On the evening of 5 May, Pastor Dang Ba Nham, his wife, and a church elder were praying on a roadside with a woman who had recently converted to Christianity in Vinh on the north central coast of Vietnam.
They stood in front of the property of the new Christian, Phan Thi Thanh Huyen, to ask God for his blessing in building a new house. As they were praying, a large pick-up truck with red military plates veered across the street and ploughed squarely into the small group.
Serious surgery
Mr Nham (56) was dragged about 15 metres and died at the scene. The new believer died of injuries the next day. Mr Nham’s wife underwent complex surgery for serious neck and upper body injuries on 9 May and, at time of going to press, remains weak, with her recovery uncertain. The church elder, Hoang Ngoc Hung, was transported to Hanoi by the military and also underwent serious surgery. An attending doctor said his chances of surviving are no more than 20%.
Serving the Vietnam Good News Mission Church, Mr Nham was an effective evangelist in Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh – probably the four provinces in Vietnam most hostile to the gospel, and the location of regular incidents of persecution. He had been recently warned to stop sharing his faith. Mrs Huyen had also faced strong opposition from relatives.
No one believes that the trajectory of the vehicle across an oncoming lane directly into a group of people standing together was an accident, although some church reports published on the internet use the term to avoid trouble. Staged ‘accidents’ are a common way for authorities in Vietnam to take care of those they deem trouble-makers.
Crowded church
Mr Nham‘s funeral was held on 8 May at his church in Vinh. It was crowded to overflowing. Some 30 young people stood in response to the speaker’s question, ‘Who will take his place?’ In this way, the speaker said, those attending received amazing courage and blessing to accompany their tears and deep grief in a place where being a follower of Jesus can carry a high cost.
