Imagine living in a country where the majority of Christians are first generation believers. The number of believers has grown from a mere four in 1990 to nearly 40,000 which makes it the eighth fastest growing church in the world today according to Operation World.
Many of these churches are run by foreign mission agencies. There is a real fear among many church leaders that as time passes and Mongolia’s economy develops, believers will have less need for these missionaries and most people will turn back to Buddhism.
Harvesters’ First Footprint in Mongolia
After months of prayer and trusting the Lord the door in Mongolia finally opened for Harvesters. Thank you to every donor who is making it possible for Harvesters to work in this precious country.
I met up with a group of first generation Christians who feel that the time is ripe to implement multiplication church planting in their country.
There is a strong missional focus among many of them with a desire to see church growth despite the many challenges they face. These challenges include long, cold winters, extremely short summers, the vast, rugged expanses and the nomadic culture of their country.
Among these Christians is a special couple. They stared at their map with tears in their eyes. You see, they are praying over this map and trusting God to show them a way to relocate to Inner Mongolia (China). There are more than 7 million unreached people living there and they feel that the Lord has laid it on their hearts to minister to these people.
Blessed with Willing Leaders
The mapping session was led by our Harvesters Ministries’ country leaders. He shared Proverbs 27:23 “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds;” and this encouraged the other Hub-leaders to really do an in-depth study of the area that they are mapping out. If a pastor knows his area really well he will be able to evangelise the lost more effectively and plant more viable churches.
“Dare to share the Gospel, then they will dare to believe,” one of the pastors said to the group.
All these pastors have is the Gospel. They can only hold onto the Word of God and their faith in Jesus Christ when times get hard. They do not have a government who supports them, they do not live a life of luxury, they are poverty stricken and give their all to win the lost in their nation.
How far are you and I willing to go for the Gospel? How do you live out and obey the Great Commission?