Protestant Congress opens in HCMC

The Second Congress of the Vietnam Protestant Church of the southern region opened at the Saigon Protestant Church this morning, attended by "over 800 dignitaries and delegates from dioceses from Quang Tri province to Ca Mau province, Evangelical Missionary United Society, Governmental offices, Vietnamese Fatherland Front as well as international visitors." Pastor Thai Phuoc Truong, General Secretary of the southern Protestant Church, told journalists that one of the purposes of the congress was to promote greater church-state cooperation, with the motto, "living the gospel, serving God, the Fatherland and the Nation." (Thanh Nien, March 1).