History of UCC

The Vietnamese-American community evolved as the result of the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Many South Vietnamese found their way to the United States as refugees and there are now well over one million Vietnamese in the United States. As they were assimilated into the American mainstream, many Vietnamese-Americans began embracing Christianity with a Protestant leaning. Today, there are some 300 Vietnamese ethnic churches worldwide and that number is growing. This has created a dire need for well-trained Christian leaders and ordained pastors for the Vietnamese churches. A group of Vietnamese Christian pastors and leaders responded to this need and established the Vietnamese Theological College (VTC) in 1986, under the leadership of Dr. Spencer T. Sutherland, as a non-denominational Christian institution. It operates under California Education Code Section 94302(t)(5) as a religiously exempt postsecondary school.

In 1991, Dr. Le Hoang Phu assumed leadership of VTC. VTC has since expanded its ministry to other countries around the world and in Vietnam . In early 1992, the building where VTC was located in Westminster was burned down by an arsonist, totally destroying the college. However, thanks to donations and loans from individual Christians and World Vision, Union College of California was able to resume its activities on Lake street in Garden Grove. In response to the growing need in Christian education among Vietnamese worldwide, the Board of Directors decided to change the official name of the college to Union College of California. In early 1998, UCC was able to purchase a new campus consisting of two buildings with 24,000 sf on a 3.5 acre lot to have more room for expansion.

In 1995, Union College of California was approved by the California Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (CPPVE) to operate under California Education Code Section 94310, which governs degree-granting institutions in California. UCC is the first and only state-approved Vietnamese College, and the only theological training institution for the Vietnamese worldwide.

Logically, Orange County in California was chosen as the site for UCC because it has the highest concentration of Vietnamese people in the world, outside of Vietnam, currently estimated to be well over 200,000 and growing. In addition there are over 50,000 Vietnamese-Americans residing in surrounding counties from which they are able to commute to UCC.

For Vietnamese residing outside the commutable area, a number of theological studies are provided through distance learning programs.