Theology / Church

Mojic Baldandorj is a Mongolian Christian leader who has served as General Secretary of the Mongolian Evangelical Alliance, as founder and director of the Mongolian Mobile Training Centre, and who is currently pastoring a church in Mongolia and lecturing on Old Testament Studies at Union Bible Training Centre in Ulaanbaatar.

In world history, the Mongolian Empire is considered to be the biggest land empire the world has ever known. In the 13th century the Mongol Empire extended halfway around the world, stretching from Korea to Hungary under the leadership of Chingis Khan. Historians today acknowledge that during the Mongol Empire there were many Mongol Christians in the royal families and royal court. The famous historian, Marco Polo, tells us that 200 Christian missionaries were requested to come and evangelize the whole empire under the reign of Hubilai Khan but the Pope failed to respond to this request. With the fall of the Mongol Empire, Buddhism was introduced from Tibet and the remaining three centuries saw the saturation of Tibetan Buddhism in every family and clan of Mongols until the country became the second communist country in the world in 1924.

During the communist regime, Mongolia remained closed to the outside world for the next 70 years. Known as “the end of the world“, it was totally impossible for Christian missionaries to enter the country until the fall of communism in the former Soviet Union in the late 1980s. In 1990, Mongolia entered into a new page of history, freedom and democracy.

Taking advantage of this new freedom and democracy, the first Christian missionaries arrived in Mongolia in early 1991. They could only get into the country as English language teachers in those times. It is recorded that the first Christian gathering was founded in spring of 1991 with students from an English class. Three churches separately formed by the end of the same year with 40-50 local Christians coming to worship on Sunday. For just under three years, the passionate new believers spread the Good News day and night. Through street evangelism, home visits, and showing the “Jesus“ film, the Good News was proclaimed to the newly-opened country. Revival came to the land. The Spirit of God brought new spiritual freedom and revival to thousands of Mongolians who were thirsty for eternal truth.

It is estimated that by 1996, in less than 4 years since the first Christian church was established, almost 60 local churches had been born with over 6,000 adherents of Jesus coming to those local churches. Then by 2002, over 200 churches had been planted literally in each and every of Mongolia’s 21 provinces with 25,000 followers of Jesus in Mongolia. Today, 19 years later, the country is home to 550 evangelical churches with over 50,000 adults, plus thousands of children coming to worship the one true God.

We believe that it is only the power of God which has brought this great breakthrough. The whole nation is experiencing the move of God in real ways in peoples’ lives. The message of Jesus is not only preached from the pulpit, but its real life-changing power is seen in the lives of many. The church of Christ is being built in this nation gradually but surely.

Many national leaders today feel that the young Mongolian church is reaching her “teenage” period. We feel that the excitement of being “young” is gradually over as the church is facing many new challenges. In this article, I would like touch on one issue which is very important for future church growth in Mongolia.

The explosion of rapid church growth creates a leadership shortage. Suddenly we realize that many new-born local churches lack Christ-like, servant leaders, whose personal life and character mark them out as a genuine disciple of Jesus. We have seen in the past that churches can be planted in a relatively short time with many different resources from the West or Korea. However, we have discovered that that is not the end of it. The church needs a good leader. To make a good and godly leader, it takes a long time.

In recent years, unfortunately, a considerable number of pastors and leaders have resigned or have been forced to resign from their ministries due to sexual sins, unfaithfulness in handling offerings, and personal character issues. Sometimes, their position and ministry are regarded as more important than their spiritual growth and personal encounter with God. We see, unfortunately, that many “good“ leaders fall through the hole, committing sins, and some of them giving up on their faith. When a leader falls, the name of Jesus also falls with it. Of course, developing leaders into godliness is not a one-off event. It is a lifelong process. There might be many ways to develop leaders in other parts of the world, but in the Mongolian church context, the following two practices must be essential steps in developing leaders: personal discipleship and role modeling mentorship. It is my own experience and observation in the Mongolian context that it usually takes as long as 7-10 years or more of personal discipleship and mentorship to see a committed young leader emerge.

I believe that our brothers and sisters in the Western world have a lot to offer for future leadership development in the young Mongolian church. It is estimated that there are over 600 Christian missionaries from many parts of the world working and living in Mongolia. Some of them teach at Bible schools and many work for social projects, but it is my sincere wish that we could work together hand in hand to develop national leaders into Christ-like leaders. We could sit together to discuss real life issues of leadership and promote national leadership development programmes. We could provide personal mentorship for those young leaders. We could work together for training countryside church leaders in their local context. I am not saying that there is no partnership at all. What I am saying is that what we do today is not sufficient and efficient.

Over a hundred years ago, God’s faithful servant, James Gilmour (1843-1891) from the London Missionary Society tried to reach our ancestors for Christ. He ministered to Mongols over 20 years, but saw no converts at all. His precious prayer is passionately noted that,

‘If only the truth can be made to reach their understanding, it is not to be doubted that God will in His own time and way, even among the Mongols, and notwithstanding all difficulties, apply it with living power to the hearts of men, and call out from among them those who will confess Him before their countrymen, and smooth the way for those who afterwards shall follow their examples (Gilmour, 1882:219)’

God has granted His time. It is now time to cooperate and train, mentor, and disciple these young leaders for the powerful transformation that God will bring to our nation.

Theology / Church

The story of the church in one of the most repressive Central Asia countries, by Gulzoda, one of the first local believers.

1991 was a year of confusion and panic for people in my country. The largest nation in the world, the Soviet Union, was dividing and no one was sure what the end result would be. I had grown up believing in the Soviet system and was ready to give my life for it even as a local Central Asian. That is how my classmates and I had been taught. Then, one day, we saw everything we thought we were living for collapse around us. All systems of society, banks, schools, government, healthcare, and even transport came to a halt. When all of these systems stopped another work began.

With the government preoccupied people were able to come in and out of the country without problems. Just as our perception of the Soviet Union was crushed our view of the religion of our ancestors also began to wither. When I first learned that the Soviet Union had dissolved I began to look into Islam as a new source of hope and belief. In this religion I couldn’t find answers to my questions. Right away Russian Christians came down to us and began sharing the Good News. At this time I had just entered the university and a woman came to the university where her cousin worked and began preaching in classes with up to 200 students. About 5 or 6 of us students became believers after hearing her share for just a few minutes. In the brief conversation with the woman from Moscow I received all the answers I needed and walked away with a changed heart.

For the next several years many foreigners came and helped to grow the seeds that had been planted. The presence of foreigners also brought jobs, training and education for many. We had a time of rapid growth and saw believers raised up in many cities around the country. We were taught what “church” is and how we are to live as a body. Since we had no background in the Christian life we learned how to understand scripture and teach it to others. At one point I was leading 11 small groups in one week.

These years were not free of persecution as all of us who joined were attacked by family and society. Many of us also lost our jobs. As the new government began to form the number of restrictions also increased. These restrictions also applied to the foreigners, 80% of whom, after more than 10 years of open doors, were forced to leave. This was a difficult time as we saw many close friends and mentors leave as well as losing jobs and support for countless people.

All was not lost. After this the church began to grow increasingly underground. Since there were only allowed to be two official places of worship in each city these were inevitably used by the majority religion. Networks formed between cities and groups that helped connect the small pockets of believers around the country. An increase in unity has also taken place as denominational differences mattered less. People stepped up into leadership roles that had long been held by foreigners. Though it is still a struggle, leaders are being developed to multiply home groups, in essence seeing each person as a potential leader of a new group.

Challenges still persist in our very controlled environment. Like all developing countries unemployment is very high and a pastor who can live on the giving of his group is virtually non-existent. For believers, particularly in smaller cities, it is very hard to find work. Many educated leaders are leaving to go to other countries to find work because they can’t provide for their families here. Almost all pastors need to have a second job to help cover expenses which takes them away from full-time mission work.

Persecution continues to grow, making some stronger and others fearful. One fellow leader lost his job three times when his bosses found out about his faith. By the third time the police told him that if they caught him again they would plant drugs on him and he would go to jail for the rest of his life. Every week we hear about homes being raided and large fines or even jail time given to those present. In order to protect ourselves, times, locations and days of meetings are regularly changed. Unfortunately for some it became so bad they were forced to leave the country.

The need for outside support is still very strong. A new small group of foreigners has recently arrived bringing business models and ideas for income generating activities. This is helpful because instead of just giving salaries we are developing businesses that will remain even if foreigners leave and which also help to support the leaders of the churches. Since it has become very difficult to get training and education in the country many mission workers are now working and offering training in neighboring countries which we can travel to for short periods of time. This helps meet an important need in spiritual maturity as resources and information are very limited here.

As we look to the future of the church here we see lots of potential. Still young, less than 20 years old, with a country which looks increasingly outwards for help, there are many ways for the larger body to serve a group of believers making up less than 1% of the population. Finding ways to invest in the leaders both financially and educationally is crucial for multiplication. They need encouragement from the larger body to remind them that they are not alone. I have had the opportunity, along with many others, to travel to neighbouring countries to bring the good news. This type of effort has been very effective as our cultures and languages are very similar. In order to continue this and other efforts we need more and more people around us. Just as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “this service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God, (2 Cor. 9:12)”.

Theology / Church

The story of the church in one of the most repressive Central Asia countries, by Gulzoda, one of the first local believers.

1991 was a year of confusion and panic for people in my country. The largest nation in the world, the Soviet Union, was dividing and no one was sure what the end result would be. I had grown up believing in the Soviet system and was ready to give my life for it even as a local Central Asian. That is how my classmates and I had been taught. Then, one day, we saw everything we thought we were living for collapse around us. All systems of society, banks, schools, government, healthcare, and even transport came to a halt. When all of these systems stopped another work began.

With the government preoccupied people were able to come in and out of the country without problems. Just as our perception of the Soviet Union was crushed our view of the religion of our ancestors also began to wither. When I first learned that the Soviet Union had dissolved I began to look into Islam as a new source of hope and belief. In this religion I couldn’t find answers to my questions. Right away Russian Christians came down to us and began sharing the Good News. At this time I had just entered the university and a woman came to the university where her cousin worked and began preaching in classes with up to 200 students. About 5 or 6 of us students became believers after hearing her share for just a few minutes. In the brief conversation with the woman from Moscow I received all the answers I needed and walked away with a changed heart.

For the next several years many foreigners came and helped to grow the seeds that had been planted. The presence of foreigners also brought jobs, training and education for many. We had a time of rapid growth and saw believers raised up in many cities around the country. We were taught what “church” is and how we are to live as a body. Since we had no background in the Christian life we learned how to understand scripture and teach it to others. At one point I was leading 11 small groups in one week.

These years were not free of persecution as all of us who joined were attacked by family and society. Many of us also lost our jobs. As the new government began to form the number of restrictions also increased. These restrictions also applied to the foreigners, 80% of whom, after more than 10 years of open doors, were forced to leave. This was a difficult time as we saw many close friends and mentors leave as well as losing jobs and support for countless people.

All was not lost. After this the church began to grow increasingly underground. Since there were only allowed to be two official places of worship in each city these were inevitably used by the majority religion. Networks formed between cities and groups that helped connect the small pockets of believers around the country. An increase in unity has also taken place as denominational differences mattered less. People stepped up into leadership roles that had long been held by foreigners. Though it is still a struggle, leaders are being developed to multiply home groups, in essence seeing each person as a potential leader of a new group.

Challenges still persist in our very controlled environment. Like all developing countries unemployment is very high and a pastor who can live on the giving of his group is virtually non-existent. For believers, particularly in smaller cities, it is very hard to find work. Many educated leaders are leaving to go to other countries to find work because they can’t provide for their families here. Almost all pastors need to have a second job to help cover expenses which takes them away from full-time mission work.

Persecution continues to grow, making some stronger and others fearful. One fellow leader lost his job three times when his bosses found out about his faith. By the third time the police told him that if they caught him again they would plant drugs on him and he would go to jail for the rest of his life. Every week we hear about homes being raided and large fines or even jail time given to those present. In order to protect ourselves, times, locations and days of meetings are regularly changed. Unfortunately for some it became so bad they were forced to leave the country.

The need for outside support is still very strong. A new small group of foreigners has recently arrived bringing business models and ideas for income generating activities. This is helpful because instead of just giving salaries we are developing businesses that will remain even if foreigners leave and which also help to support the leaders of the churches. Since it has become very difficult to get training and education in the country many mission workers are now working and offering training in neighboring countries which we can travel to for short periods of time. This helps meet an important need in spiritual maturity as resources and information are very limited here.

As we look to the future of the church here we see lots of potential. Still young, less than 20 years old, with a country which looks increasingly outwards for help, there are many ways for the larger body to serve a group of believers making up less than 1% of the population. Finding ways to invest in the leaders both financially and educationally is crucial for multiplication. They need encouragement from the larger body to remind them that they are not alone. I have had the opportunity, along with many others, to travel to neighbouring countries to bring the good news. This type of effort has been very effective as our cultures and languages are very similar. In order to continue this and other efforts we need more and more people around us. Just as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “this service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God, (2 Cor. 9:12)”.

Theology / Church

My poor spellchecker. Evidently Bill Gates does not know the word missiology. Type in missiology and up comes a helpful set of alternatives headed by musicology! But then again, what is the relationship between missiology and musicology or for that matter, mission and business, the creative arts, journalism and a hundred other things that ‘normal’ people do for a living?

In Interserve we bring these things together under the term ‘wholistic mission’.

There was a time when Interserve was unusual amongst mission communities in promoting an wholistic vision of mission. Not so today. In fact, all strands of mission are using the buzz words of transformation, integral ministry and wholistic ministry. But what do we mean?

Well, as the song says, ‘Let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start.’

Mission is God’s BIG IDEA! The Bible is all about God’s mission. Mission is God’s initiative from start to finish: the promise to Abraham that through one nation God intends to bless all nations; the Old Testament preparation of a people and culture that would be receptive to God’s work; the fulfillment of that work in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus; the ministry of the Holy Spirit, orchestrating all mission that flows from the Christ event and empowering his disciples as God’s mission carriers. God is the real missionary from start to finish. If we want to understand God’s mission we need to understand the whole story of mission presented in the Bible. Instead of a reductionist view of mission that draws on a number of key texts we need to develop a view of mission that draws on the whole message of Scripture.

Our understanding of wholistic mission must begin in the garden and end in the city. “Too often our theology and missiology begins with Genesis 3 and ends with Revelation 20”2 In other words, a missiology that is framed by mankind’s fall and God’s final judgment, with personal salvation filling the sandwich, is a defective missiology. Wholistic missiology must include at least the following:

The beginning: Genesis 1&2 The biblical story begins with a God who is distinct from his creation (transcendent) yet intimately involved (immanent). Creation is not a temporary staging post or a ‘platform’ for the real world to come but the sphere of God’s activity. There is no dichotomy between ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’. Creation is good! Mankind is mandated to care for this world, a mission command that is never rescinded. Indeed, the creation account makes it clear that the ‘image of God’ in which mankind is made relates closely to his vice-regent role as creation’s warden. The revelation of God as creator profoundly shapes our own understanding of work, rest, creativity and ecology. The doctrine of creation shapes a biblical understanding of wholistic mission.

The goal of history: Revelation 21&22 Christians know that there is a goal to history. The end (telos) is not the end of the story but the completion of His story. God is still the creator God, creating a new heaven and new earth. A new Jerusalem descends from heaven. The redeemed do not go up ‘to heaven’ to live but inhabit the new earth where God once more dwells with man. As John’s vision draws to a close the One seated on the throne speaks for the first time in the revelation, saying, “I am making all things new” (Rev 21:5). Here is the fulfillment of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in the heavens.” Yes, the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ! (Rev 11:15) Eschatology shapes a biblical understanding of wholistic mission.

The all-pervasive impact of sin: Genesis 3 At the heart of the gospel message is a call to recognise personal sin and its effect in rupturing our relationship with God. Yet, sin distorts and damages all relationships: interpersonal, with God and with the created order. Because of sin the man and woman are excluded from the garden, that place of harmony and wholeness in all relationships. A whole view of the fall and the multi-level impact of sin shapes a biblical understanding of wholistic mission.

The all-inclusive scope of the cross and resurrection: God’s solution for sin is as far reaching as the tentacles of sin itself. Not only is God out to restore his relationship with humankind, he is out to restore all things.

The cross and resurrection provide the solution for all of creation: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross” Col 1:19-20

God is in the business of reconciling to himself individuals, society and indeed the whole of creation3. God loved ‘the world’ (cosmos) so much that he gave his one and only son’. Wholistic mission refuses to reduce God’s cosmic act of reconciliation to a single dimension, individual human beings, however central that dimension may be in his mission plan. A cosmic view of salvation shapes a biblical understanding of wholistic mission.

Wholistic mission derives from God’s mission, Missio Dei. God is the good creator who is in the business of making new his good but broken creation. God has purposed to bring reconciliation and transformation to the whole created order. In wholistic mission we are called to join God in his purpose. This is where mission and music, business, journalism, art and drama and everything else fits in. These are not simply platforms for proclamation. They are places to be reclaimed for Christ, filled with his presence and presented to him for his glory. As we do that we call others to join us in our acts of worship. Mission becomes proclamation to the world in the call to repentance and reconciliation, the heavenlies in the declaration of the victory of Christ and to God himself in our song of praise.

Since the beginning of time God has been going about his mission and one day he will complete it. Wholistic mission requires that we never lose sight of the end, not settle for a reduced view of what God has in store for his creation. We live in communities filled with sadness, injustice, corruption, violence and greed. God is not simply bent on rescuing a few, destroying the rest and starting again. By faith we affirm that the One who sits on the throne is making all things new.

Jesus models the reality of a new world order, God’s kingdom come. He demonstrates the kingdom of God by offering the love and goodness of the Father unconditionally. This offer of life can only be made through incarnation and vulnerability. It cost Jesus his life.

We, his disciples, are called to bear witness to the suffering and victory of God in Christ. We now bring the Kingdom in the same way that Jesus did: unconditionally, incarnationally and vulnerably. Through our speaking, doing and being, we invite people to become part of that new world order. As they are discipled and put into practice all that Jesus commanded, so they and their communities are transformed. One day that process will be complete, for we shall see him and be like him. God invites us to join him in mission, wholistic mission.

Theology / Church