Central California Conference
Forty Years of Wandering Ends with New Hmong Church
O
n April 9, the Fresno Hmong Seventhday Adventist congregation consecrated the second Hmong church in the North American Division.
A Look at History
Over the past century, Adventist missionaries have traveled to the far corners of the world. In the 1950s, Richard Hall and his wife were the very first to enter Northern Laos, followed shortly by Abel and Ofelia Pangan. By 1959, Pangan had developed a Tribal Training School with the objective of teaching the Bible. The Hmong people were quick to embrace Christianity and soon spread the message to their home villages. When the Communist party took over Laos, the group of Seventh-day Adventist believers fled to Thailand and rebuilt the training school, and continued their education. Many became Central president, Ramiro Cano looks on as Neng Lee, Fresno Hmong pastor cuts the ribbon. missionaries to fellow Hmong in nearby mountain villages. Throughout the Vietnam Conflict, the Hmong supported the U.S. troops. North Vietnam came to hate the Hmong people for this alliance with the U.S., so the Hmong sought asylum on U.S. soil. The first refugees arrived in 1975 as they fled persecution, human rights violations, military attacks, ethnic cleansing, and religious freedom violations. Initially, 3,466 were granted asylum as official refugees. The second wave of immigration took place in 1980, with nearly 250,000 refugees arriving in the U.S. by the turn of the century. Today, there are 91,000 in California, including 32,000 of those in the Fresno area.
It Gets Personal
Throughout the 1980s, Peter and Mary Nicholas, along with Chris Ishii, then-senior pastor of the Fresno Asian church, planted the work for the Hmong/Lao people. They secured a building in the Hmong village for worship, and the Nicholases began working with the Hmong youth and children. One young Hmong man showed “fire” for the Lord and wanted to formally study to become a pastor. With
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All attendees were served a vegetarian luncheon following the service.
the financial help of the Nicholases, Neng Lee completed his ministry studies in 1990, earning a bachelor’s degree from Pacific Union College. The Hmong people began worshipping together on Sabbath afternoons at the Fresno Asian church, where church elder Peter Chan taught and worked with the children. When
Dayton Chong arrived as senior pastor in 1996, he started a Friday night Bible class for the Hmong youth. These classes continued for four years with Hmong young adults making decisions for baptism. Neng Lee returned to the Central Valley, serving as a Bible worker with the Hmong people