a day later, the husband called the church planter to tell him his wife had died. The

The church planter was scared because, he said, “No one had ever heard about God. I told them; they believed. I told them God could

heal and now in the first family that got saved, one person has died a day later.”

The church planter went back to minister to the family and to prepare for a funeral service. He went to their house, prayed with them, and laid hands on the family and the wife’s corpse.

As he did so, God brought her back to life. Everyone around her was amazed. Barnabas says, “No one believed what was happening because they were there to prepare a funeral. It is truly a miracle that God performed, beyond what we could even imagine.”

Through this miracle, God brought about an even greater one: the salvation of that entire village. Vietnamese church planters continue

Raised from the Dead

As a married couple in Da Nang went about their usual morning routine, they had no idea the magnitude of God’s power they were about to experience.

The husband left for work in the morning while his wife remained home. While he was away, his wife unexpectantly died. Her neighbors found her and got a doctor from a local clinic, who, after examining her, confirmed her death. As was typical, family members and neighbors began preparations for a same-day burial, laying her body out on the dining table.

When the husband came home for lunch, he saw the weeping crowd surrounding his house and learned of his wife’s death. He pushed through the crowd, went inside, and sent everyone away except for a few strong believers. With the remaining small group of Christians, he prayed for his wife. God reached down and raised her from the dead. This miracle had a great impact as we continued to plant a church in that area.

— Aaron Rothganger

Above— Barnabas; Barnabas with Vietnamese believers; Pastor Debra

Through this miracle, God brought about an even greater one: the salvation of that entire village.

The Loya Family Today

The first Christians in the Loya family were mom and dad. Their salvation and ministry first started with Aaron and Linda Rothganger but persisted after the Rothgangers left Vietnam. The story of each of the kids shows God’s faithfulness to the family. While we have focused on Barnabas and Ruth here, the other kids are living for the Lord as well. Barnabas is Ruth’s older brother and was key in helping Ruth on her path to Bible school. Now they both work alongside another AG family, Jason and Sarah. They had no idea the depth of the connection to their past until Jason’s doctoral work on the history of the Vietnam AG uncovered the depth of God’s love and persistent faithfulness to the Loya family.

Jason speaking at a Vietnamese church.

Jason and Sarah

Jason, an AG global worker from Texas, never thought he would serve in Vietnam, years. He imagined he would work in the Amazon jungle, not in a city of millions: “God, you’ve got the wrong person in the wrong place in the wrong demographic.” While meeting with the Vietnam Assemblies of God, however, the Holy Spirit opened Jason’s eyes. “I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me: ‘If you’ll stay with me, I’ll show you

Two years after arriving, God directed Jason and Sarah to move north and work with the small, isolated church in northern Vietnam.

Despite the challenges, Jason was confident of the Lord’s will, even if it ended in rejection or worse. “We know the Lord is leading us and we’re going to do all we can to live here and find a way to do what the Lord is asking us to do.”

Continued on page 21

“God, — Jason

you’ve got the wrong person in the wrong place in the wrong demographic.”

ABCs of

Salvation

To know God and place your trust in His Son as your Savior…

A. B. C.

Admit you are a sinner.

“There is no one righteous, not even one... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10,23, NIV).

Believe in Jesus as your only hope of salvation.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV).

Confess that Jesus is your Lord.

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, NIV).

Let us know you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, and we will send you a free booklet as you begin your walk with God. Please visit agwm.org/salvation and provide your mailing address to receive Following Christ.

“We’re planning 250 church plants and with God’s help we intend to do it!”

— Jason

Jason quickly learned of the many needs in northern Vietnam. With very few pastors in the region, the church desperately needed pastoral training. Hanoi’s half a million university students and new believers also needed discipleship. Finally, the church asked for cross-cultural mission training to reach northern Vietnam’s “never-reached” ethnic minorities.

Through perseverance, flexibility, and collaboration with the church in northern Vietnam, Jason has seen over a dozen churches planted. Pastor Samuel, the general superintendent of Vietnam Assemblies of God, has a vision for churches planted across Vietnam. Recently, he asked Jason to work with their newly inaugurated church planting department to see this vision move forward.

Jason and Barnabas work closely in training and encouraging church planters. WorldView had a chance to roam the roads and paths in northern Vietnam with both. Their love for the Lord and dedication to see a move of church planting take hold in the north is evident. Even churches outside of the VAG are anxious to share material and Barnabas’ ministry.

Jason says, “We originally had a plan to plant 100 churches. But as we’ve gotten into it, we’ve said, ‘No, that’s what we can plant by ourselves. But with the planters planting, and the planted churches planting — the sent one sending — we’re shooting for 250. And with God’s help we intend to do it!”

CreatingStability as a Missionary Family

Raising children on the mission field comes with a unique set of challenges thanks to the busy and everchanging nature of missionary life. Jason and Sarah, missionaries in Vietnam, have incorporated fun and meaningful routines into their lives to provide stability for their four children: Cheyenne, 16; Colt, 13; Canyon, 11; and Cason, 9.

Jason and Sarah chose to homeschool, knowing that if they needed to move, their children wouldn’t need to change schools. In addition to creating consistency for the children, this allows the family to spend quality time together even in a busy ministry setting. One way they engage in this quality time is by observing a regular Sabbath where they slow down, rest, and enjoy each other’s company. This has provided a deeper sense of connectedness in the family. Jason says they didn’t realize how much they enjoyed their Sabbath until their schedule briefly changed and didn’t allow for it. He says, “The entire family longed for it.”

One of their simple joys and weekly staples are “M&M Fridays,” as the children fondly call them. Each week, as part of their Sabbath, the family watches a movie and eats M&Ms. Sarah calls the M&Ms her “grace gift,” something not based on behavior or grades. Jason and Sarah have done this since the children were young.

Their strong family unity helps foster the idea that “anywhere is home.” Jason and Sarah have worked to build their children’s cultural identities in both their passport country and current country, helping them see that home is not limited to one place.

Another area where they have built stability is in the family’s spiritual life. Both Jason and Sarah feel there is great importance in intentionally bringing God into their home. To this end, they created a weekly “family service,” where the six of them pray, sing, and share a message from the Word. Jason says, “It’s a way of investing in our children, and having a time with just us intentionally focusing on the Lord together as a family.”

Two of their children have been saved in their home, and their daughter was baptized in the Holy Spirit at home. “We feel this is a testimony to the fact there is no bifurcation in their minds of God at home or God at church,” Jason explains. He continues, “We talk about God. We pray. It’s not just a ministry thing. God is not just about ministry for us.”

Above— Jason talking with Vietnamese Left— Vietnamese Bible

Jason and Sarah’s family

Gospel to the North

The process of sharing the gospel in northern Vietnam has not been easy or straightforward, but God’s faithfulness is surmounting obstacles.

During the 1970 s –80 s, Vietnam experienced a period of “dark years.”

The country was closed to most outside influences. In the early 80 s, the government supplied radios to northern villages to spread their propaganda messages. However, God used a pastor in the U.S., broadcasting to those same radios and

piggybacking on the government frequencies, to share the gospel. Each week he shared Christian sermons and songs.

Current global workers tell us that, “People started coming around the radio to listen … and people all over the mountains believed in Jesus.” When restrictions lessened and Christian workers came to share the gospel, they found, to their surprise, communities of believers in these rural areas. They had heard about the hope of Jesus every week “and their lives had been changed.”

“People started coming around the radio to listen … and people all over the mountains believed in Jesus.”

— Global Worker

Sometimes local authorities remain resistant to the gospel to this day. Anh*, a church planter and his family who went through training with Jason and Barnabas, began praying in an area with no Christians. He was quickly detained. The police chief told Anh, “If anyone in this village believes in God there will be problems.” After repeatedly persecuting these Christians and blocking any ministry attempt, the chief became suddenly, inexplicably ill.

“Our God is powerful. He is the Almighty God, and you are not going to die.”

— Anh

Medical doctors, witch doctors, and shamans were unable to treat him. Desperate, the police chief’s family asked Anh to come and pray for them. His prayer led them to believe in the Lord. Anh told the police chief, “Our God is powerful. He is the Almighty God, and you are not going to die.” The police chief made a full recovery and now helps Anh share the gospel.

Anh and his wife

Let’s talk about how to inspire your family with the joy of generous giving to your favorite Assemblies of God missionaries and projects. We can also provide a variety of creative giving options to consider in helping you and your family optimize potential tax savings. of Faith

God Uses People

Jason and Barnabas celebrate the progress of the gospel among the Hmong people. Jason estimates that around 17% of the 1.3 million are already Christian. The church planters have identified the Hmong people as “gateway people” because there are many Christians among them. “But they’re also fervent in evangelism — very effective and going. They’re willing to sacrifice! They’re willing to go!” With training, the Hmong people can now go to unreached areas. They are actively reaching out to several people groups now.

Jason believes in identifying those who are open to being used by God and finding a place for them to engage in great commission work. He says, “There are who need to be reached.”

JAMES WRIGHT AND AGWM COMMUNICATIONS STAFF

“ They’re willing to They’re willing to

* Names changed for security

Above— AGWM missionaries with Vietnamese believers at church Right— Jason sharing a meal with local pastors

sacrifice! go!”

Pray for Vietnamese believers who are planting churches in unreached areas of Vietnam. Ask God to give them strength to endure persecution by local governments.

Global workers are involved in evangelism, church planting, and Bible schools and training centers. They need finances to continue to their work in establishing God’s kingdom throughout the world. Consider financially supporting a global worker and their ministry.

Your Move Pray Give Go

God is calling people to go to difficult places to proclaim the gospel. Ask God to direct your life.

Be willing to obey God’s call to go to those who have limited access to the gospel.

Scan the QR code or visit pgg.agwm.org/v10n3

Theme resources available online at agwm.org/store.

On the night of His resurrection, Jesus told His disciples, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21, NIV). The Father sent the Son, the Father and the Son sent the Spirit, and Jesus sends His followers.

God is still sending the Church into all the world with the whole gospel. He has called us to participate in His mission to proclaim the gospel to all peoples everywhere. While evangelizing our communities and winning people to Jesus, we cannot neglect those who have limited or no access to the gospel. That is why we have chosen this theme for 2024: Sent—All Peoples Everywhere.

The local church plays an important role in fulfilling God’s mandate (Matthew 28:19-20). Each church must cultivate an atmosphere where God can speak and must be willing to train, send, and support those He calls (Acts 13). Will you join us in ensuring all peoples everywhere hear the gospel?

by Joy Myers

Leaving the Plant

The Rothgangers were in Vietnam during a volatile time. They helped fill the spiritual need of the Vietnamese people by providing Christian discipleship, education, and community. In their final weeks in Vietnam, the missionaries intensified their ministry, endeavoring to leave the Vietnamese with a solid spiritual foundation.

Missionaries prepared believers to meet in groups of three or four families if the government forced churches to disband. They also helped believers choose designated meeting places outside of church buildings. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance, missionaries appointed new church leaders to take care of the ministry after they left. They gave the church the necessary tools to hold tight to God and keep the ministry alive while facing a bleak future.

Henry Swain, missionary to South Korea, spent seven weeks in Vietnam helping with these final preparations. In 1975, he wrote, “The church in Vietnam may have to go underground but let us not think it is buried. If the direct involvement of missionaries must end for a while, let us not be so foolish as to believe that our contribution there has been ill-timed.”

Swain continued, “The Pentecostal church of Vietnam was very much alive and growing when we left. I am convinced that the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in the hearts of the Vietnamese Christians is more than a match for the fires of persecution that will come their way.”

Though missionaries had faith in God and in the strength of the church, this did not make it easier to leave the ministry they poured their lives into. Ron Maddux, former regional director Northern Asia Region, and was influential in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese church, says about

these missionaries, “It’s just powerful. It’s like burying a seed and having to leave it before it produces fruit.”

Strength of Roots

From 1975 to the 1990s, Vietnam was quiet. The status of the Church was unknown. However, God was working powerfully through this difficult time. “The Faith of My Loving God,” a poem written by a Vietnamese refugee in 1978, clearly expresses the Vietnamese resiliency and steady trust in God:

Trials and hardships are coming, But the faith of my loving God will always thrive in my heart.

For a thousand years of comfort I give my life to God’s hand and my wandering soul to His protection.

Even without missionary support, the Vietnamese remained steadfast to God, clinging to His hope, life, and comfort; and the gospel kept spreading. Because missionaries trained Vietnamese spiritual leaders and built a self-sustaining community of believers, the gospel seed persevered and thrived even in the face of trials.

Aaron and Linda Rothganger

Blossoming in Persecution

As the country began to open its doors to the outside world, and began working to rebuild itself, the Vietnamese government invited the Assemblies of God back to work in social and health ministry. Though this invitation was not religiously motivated, the Church was once again connected to Vietnam. For the first time in a 1 1/2 decades, the Assemblies of God began to get glimpses of the Church’s status.

The 1990 and 1991 issues of Mountain Movers, an early AGWM publication, provide more insight into Vietnam’s spiritual state at that time. The articles in these issues comment on the sense of renewed fervency and excitement: “The Holy Spirit is bringing revival. Young people, leaders of the revival, rise at 4 a.m. for 2 or 3 hours of prayer before beginning their daily work. Despite persecution, believers are planting new churches.”

Mountain Movers attributes this continued growth to the first churches, saying, “As an organization, the Vietnamese Assemblies of God ceased to exist. But the foundation of the church had been laid. … Now the door to Vietnam is gradually reopening, and we are glimpsing the greatness of God’s grace.”

Commenting on the early Vietnamese churches, Jeff Hartensveld, regional director, Asia Pacific Region, says, “They were relationally cut off from the global body of Christ. And yet, somehow historically … the persecuted Church is a church that grows. Somehow the persecuted church is a church that goes deeper into Christ. That was the only place they could go.” The strong roots of the Vietnamese Church gave it the ability to carry on and blossom under persecution.

that the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in the hearts of the Vietnamese Christians is more than a match for the fires of persecution that will come their way.”

— Henry Swain

Fruits of Labor

Aaron Rothganger was among those attending the 50th celebration in 2023. He knew the Vietnamese Church had grown and was continuing to grow, but he didn’t yet know the extent of his role in this growth.

During the ceremony, General Superintendent Samuel Lam asked Rothganger to come to the stage. He then invited members from the AG church Rothganger planted, or from churches planted by this church, to come onstage. Many in the room began to stream forward.

In an emotional, Spirit-filled moment, the fruit of Rothganger’s ministry — and that of the Spirit-filled believers whom he had impacted — flooded the stage. People of all ages stood together. Some were directly involved with Rothganger’s first church, but most, including many young people, were sons and daughters of the church’s ministry.

When the missionaries left, they entrusted the young church to Vietnamese pastors to continue stewarding the move of the Spirit. Loya, one of the first Vietnamese men Rothganger led to Christ, eventually became the lead pastor of a tribal church he helped plant. Loya became the catalyst for what the VAG has become today.

In spite of challenges, the church experienced miracles, salvation, outpourings of the Holy Spirit, spiritual fervency, and new churches planted. This took place during the 13 years when no official Assemblies of God fellowship existed in Vietnam.

The local church

is one of missions’ most powerful tools.

A healthy church roots itself deeply in its community, sustaining itself and lasting generations.

50th anniversary of the Vietnamese Assemblies of God

Because missionaries had trained believers and established an indigenous church, the church was able to continue during dark times. Many believers started organizing home prayer meetings and Bible studies. These organically initiated home groups gave birth to the underground house church network that would serve as the means through which much of the Church would survive and grow over the next two decades. This fledgling church continued the Pentecostal revival throughout Vietnam.

As the 50 th anniversary celebration continued, Rothganger learned that spiritual leaders in Vietnam, including Barnabas and Ruth, Loya’s children, were the product of his ministry decades prior. He finally saw the fruit of the seeds he planted. It became evident to everyone in the room that God had His hand on this ministry from the beginning, and that He can work powerfully through any circumstance.

“This is the beauty of the local church. When we embed a community of believers into a geography, it’s a living organism that recycles itself, that continues to grow, to birth new cells, birth new people. That community, for 50 years now, continues to be reached,” Hartensveld says.

Every ministry is important, but church planting is at the very heart of missions. The local church is one of missions’ most powerful tools. A healthy church roots itself deeply in its community, sustaining itself and lasting generations. As Hartensveld says, “That’s why we plant local churches. When we leave them behind, they continue to grow, and they continue to win their world for Jesus.”

Rothganger put it simply in an exhortation to the crowd: “Don’t be afraid to trust in God. He wants to do great things.”

Top left— Aaron Rothganger is being honored by Pastor Samuel the General Superintendent of VAG

Top right— Believers at the 50th anniversary of the VAG

Bottom left— Jeff Hartensveld, Asia Pacific regional director, speaking at anniversary

Bottom right— Believers impacted by Rothgangers ministry

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