Opportunities Abound in Mongolia
Left: Intermediate students review their English lessons Right: A teacher shares her testimony
Global Neighbors: Summer ESL Program
The goal of our summer English program was to offer English classes to people in the local community, and through the classes introduce them to the church facility and leaders of the church. We had seven weeks of classes in four different churches.
Team A consisted of three teachers from West Virginia with Jim and Esther Entner and me as helpers. About 90 students attended the two weeks of English classes, and 20 visited the church on the last Sunday. Each week a chapel service was held, during which our teachers shared testimonies of God’s work in their lives. Several students stayed after the final service to ask questions. We are so thankful that God provided the teachers and that He prepared hearts to hear the gospel message.
A Beginner’s level English class
Because we had just one teacher from the United States over the following two weeks, Jim, Esther, and I also taught classes and became Team B. We taught about 100 students in two different locations—one church was 12 km outside the city and the other near the city’s center. At the chapel services, we presented the good news and gave an invitation to Sunday services.
We didn’t have a Team C in our original plans, but because too many students registered for the English classes, Jim taught classes at the Lord’s Grace Church and Grace Baptist Church. As Jim was concluding Team C’s program, another pastor requested that Jim teach at his church. God expanded this ministry to reach many more than we had planned.
Other ESL Opportunities
At the Global Neighbors Training Center, beginner, intermediate, and advanced English classes are offered each semester. Students range in age from 12 years old to 60 years old. Many come from the local churches, but others come from the surrounding colleges and universities. It is good to see Christian students reaching out to unbelievers.
Vet Net, another Christian organization, needed someone to teach medical conversational English to their summer translators. Each summer, they send teams to the countryside to teach English, conduct medical clinics, and teach the Bible. Each team needed a translator for the foreign doctors and dentists who came for the clinics. We were able to provide a teacher for these translators.
Another organization works with teachers in the government schools. They requested someone to help with conversational English. Again we provided the native English speaker.
A door opened to teach in a local university. This secular university was founded by Korean Christians. The students come from Mongolia and several nearby countries. The teaching is all done in English. They asked if someone from our group would teach a character education course. During the semester, the character traits of attentiveness, obedience, truthfulness, thankfulness, and forgiveness were covered.
Also, a Christian couple who started a private high school asked for a teacher to help with the English classes. Once a week, a teacher visited the school and worked with students in grades 7–11.
Another way of reaching people for Christ is through home Bible studies. Our studies are in English usually with someone translating. Students often come first for the English practice, but several have had their hearts touched by God and have received Jesus as Savior. This makes all the work of preparing English lessons for the various groups so rewarding.
Local Church Evangelism and Discipleship
Worshippers at Holy Way Fellowship
Holy Way Fellowship started about 10 years ago as a home Bible study led by two national men. It now has approximately 150–200 people attending each week and has seen three churches started by its members. They are always seeking new ways to evangelize and disciple.
Discipleship is done in small groups that meet during the week in the different districts of the city. In these small groups, the members pray for each others’ needs and study the Bible together. Usually the groups are divided by age with the young people, middle aged, and seniors meeting separately, but there is a new group this past year whose goal was to learn to effectively witness for Christ. Each week, they invited visitors to the Sunday service and then presented the gospel to them.
During the summer, the various groups had retreats for Bible study, and the senior group was sent out on a mission trip to a countryside town. They spent ten days working with a local church in reaching out to the neighborhood and had a service each evening. About 100 people attended the services, and 30 then came to the Sunday church service.
Sharing at a youth retreat
A new outreach ministry is called Elder Care. The church now has six shut-ins. Each week, they try to visit three of these folks, taking food, medicine and other things each person needs. During a visit to a lady in the hospital, God blessed the team by giving them the opportunity to not only share the gospel with the patient, but also with other patients and family members. Since it can be boring in a hospital, when someone begins to teach something new, everyone wants to come and listen. As a result, four people talked with the teacher to hear more.
There is now an open door here in Mongolia, but opposition is growing in government circles. Many people are seeking for a purpose in life, especially among the college students. There are many more areas where works can be initiated, but we need workers.
Copyright © 1996-2008 ABWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved.