Vietnamese Brides
22/11/2007 9:00 am <>
Taiwan is changing! In recent years nearly 400,000 women have left their home countries and come to Taiwan to get married. 250,000 have come from China, with the rest mostly from Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam (over 75,000). Currently one in four Taiwan marriages involves a foreign partner, while one in seven newborns is the product of a mixed marriage.
Because of their socio-economic background, it is difficult for working class men to find Taiwanese wives, so they resort to marrying foreign spouses. Many brides come from countries where Christianity is oppressed (e.g. Vietnam) or has little presence (e.g. Thailand and Cambodia). They come to Taiwan, where there is freedom of religion and a visible church. This influx of foreign brides has given the church an exciting bridge into the working class community.
Tran is a typical immigrant bride from Vietnam. At the age of 23 she married a working class man in his mid-40s, and soon had children. She works full time in a factory while her mother-in-law watches her children. She struggles with Mandarin, but slowly is adjusting to her new environment. Currently she attends a free Chinese class at a family center run by a local church and OMF missionaries. This is one of the happiest times of Tran’s week. Her husband also enjoys coming, as the center provides a place for the husbands to chat over tea with local Christians and missionaries. Twice a month the class ends early and they join in a time of singing, testimonies, and Bible sharing. Once a quarter there are special events such as a Mid-Autumn Festival cook out, a Father’s Day activity, or a Christmas gathering. There are many opportunities to bring these people together for fellowship, fun, and community building.
After attending the center for over a year, Tran and her husband decided to follow Jesus Christ. The challenge now is how to help them grow in their new faith. Attending a traditional church has its difficulties. First, most churches use a literacy based approach to doing church. Tran can’t read many Chinese characters, and her husband is more of an oral learner and, as such, struggles with reading as well. So they immediately have a sense that they are “second class” church members. Second, many churches in Taiwan are Mandarin speaking. Although Tran and her husband speak Mandarin, Tran prefers to speak Vietnamese and her husband prefers to speak Taiwanese. These are their “heart languages.” Finally, most churches are made up of middle to upper class people. Most foreign bride families are less educated. Thus, in many ways the church is not culturally relevant to the average working class man, let alone his foreign spouse.
Our prayer is that more working class husbands and their foreign brides will not only come to know the Lord, but will form unique communities of disciples that are biblical and culturally relevant. People like Tran and her husband might be the new leaders of this new Christian community. Just like the disciples of Jesus came from blue collar backgrounds and became leaders of the early church, so it might be that the new leaders of the church of Taiwan come from these backgrounds. And it may be said of them: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).
Robb Branch – Taichung
Back