Our Ministry

 

Revered Julian with 2 orphans
Rev. Julian with two orphans
At this point in time, SEEM's efforts are focused on supporting the ministry of Rev. Louis Julian.  A native of Vietnam, Rev. Julian has worked in Christian evangelism for minority groups in Vietnam since the early 1970s. 

 

The mission work has not been easy, because there has historically been serious persecution of minority tribespeople who are Christian.  The hill tribespeople (often called "Montagnards") are actually composed of several dozen distinct tribes such as the Jeh, Jarai, Bahnar, Bru, and Rhade.  The tribes are often of very different ethnical backgrounds.  For example, the Jarai are of Malayan-Polynesian heritage.  Other tribes are more closely related to groups from India, or from China.  But they are quite different from ethnic Vietnamese, Laotians, or Cambodians - culturally, ethnically, and with language.

 

In general, Christian churches are now accepted in SE Asian countries as long as membership lists are sent to the local governments.  Plus, the pastors must be approved by the governments and the preaching must follow government rules. 

 

Part of the challenge for Christian hill tribespeople is that a large group of them formed an army after the collapse of the South Vietnamese government.  With an initial army of about 15,000 soldiers, these people continued to fight under the name of "FULRO" until the late 1980's.  By then, only a few hundred (about 400) soldiers were left.  But after those soldiers were granted asylum in the US, a few die-hard FULRO members continued to occasionally blow up electrical transmission towers and other such items.  This type of activity no longer exists, but the Vietnamese provincial officials have a long memory and many have kept a tight rein on the Montagnards.

 

Because there has been a strong history of large-scale persecution of Christian hill tribespeople (jailing, not allowing them to own businesses, beatings, ineligibility of children for jobs), many of the hill tribespeople are not willing to sign up with the government as a condition of worshiping.  Instead, they strongly believe in the concept of freedom of religion.  As a result, in some areas of the countries, evangelism work must still be carried out secretly.  Lay pastors will be arrested and jailed.  In other areas, things are opening up and churches can now be built -- although fear still persists.

 

Children
Rev. Julian has an amazing ministry that has been operating for decades on a shoestring budget.  There is no shortage of lay persons among the hill tribespeople who would like to be lay pastors.  Training these future pastors is a major focus of SEEM.  As a note - the training often needs to be conducted out-of-country because of in-country informers and subsequent persecution by the local police. 

 

 

While the majority of SEEM's effort is directly tied to Christian evangelism, SEEM has also provided physical support for minority Christians.  Especially important in some areas is the need to provide safe drinking water.  If a local Christian group does not have access to safe drinking water, often SEEM supports the construction of gravel/sand filters with local materials.  As an example, such filters were incorporated into the design of the Agape Floating Garden building.

 

 

 

 

ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION

The following are key components of SEEM's Articles of Organization

 

ARTICLE 1:               

The name of this corporation is: SE Asia Ethnic Minority Mission, Inc.

ARTICLE 2: Religious and Purposes

  1. This corporation is a Religious Corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. It is organized under the Nonprofit Religious Corporation Law exclusively for religious purposes.

 

  1. The specific purposes of this corporation are to:
  1. Witness the saving Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to needy people in Southeast Asia through charitable and clean water projects, small-scale agricultural development, improvement of living conditions, and similar projects;
  2. Develop and implement Christian leadership programs to strengthen Southeast Asian Christian churches;
  3. Celebrate and worship the Lord Jesus Christ through services, meetings, singing of hymns and psalms, Bible studies, and prayer;
  4. Receive contributions and otherwise raise funds to facilitate carrying out the purposes described above;
  5. And for any other charitable, religious, religious literary or religious educational purpose permitted under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(C)(3).

 

ARTICLE 4: Activities, No Influencing of Legislations

  1. This corporation is organized and operated exclusively for charitable Christian religious purposes within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3).