LAKELAND — Approximately 2,000 Vietnamese United Methodists living
in the United States will soon have a new resource to help them in
their church leadership and Christian discipleship, thanks to
cooperative efforts between the General Board of Discipleship and the
Florida and Texas conferences.
The Lay Speaking Ministry Basic Course was recently translated into
Vietnamese by the Rev. Truc and Dr. Linh Nguyen [pronounced “win”].
Truc Nguyen is the director of Asian ministries in the Texas
Conference.
The translation was funded by a $19,200 grant the Florida
Conference Lay Speaking Ministry received in 1999 from the General
Board of Discipleship (GBOD). The grant was awarded to the Florida
Conference to help it train church leaders who are bilingual in
English and Korean, Creole, Spanish or Vietnamese to offer the Lay
Speaking training in the various languages to people at the local and
district levels, according to Dr. Glenna Kyker Brayton.
Brayton is the former Florida Conference director of Lay Speaking
Ministries and now lives in Texas.
Translation of Spanish, Creole and Korean materials were completed
by March 2001 when the Florida Conference held the first-ever
multilingual Lay Speaking training event.
Nguyen is very excited to have this material available to the 22
Vietnamese congregations now worshipping in the United States. “It’s
very helpful for the Vietnamese, and we need it,” she said.
Most of the Vietnamese people living in the United States are
refugees, Nguyen said. “They are very active in church and need
resources to help them, but they don’t read much English.”
Florida Conference grants
provide basic training in four languages.