Why are Sheeps in Bathtubs? (And Other Questions)

(This is the text of an email I wrote to some friends who read "There's a Sheep in my Bathtub: Birth of a Mongolian Church planting movement".  I think this is an important book for those of us who are called to to work in Mongolia.  But I also think it highlights some of the issues that Mongolia still faces today. This is kind of a long post, and I know there may be many of our RememberMongolia readers who will not find this of interest.  However, for what it's worth, I am going to post it anyway.)

I finished Brian Hogan's book "There is a Sheep in My Bathtub" about two months ago or so. I am just getting around now to writing up some of my thoughts about the book.  I really should have written this while it was still fresh on my mind - so I hope I am not working from a dim memory.  In any case, I really appreciate your sending the book to me - and I have enjoyed reading some of the recent history of the field here.  I have met folks who know the Hogans and the Leatherwoods, and I have met Mongolian believers who were at one point a part of their ministry, as well.  I must say that I greatly appreciate the sacrifice and the work of these pioneers, and I am particularly impressed with the way God worked in the Hogan family while they were in the process of burying their son.  My hat is off to them for this.  
 
I also appreciate the church planting emphasis, particularly in a place where the church had not been planted before.  His use of Church Planting Movement (CPM) principles was right - and Biblical.  This is an excellent case study of classic missiological principles such as indigenous church planting, contextualization, and staying away from unhealthy dependency by quickly turning the work over to national believers, and making a departure. This is good stuff.  
 
However, there are a few Mongolia specific missiological issues this book brings up  that I would like to either clarify or, if need be, take issue with. 
 
1. The City of Ulaanbaatar.  I take issue with Hogan's comments regarding the city. I may be wrong, but I detected a tone of "get me out of Ulaanbaatar and out where the 'real' lost people are".  Particularly on page 56 where he says, "Getting out of Ulaanbaatar was as vital to our success as making sure we didn't end up living in the Sansar Missionary Ghetto".  I hear comments like this frequently.  I have heard friends and coworkers from both our organization and from other organizations working in country make these kinds of statements.  I get the impression sometimes that working in the city is only for 'city-slickers' who can't really handle the difficult lifestyle and lack of conveniences that is true of rural areas of Mongolia.  I heard one person make the statement of "why would I stay in UB where there are some churches and opportunities to hear the Gospel when I can go to the countryside where there are no churches and no opportunities".  The Korean Missionary Association has ceased church planting efforts in UB because they have declared it as "saturated".  There is this romantic view of the Mongolian countryside among both Mongolian people and many missionaries.  I hear talk from a lot of Christian workers who have the idea that UB is just a 'stopover', and the real missionary work is going to be done in the rural 'unreached' areas of Mongolia. I want to qualify what I am about to say.  a. I believe calling to a place is important.  So if a person is called to Western Mongolia, or the West side of Chicago - obedience is key issue.  b. I love the Mongolian countryside, as well!  It's beautiful.  I think the nomadic culture of the people there is also beautiful and of high interest.  c. Without compromise, the unreached people of of rural mongolia must be reached. This is a non-negotiable fact. 
 
However, in order to reach this country, we must effectively reach the capital city - and this city is far from what would be considered "reached" by any reasonable standard. The entire country is coming to the city. If a student wants to be educated, he or she must usually come to UB.  This past September, 250,000 + students came to the city from all over the country in order to attend University.  That number grows every year.  The city itself is growing exponentially, because people come with hope for jobs and a better life. Many of these people end up living in ger districts all around the outskirts of town, where water and power and basic services are lacking, and in some cases non-existent.  UB is the political, cultural, educational, social, technological, spiritual (etc., etc.,) epicenter of the nation.  It's not a pretty place.  It's not really even a fun place to live (trust me, there are days when the quiet clean air, and majestic yet pastoral landscapes of rural Mongolia look really nice, when compared to the smoke, traffic, pollution and noise of the city). However, it is critical that we make city disciples who are willing to give their lives away for the sake of their countrymen.  It is critical that we disciple students who will be able to effectively reach their friends and family back in their notak (their home province).  It is critical that we raise up a church that will seek ways to address the issues of city life in Ulaanbaatar in a Biblical, Christ-like, God-honoring manner.  I know there will be some called specifically to rural and unreached places - however, I firmly believe that as an organization we must not abandon the city under some misconceived idea that it's 'reached'.  It's under-reached, at best.  The christians here are few and far between and the church is weak across the board - and that's putting it graciously.

2.  Evangelism in Mongolia. I want to address some misconceptions that I think this book has fostered somewhat.  I believe that this is an accurate history of what happened in Mongolia during the 1990's when the country first opened to the Gospel.  There was an unprecedented openness to the Gospel. We can rejoice that took place.  There were many new genuine believers who came to Christ during that era, and who are still following as disciples of Jesus today.  Many churches were started.  Some of those still exist today, as well.  In fact there are statistics now that say there are about 40,000 Christians in Mongolia.  Now while that's still only about 1.3% of the population, that would seem a good start. Some would say the work here is finished. I have heard and read people say (mostly people who have never been here) "Things are happening in Mongolia, there are church planting movements (CPM) going on there".  I want to dispel that rumor.  There were some significant CPM's happening here at one point.  However, right now more churches are disappearing than they are appearing.  I have read some recent statistics that the actual number of believers in Mongolia is not increasing, but is actually decreasing. I don't have actual research to back up why this is happening - but I speculate that it has much to do with the fact that church was merely planted, but not nurtured and established to the point where she can actually sustain herself (more on that in a minute).  Evangelism here is typically not taking place by Mongolians reaching other Mongolians.  Most of the evangelism that I have seen takes place with a foreigner (or when a team comes), and is usually done with total strangers.  I believe that the church needs to be retooled with culturally appropriate ways to share their faith.  The church will not become sustainable until that really takes place.  It's very strange to me to see a church that is new - and yet, so ingrown.  I am suspicious that westerners and Koreans have imported some bad habits.  One of the things that really needs to happen here (I believe) is the development of a spirituality that is truly Mongolian - and not Western/Korean imports.  
 
It is not unusual to meet someone who was a Christian 5 years ago.  This is the person who saw the American and Korean Christians come in and saw Christianity as a meal ticket (or a plane ticket).  Now they have returned to Buddhism, Shamanism, atheism or a combination of the three. However, they are still part of the 40,000 count. 
 
Now in defense of Brian Hogan and his work - There were several incidents stated in his book where he and his team worked to do just that.  The name of God issue being one of them (page 105-106).  "In new mission fields people tend to reject the message when it's presented in alien cultural forms".  True, right and good.  I would take that statement a step further and say that people will not understand or embrace for the long term a Christian Spirituality that is also in alien cultural form.  I believe this is something that those of us who are working here need to study, understand and walk with Mongolian brothers and sister in this process of discovery.  In other words, this contextualization principle needs to continue beyond mere Gospel presentation, to all areas of Christian living.  This takes time - blood, sweat and tears. 
 
3. When is the church really planted? Which really leads to one of my major issues with a lot of contemporary missiology.  There is a sense in which I applaud the efforts of folks like Hogan who have a vision of getting in, planting the church and getting out.  This is a good contradiction  to those who have the old imperialistic view of mission and establish the local church in such a way that the foreigner always maintains control.  My criticism here is not directed at Brian Hogan, because I believe that they did as they were directed of God - and that they walked in obedience to that.  However, there are more and more people that are saying that long term Missions is a thing of the past and I believe there is a danger in moving cross-cultural ministry into a minimalist short-term (2-3 years) work, rather than long term work of truly understanding and embracing language and culture, making disciples within the context of that language and culture, and establishing a church that will be able to sustain itself until Christ returns.  While I think it's good to quickly  transition national believers into leadership roles, I also think that it's terribly short-sighted to believe that a church will become deeply rooted,  impactful and sustainable in such a short period of time, without further assistance.  The church in Mongolia grew wide quickly.  However, the depth of the church never went very deep at all. The church planting movement (CPM) that is recorded in this book started well.  There were 800 some people involved with that particular CPM when they left the field.  Today that church in Erdenet still exists.  However, I have been told that it has about 150 people involved today.  This is no disrespect to the Hogans - I am just making the point that the CPM's that began in the 90's are not continuing today.  But it does seem that the best picture of the church in Mongolia is that of a revolving door.

I am also seeing that church planting and evangelism is not enough.  While these things are pieces (and an important, must not be neglected pieces) of the Great Commission, it is not the sum total of our task.  We are to make disciples - and I believe that means make disciples who are able to make more disciples. This means the church needs leaders who are trained to work and think in theologically astute ways.  My personal vision is that the church in Mongolia will one day have pastors, leaders, writers, missionaries, theologians, artists and songwriters who are able to accurately and effectively communicate the Gospel in a way that is uniquely Mongolian.  Right now, we're a long way from that.  So while I appreciate the frontier missions movement, and it's emphasis on the unreached peoples of the world - I think we need to be careful to not see the unreached peoples as a grocery list that gets checked off, and when it's checked we're finished.  Making disciples is bigger than checking off everyone on the Joshua Project list (as big a job as this is!).  This will still require those who are called to do so to invest a large amount of time and energy (and life) to cross culture and live the Christian life in the middle of that culture in order to train a church for sustainable strength for years to come.  I won't take any more time than I've taken in this email, but I believe that careful exposition of the work and methodology of Paul will show that he did more than hit and run church planting.
 
This approach also grossly underestimates the deep roots of Shamanism and the deceptive nature of Buddhism.  It ignores that fact that Mongolians lived in a God-less vacuum for 70 years under the former USSR.  It is going to take more than a couple of years of Sunday School lessons to see long-term change happen.

Again, I want to emphasize that I am not criticizing Brian Hogan or the work he and his team has done in Mongolia.  Nor am I in any way minimizing the sacrifice they made in their time in Mongolia.  There is a place and a need for mission pioneers like the Hogans.  However, as someone living and working here now - I want to say that not only is the job not finished, yet. It's not even close. 

Easter Morning: Living as Exiles

I took a walk this Easter morning through the empty streets of our adopted home city of Ulaanbaatar. The streets were not empty because it was Easter. The streets were empty because it was 7:00 on Sunday morning. They look like this every week. Few people here know the significance of the first Sunday after the first full moon after vernal equinox. As I walked this morning and took pictures of the empty streets, I found myself with a glad heart. As the bright sun rises on the city today, so the Son of Life has risen from the dead. Jesus is alive. That makes being here bearable. That really makes living life on our fallen planet bearable. We know that grace will one day reign. Hope is everything.

It is in knowing that we have hope that we can work hard to bring hope to others. Our home is not here. Our future is not here. We live for a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. In the words of the late Larry Norman, "we are only visiting this planet." This hope makes 'living as an exile' seem not so bad. We seek a better homeland, and call those we meet along the way to join us in the journey. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

Here are a few scenes from my Easter morning Sunrise wanderings through the streets of Ulaanbaatar:

Guitar Lessons

Erka is Jonathan's Guitar teacher now. He's doing a great job helping Jonathan to learn how to play left handed. With Cori picking up the guitar now, as well, maybe we'll have a guitar trio one of these days.

Woundedness, Forgiveness, and the Birth of a Team

We met after church last Sunday - on their initiative. Three church leaders requested to meet with Renee’, myself and our field director couple, Dennis and Marilyn. We had no real clue what this was going to be about, but I had my guesses.

For those of you who may be new to our blog, Renee’ and I are working with a group of young people (college students) in Ulaanbaatar. These kids have a vision to reach their city, their country and beyond with the truth of the Gospel. Renee’ and I are doing leadership training with them on Thursday evenings, and Renee’ is working specifically with the girls every other Saturday morning. We want to help them see their dream of reaching their community and their country become a reality. So we are trying to earn the right to speak into their lives by deepening our relationship with them, as well as teaching them the Word.

It was after our Saturday Pizza party with the church leaders last week that we were first approached. The key leaders wanted to meet, so we made arrangements for this to happen the next day. It was one of those disconcerting moments that we’ve all experienced. We were asked for a meeting, but had no real idea what it was going to be about, so you’re mind starts going places it shouldn’t and expecting the worst.

So after church we sat around the Maves’ kitchen table overlooking the city, with brownies, instant coffee and fresh mandarine oranges. I had wrongly assumed they were there to ask us for money or extra support. They just wanted our advise. They wanted to know “through your eyes, how do you see our church?” (that actually sounds more fluid when being asked in Mongolian).

We had been chatting about this for several minutes, when our wise (and in this moment Spirit-led) Field Director began to talk to these leaders about past hurts and about forgiveness. While it would be obviously inappropriate to get into the details on a public website, suffice it to say that there has been some significant pain and wounding that has taken place over the years between our little church and our organization. We spent the next several hours working through those hurts and our church leaders were able to do the one thing that, in my opinion, makes a person most like Jesus: forgive. We spent time bringing up the hurts on both sides and giving and receiving forgiveness, which is the first step in healing the wounds. There was not a dry eye as we prayed together at the end. God was at work, and we all knew it.

The outcome of that meeting remains to be seen. But from the healing that began to take place at the meeting, there was another result that I am personally excited about. Dennis mentioned at some point durning the conversation that this was the beginning - the making - of a team that will work together for sake of Christ’s Kingdom in UB. Ever since Dennis mentioned this, the vision for a team made up of our Mongolian Church leaders, Renee’ and I, and others whom God may send, has been growing clear in my mind. I pray it will in their's, as well. I believe the Holy Spirit has begun a work in bringing a team together in an atmosphere of grace. Pray for Saugie and Dogi and Onon and Renee’ and I as we seek to discern together the Wind of the Spirit for Ulaanbaatar.

It’s the beginning, and it has begun with forgiveness.

Sleds

We recently had our field prayer retreat, and had a wonderful time of fellowship and worship and prayer. The Anderson kids also had their first sledding experience! Needless to say, they were both pretty fearless and got sleds up to to top speeds and maximum air. It was cold winter Mongolia fun for all (Dad took on the hill a couple times, as well...)

Jonathan and Cori Together (for once?)

Cori with Undraa

Dad and Daughter giving it a run

Snow Smiles