Profile: The Rev. Bau Dang
The Rev. Bau Dang is translating the entire Bible into Vietnamese for his homeland.
"From my subjective point of view, this will change our people and our nation."
Rev. Bau Dang, who came to the United States as a refugee from Vietnam, has seen many of his dreams come true after answering God's call to become an ordained United Methodist minister.
Born in Vietnam, the son of a pastor, Rev. Bau Dang served in the South Vietnam armed forces and came to the United States as a refugee after the war.
 Dang's friends all thought he was going through a midlife crisis when he gave up a lucrative job as a manager for Xerox to become a United Methodist associate pastor. Some of his Vietnamese pastor friends thought he had chosen the wrong denomination because no United Methodist church existed in his native country of Vietnam prior to 1975.
"Some even thought that Methodism was a heresy!" he says, laughing.
Dang and his wife, Binh, both left jobs with Xerox in 1988. Since that time the Xerox operation they worked at has closed but the church where he started as associate pastor—Wesley United Methodist Church in San Diego—has grown to a thriving ministry with four different languages spoken at six worship services to more than 400 people on Sunday mornings.
As senior pastor, Dang plans services in English, Cambodian, Spanish and Vietnamese "in whatever style fits each group," he says.
"We have traditional, contemporary, blended, Pentecostal and even free style," he says. "Well, we are United Methodists, aren't we? I take seriously the statement 'In the essentials, unity; in the nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity.'"
“The first time they received this [Bible in Vietnam], they read it and they were so moved and they said, 'Send us more! Send us more!'”
–The Rev. Bau Dang
One his biggest dreams, to translate the Bible into Vietnamese, has started to come true with the publication of his translation of the New Testament. Dang worked on it for 10 years. His knowledge of Greek, Hebrew, English and Vietnamese all helped him with the task. He also received some training from the United Bible Society.
When explaining how he was able to take on such a huge task, he compares himself to a mouse eating an elephant "just one bite at a time." He is currently in the process of translating the Old Testment.
"I preach from the Bible every Sunday and the version that we had was translated by missionaries in 1926 in Vietnam," he says. When they came to the country they were learning the language and hired a non-Christian to help with the translation.
"We had to live with that Bible for years and years," he says. There were many places in the Bible that he felt uncomfortable with, and he didn't feel it was clear to the reader.
 One example he points to is in John where Jesus talks to his mother about turning water into wine.
"The way that passage is translated is very offensive to the Vietnamese culture," he says. The translation made Jesus sound like he speaking harshly to his mother. "Non-Christians say, 'How can I believe in a God who responded to his mother so impolitely?' and it turned them right away."
Dang believes the printing of the new translation has the power to change the people and nation of Vietnam.
"Only the word of God can change people’s lives, and if people can read the Bible or the scripture in the language that they understand, they understand the love of God. Then the spirit of God would use the power of the living word to transform their life and then transform the nation. And so for me, this is very important, very crucial to have a readable, easy to understandable Bible for the people."
Another dream come true happened during the California-Pacific Annual (regional) Conference's meeting this summer where he was elected as a delegate to the 2008 United Methodist General Conference. The conference meets every four years and is the top lawmaking body of the denomination.
 "I still walk on water because I never dreamed that I would be elected," he says. When his mentor and former pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church, San Diego, Rev. John Lurvey Jr., asked him to sign some papers to put his name on the ballot, Dang says, "I laughed. I told him I didn't have a chance and he shouldn't waste his time."
Dang takes his responsibility at General Conference very seriously and says, "I will vote at the General conference with my conscience, with my faith in God and with my integrity."
"I think that the Methodist church is the best church for ethnics and minority people, especially for Asian Americans. So I am very grateful to the denomination in general for their generosity, their acceptance and their inclusiveness and I think we would be a blessing for the general church in the future."
Summing up all he has been able to accomplish over the years, Dang says, "A lot of my friends don't believe that I am just a regular pastor like any other pastor. All I have done was be faithful and dedicated to what God has called me to do."
The following people contributed to this Profile:
Print story by Kathy Gilbert; audio story by Mike Hickcox; videography by Bob Weast, Athena Video Productions and John W. Coleman Jr., General Commission on Religion and Race.
UMC.org Profiles are produced by Pam Price, 615-742-5405.
Bau's Spiritual Gifts
- Knowledge
- Apostleship
- Prophecy
- Interpretation of Tongues
- Leadership
- Administration
Learn more about your spiritual gifts
Bau's Recommended Resources
Leading Beyond the Walls by Adam Hamilton
Developing the Leader Within You by John Maxwell
Evangelism That Works by George Barna
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