Missionary shares story, passion
Mongolia is a unitary sovereign state located in Eastern Asia, sharing its borders with Russia and China. It is the most sparsely populated fully sovereign country in the world, with only a population of three million. This is due to the fact that the people have developed a highly nomadic culture. 30% of the population is semi-nomadic or nomadic.
According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, Buddhism dominates the religions of Mongolia, with 53% of people practicing it while 39% of people are not religious at all. Only 4% of people are Christians, but a radio station is looking to change those numbers.
The FEBC is a Christian radio station located in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar that aims to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through family friendly, 24/7 programming. They have an established presence in the community with over 200,000 listeners. Things they promote include family values and responsible living, organizing rallies and introducing listeners to biblical concepts like kindness, grace and charity.
Missionary Batjargal “Bat” Tuvshintsengel is the founder of FEBC Mongolia. Bat came to know Christ as a young man finishing high school. He met a woman from Great Britain who became his English teacher. He didn’t even realize she was a Christian and she taught him English using the Bible. He was one of the first 20 Christians in the entire nation and since then the number has grown to 60,000.
“It came as a vision in my second year of knowing Christ,” Tuvshintsengel said. “God really clearly told me that I should use radio to evangelize in my country. I had to wait and pray for seven years, before it really came true. In the year of 2000, I got a license of FM broadcasting in the capital city and that’s how we established the first christian radio station there. We’ve been running FM radio station for 20 years, 24/7. We’ve expanded to 10 other cities, so it’s quite an extensive outreach, telling people the Gospel.”
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The FEBC is making a strong push to mobilize the churches, so that once someone is saved, they can be properly equipped to share the gospel themselves.
Mongolia is a former communist and Buddhist country, which has added some challenges. The distance between households also has proved difficult.
“It’s all materialism, it’s all about secularism,” Tuvshintsengel said. “The Mongolians have become a very materialistic society. The second challenge is distance, Mongolia is so vast, these people only live a nomadic lifestyle, they live by households, not by groups of people. It’s extremely difficult to reach these people by foot, since they live 30-40 miles from each other. The other challenge is understanding the concept of church among these nomadic people, because these people have no fixed address.
“So the conventional way of church does not apply here, because they’re always on the move,” Tuvshintsengel continued. “That’s why we want to make sure the household becomes the church and that’s why there is the concept of the nomadic church, meeting in the households.”
Currently, the FEBC needs funding for three new stations to add to their existing five. They are currently 40% of the way to their $126,000 goal. This will allow them to reach all of Mongolia through the radio. You can donate at FEBC Mongolia.
For more information on Christianity in Mongolia, check out the Diplomat’s article about Khovd’s Christian churches combating alcoholism and Christian men.
“Christianity in #Mongolia, A Look at How a Foreign Faith is Adapting to Mongolian Culture” | The Diplomat https://t.co/uRkB0hxakz #Asia
— Asian Studies at GU (@asianstudiesgu) May 13, 2016
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This author can be reached via twitter @logan6300 and via email: Logan Lewis.