Meet Nguyễn Hữu Bình, the New President of the Alliance of Vietnam (South)

Learn about the journey of Rev. Nguyễn Hữu Bình from a Protestant orphanage and years of persecution to becoming president of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South).

For Nguyễn Hữu Bình, the call to serve God began when he was a young teenager growing up at the Nha Trang Protestant Orphanage. More than five decades later, after years of ministry, persecution, imprisonment, theological study, and service to the church, he has been elected to lead one of the largest churches in the Alliance family for the 2026–2030 term.

Bình was born on October 22, 1952, in Dien Phong Commune, Dien Ban District, Quang Nam Province, now part of Da Nang City. His family originally practiced ancestor worship. In 1960, his father, Nguyễn Lừ, studied the gospel and led the family to faith in Jesus Christ. Both of Bình’s parents have since gone to be with the Lord.

Soon after the family came to faith, Bình’s father became seriously ill and died. His mother, Trương Thị Bán, entrusted him to the Nha Trang Protestant Orphanage, where he was nurtured through the teaching of Scripture.

It was there that Bình began to sense God’s call to pastoral ministry.

“I became aware of God’s calling upon my life to serve him as a pastor,” he says.

After leaving the orphanage, however, Bình turned away from that calling. He no longer desired to dedicate his life to pastoral ministry.

Years later, persecution and the constant threat of death during the war brought him back to God’s call. Through those experiences, Bình says God brought him to submit again to the calling he had placed upon his life.

That return would shape the rest of his life.

Bình began theological studies in 1973 through the Gospel Research Program at the Bible and Theological Institute. In 1975, he officially enrolled in the Theological Seminary to continue his ministerial training.

In 1976, following political changes in the country, the seminary was closed.

The General Church then appointed Bình to pastoral ministry. Because the government did not recognize his pastoral ministry, he served the Lord quietly.

In September 1977, his church was closed, and he was imprisoned. After his release, he was not permitted to continue serving in that locality and had no place to live in his own homeland.

Bình later attempted to leave Vietnam in search of refuge abroad. He was arrested by the authorities and imprisoned for three years, one month, and 18 days before being released.

Yet his calling did not end with his imprisonment.

Beginning in 1982, Bình quietly continued serving the Lord as an unrecognized assistant pastor in several churches, including Gia Ray Church and Phuoc Binh Church in Dong Nai Province, as well as Chanh Hung Church and Nguyen Tri Phuong Church in Ho Chi Minh City.

At the end of 1992, Gia Dinh Church in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City, invited him to serve as an interim assistant pastor.

In 2001, the government officially recognized him as the assistant pastor of the church. In 2003, he received government approval to be ordained as a pastor. Two years later, in 2005, he was officially recognized as Senior Pastor of Gia Dinh Church.

While shepherding the congregation, Bình continued his theological education. In 2009, he earned a Master’s Degree from SBC in Singapore.

By then, his ministry had expanded beyond his local congregation.

During the 45th General Assembly of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) in 2009, Bình was elected General Treasurer of the Executive Committee.

He was also entrusted with responsibilities on the Construction Committee and was appointed Director of the Communications Department, the official media and publications ministry of the church.

In November 2013, during the 46th General Assembly, he was elected Second Vice President, overseeing External Affairs. He continued serving with the Construction Committee and Communications Department.

During the 47th General Assembly in July 2017, Bình was re-elected for a second term as Second Vice President and continued overseeing the Communications Department.

Five years later, in July 2022, the 48th General Assembly elected him General Secretary, while he continued his responsibility for the Communications Department.

Then, in July 2026, during the 49th General Assembly of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South), the church entrusted Bình with his greatest leadership responsibility to date.

He was elected President of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) for the 2026–2030 term.

For a man who first sensed God’s call as a young teenager, the election marks another step in a journey that has included ministry in local churches, years of serving without government recognition, imprisonment, theological education, and decades of service to the national church.

Bình now begins his term of service in a church with a presence across Vietnam.

The Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) reports 1,200,600 members, 3,600 churches, 1,750 ordained ministers, and 29 missionaries in its 2024 statistics. The church has congregations and ministry across the country, with the gospel continuing to spread among the people of Vietnam.

The history of the gospel in Vietnam stretches back to 1911. Today, the church continues to serve in a range of circumstances, with local and provincial representatives working alongside churches and church leaders. AWF reports that churches have continued to increase in number, while some congregations still face difficulties in expressing their faith and carrying out ministry.

This is the church Bình has now been called to lead.

As he begins the 2026–2030 term, Bình has embraced the strategic directions established by the General Church.

At the center is a call for spiritual revival through prayer, the study of Scripture, and obedience to God’s truth.

The church also seeks to proclaim the gospel among unreached ethnic groups, strengthen and expand the church throughout Vietnam, and serve Vietnamese communities around the world.

The vision includes strengthening theological education and ministry training, developing existing and new models for preparing men and women for Christian service, and preserving the biblical order, discipline, and spiritual heritage of the church.

The church also seeks to fulfill its responsibilities as a good citizen through charitable and community service ministries. It will work to carry out the resolutions adopted by the General Assemblies while continuing to petition the government concerning church properties currently under state administration.

Bình’s vision also includes ministry among women and young people.

The church seeks to encourage and equip Christian women to live according to God’s Word and serve in their families, churches, and communities. At the same time, it seeks to strengthen the spiritual lives of young people, guiding them toward a Christ-centered life and preparing them for service in the church.

Another part of the vision is the continued production, translation, and publication of Christian literature, including publications in the languages of Vietnam’s ethnic minority groups.

Bình’s story began with a family that encountered the gospel in 1960. It continued through an orphanage, where a young boy first recognized God’s call to pastoral ministry.

He later walked away from that call.

Persecution brought him back.

Prison did not silence him.

Years of serving without recognition did not stop him.

Instead, he continued serving, studying, shepherding, and taking on responsibilities within the national church. Decades later, the same man who once considered leaving pastoral ministry has been entrusted with the leadership of a church of more than 1.2 million members.

Now, as he begins his term as president, Bình is asking the worldwide Christian and Missionary Alliance family to pray for the church in Vietnam.

“We respectfully ask pastors and churches throughout the worldwide Christian and Missionary Alliance family to remember the church in Vietnam in your prayers,” he says.

He asks the Alliance family to pray as the church carries out the responsibilities entrusted to it and seeks to glorify God through its ministry.

May God grant Nguyễn Hữu Bình and the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) wisdom, strength, unity, faithfulness, and grace as they enter this new term of service.