One of the real challenges in living here is learning what it means to live here. The longer I’m here and the more I understand about Mongolia and Mongolians, the more I realize how little I actually understand. Strangely enough, I find this comforting and refreshing, rather than frustrating, because it’s critical to serve from a place of humility. I’m pretty sure that this is God’s built-in measure to keep cross-cultural workers humble. I don’t know anything really, and have to be careful with my assumptions. We move forward by learning from those whom God has sent us to serve. Yesterday at church (we do church on Saturday night) I watched our two church leaders at the UB church lead with power and authority and wisdom. They did a great job, and I told them as much afterwards by way of encouragement. I said, “see, you don’t need me”. One in jest replied, “no, you need us”. We laughed.
But in all seriousness, it’s true. I do need them. Our ministry here is in grave danger if that reality is forgotten.
I am encouraged by what God is doing at our church through
Onon (our student center manager) and Zolo (also an employee of the center) and his family. We restarted the church a couple of months ago, after the students started coming back to School. While we wanted to continue to have a venue for reaching students, it seemed that the Lord was giving us families. We’re encouraged by that. Zolo is coming (and leading), along with his wife and daughter. Other families have wandered in and out. Over the past few months we have very slowly started to grow. We changed the way we are “doing church”. Rather than a more formalized praise songs/sermon/prayer/offering/praise song format, the church is doing an inductive Bible study on their own. We have a short time of simple worship and praise, and then move into a directed Bible Study in the Sermon on the Mount. It’s been a blessing to see students spend an hour or more thinking and talking about applying to their lives one or two verses from the Bible. We are using both of the Mongolian translations of the Scripture, and talking about the differences, trying to get to what Jesus really meant when he was speaking.
Last evening, before our time together, two young men who are not believers were hanging out at the Grain of Wheat and one of our employees engaged them in conversation. It was closing time and we were about to begin our meeting, so she invited them to join us. They did just that. We proceeded to talk in detail about how we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. “Being salt” was a strange thing for them to think about, but the attending believers did a great job talking about the meaning and Zolo explained differences between Christian belief and Buddhism. One lady gave a testimony. Being a very pragmatic culture, Mongolians place a high value on something having “profit” or “benefit”. It’s an important idea for most Mongolian people. This woman shared how her life before coming to Christ was terrible (as indeed, it was). However, after she became a believer her life became great, she has a job, a house, etc. Her point was that her life is “salt and light” because her belief in Jesus resulted in “benefit” or “profit”. This is a typical testimony in the Mongolian Church.
However, we had an amazing opportunity to take the passage an important step further.
Last week they had studied the previous verses on how we are to respond when we are persecuted. The point was made that our light shines brightest when we live like Jesus during the darkest times. The “benefit” of Jesus is not always realized in this life and when people see believers who are full of joy when tragedy or sickness strike (and it will strike), or when we are rejected or made fun of because we are Jesus-followers, THEN we are light. Bright shining beacons of Gospel light.
Zolo then picked up the guitar and we sang a favorite here, but this time with a new understanding.
Every blessing you pour out I’ll turn back to praise, when the darkness closes in still I will say … blessed be the name of the Lord.
Believers were blessed, unbelievers were challenged with truth. That’s the real thing in my book. That’s church.
I have great hope for this church. The reason I have great hope for this church is not because of us or our team (although I am grateful that we will soon have help from those coming out of
language school this spring). I have great hope for this church because God is at work in these young men and women. Our job is simply to point them to Jesus. I need them to not only teach me how the Mongolian people think and live, act and react, but to point me to Jesus, as well. It is a real joy to work together. His Kingdom come.
Bernie Anderson
