September 2006

Missionary Report from Mongolia

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come”
Matthews 24:14.

Greetings to all the brethren around the world in the loving name of our Lord. The following is the news about our pioneering work in Mongolia.
Mongolia has a population of 2,500,000 inhabitants and most of the land is covered with desert and plain. The relatively small population makes one think that it is a little country, but in fact it is a large surface of 1,567,000Km2 of land. The country looks small in the world map because it is located between Russia and China, but it has a large extension of territory and a long history. The descendants of Genghis Khan, who once conquered Asia and Europe, are the inhabitants of this country whose main religion is Lama Buddhism, a sect of Buddhism. Until 20th century it has been a land of Gentiles since there was no contact with Christianity. When Communism fell in 1990, missionaries were sent from the Christian countries and they started to preach the gospel.
Christianity has spread around the capital city Ulaanbaatar where there are around 30,000 Christians: about 1.2% of the whole population. The interest for Christianity is relatively high and as freedom is being granted, there is a high probability for Mongolia to be another Christian country in Asia. Its economy mainly depends on underground resources and stock farming which is quite primitive.
Most of the people, except for some in the capital city, eat mainly mutton (sheep) and drink milk. Bread is not common. Vegetables and fruits are imported from other countries and they are considered food for the wealthy.
All the members of a family live in a round tent, with little space, made of leather and cloth. The economic standard is still very low.
Dear brothers and sisters: Should not the message of the angel who will enlighten the whole world be preached in this country also? On October 14, 2004, I visited Mongolia without knowing anybody. I prayed that the Lord might open the way to preach the message in that country.
With the help of the Lord I could meet a sister who could speak Korean, and through her, we started working to gain more interested souls. I met her relatives and a principal of a nursery school run by the government. When I explained that the purpose of my visit was to preach the gospel, the principal was interested and gave me the opportunity to preach to her and to other teachers who worked there.

From then on we started Bible studies. They had never heard about Jesus and were quite interested in the gospel. In the beginning, only 5-6 people joined in the study but later on 10-12 people did. They were all very interested and decided to believe in God.
In a short period of time, they heard about creation, the fall of man and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ who was the only begotten Son of God. I could see that their hearts were touched. They had never heard about God or the name of Jesus in their life neither had they ever seen a Bible. The gospel changed their hearts and 12 souls decided to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.
Now, a certain number of Protestant believers are interested in the message and they are studying about the Sabbath. This is just the beginning, but certainly the work was begun and the foundation was laid for a church in Mongolia. We could not baptize these people because they still have to study our principles of faith, but the seed of the gospel was spread and germinated and it will continue to grow.
Now they need a place to gather. It is not possible to continue the missionary activities without having a meeting place and it is not within the possibilities of the Mongolian brethren to build a church. Other denominations are investing large amounts of money and sending volunteers to build churches and preach their message.
Therefore, I am appealing to all the brethren around the world. Thousands of years have passed since this earth was created, but this country has never heard of it until a few years ago. We cannot expect the coming of Christ until the gospel of heaven has been preached to all nations and tongues. Then, shouldn’t we preach the gospel in this country also? We need a church building for this purpose. I appeal to you: pray for Mongolia and show your interest supporting the work in this country. The resources that we have now may have been given to us for times like this.
I pray that God may bless the hands that give offerings with willingness and I would like to thank you in advance for your support.
–Kang, Dai Chun
Representative of East Asia