Missionary work in Northern Laos… written by Helen Sawyer December 2006
In the early part of 1900 missionaries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance 
began missionary work in the country of French Indo China (Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia) For many years the C and M A was the only Protestant Missionary Society given permission by the French government to work in French Indo China.
In 1929 two couples were assigned to work in Northern Laos. At that time the Swiss Brethern were already doing missionary work in Southern Laos, so
the C and M A accepted the challenge to work in Northern Laos .
One C and M A couple lived in Vientiane( the government capital) and Edward Roffe and his wife Thelma went to live in the royal capitol of Luang Prabang (former home of the King of Laos ).Their first work was to evangelize that is to reach people with the story of the Gospel and to give them opportunity to become Christians. They often used picture rolls depicting the stories of the Bible and passed out tracts and booklets for those who could read. The Roffes began their work among the Lao people who lived in the town and they traveled to the Lao villages located along the river banks of Luang Prabang province.
The Lao who were very strong Buddhists were friendly and often welcomed the missionary but they were very slow to respond to the Gospel.
In the meantime a Presbyterian missionary living in Thailand made an evangelistic trip to the northern part of Thailand and he crossed the Mekong River and came to a Khumu village in Sayaboury province of Laos. ( It is important to understand half of the population of Laos were Lao but there are minority peoples ( tribal people who make up the other half of population of the country) These tribal people have their own language and cultural and for the most part they are not Buddhist but they are Animists(spirit worshippers.) Two of the largest tribes were the Khumu and The Meo (now called Hmong).
When the Presbyterian missionary explained the Gospel to the Khumu in Sayaboury there were many in the village who burned their fetishes and became Christians. Later that missionary contacted the Roffes and asked them to teach and disciple these new Christians.
The ultimate goal of the C and M A is to evangelize and plant churches and eventually to have an organized church which is indigeneous (that is it is self supporting self governing and self propagating).
The Roffes not only visited that village but they arranged for some of the Khumu village leaders who could read and write the Lao language to come to Luang Prabang for Bible School training. They continued to teach and train these men and others.. As the work grew more missionaries were added to the staff The work spread to other areas and missionaries came to live and work in Vientiane Sayaboury and Xieng Khouang provinces.
In 1950 when we came to Laos and lived in Luang Prabang there were Christians in several Khumu villages and some Lao also who were believers. The work was growing in the north as well as in the south. Swiss missionaries working in the Southern Laos had a large group of believers among the Lao. The Lao Christian there were often shunned by their neighbors and accused of being an evil influence (called Pebaub) They sometimes were driven out of their home village .
One Lao family the Kounthaphanya family became leaders in the work in Southern Laos and Saly Kounthaphanya came to Luang Prabang and studied the Bible with Ed Roffe and became a leader in the church of North Laos. When we arrived in Laos there was a tremendous moving of the Holy Spirit among the tribal people the Meo or Hmong (This has been written up in another document by Mac Sawyer and other materials about the Hmong are also written)
NOTE:
BIBLE SCHOOL… The Bible School training of workers was an important part of our work The school was originally held in Luang Prabang but another training center was set up in Xieng Khouang when there were so many Hmong who turned to Christ. Later because of the communist control of North Laos, the school was moved to Vientiane. It was located on a property 7 kilometers from the middle of the city. It was called The Laos Bible Training Center. It was a four year program and there were several graduating classes.
LITERATURE WORK … Literature work was an important part of the mission work. Books and tracts and Sunday School materials were translated into the Lao language .The original Lao Bible that was done by the Swiss Missionaries was revised and a complete new translation of the Lao Bible was sponsored by the Bible Society. A Lao hymnal was done and is still used today.
MISSIONARY PERSONNEL… The C & M A was the only Protestant Missionary Society in Northern Laos until in the early part of 1970 when two couples with the Southern Baptist Mission came. They opened a reading center and book room and had a good work going until all missionaries had to evacuate in 1975.
Note from LEWF: [Other mission like the Seventh Day Adventist also came just before 1975 and managed to stay until today].