In the year A.D. 1266, the leader of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the great Kublai Khan, asked two Italian merchantmen to return home with a letter requesting 100 well-educated Christian missionaries to come back and teach his people about the Gospel. Unfortunately, Kublai Khan’s desire was not fulfilled that time, and it would seem that his earnest petition was never truly granted. Well, I would say it hadn’t been granted until now! The Great Khan could never have guessed that 750 years later, a ministry called It Is Written, in partnership with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mongolia, would respond to this ancient request, focusing its attention on the country of Mongolia with a life-saving message of hope.
After three years of spiritual preparation, planning, and ministry, between June 4 and 11, 2017, the It Is Written team, along with Mongolia Mission, held a huge evangelistic campaign, entitled “In What Can You Trust?” Altogether, more than 120 volunteer missionaries came from abroad, and 14 churches/companies in Ulaanbaatar got involved in this bold missionary challenge. The total number of people who were baptized on the last day of the evangelistic series reached 71! Praise the Lord!
“Since 2015, It Is Written has been actively involved in humanitarian and gospel work to help Mongolians get a clearer picture of Jesus as their help in this world and their hope in the world to come,” said Erik Flickinger, associate speaker for It Is Written. The humanitarian work began in 2015 by drilling water wells at two local churches where the local community had no access to fresh and clean drinking water. To get water, residents of Ger districts have to push carts of empty water jugs to a water station, sometimes located a mile away from their home. Today, three churches have hot and cold running water and can attract people who otherwise might not take notice of them.
The “MISSION: MONGOLIA” project involved medical, dental, and optical clinics as well as nightly Bible presentations by John Bradshaw, speaker/director of the It Is Written team. We wondered how many people would show up for the evangelistic meetings in a country that is 97% non-Christian. On Sunday night, we had the answer: more than 700 people! They continued to attend the evangelist meeting every night in the Union Cultural Center Palace in Ulaanbaatar. This is nothing less than miraculous!
Starting on Sunday, June 4, 2017, It Is Written carried out a major health project in Ulaanbaatar. The team of more than 120—including around 80 medical professionals from at least five countries—conducted clinics at several locations around the city providing a wide range of free health services. In cooperation with the city government, physicians, ophthalmologists, dentists, nurses, physical therapists, and many others ministered to thousands of people. The medical missionary team was divided up and went to hospitals, nursing homes, a school, a blind center, Adventist churches and even to a jail, offering dental, vision, surgical, and multiple other services touching many lives through this work. They provided medical services that in many cases people here would not otherwise be able to receive. Missionaries sacrificed vacation time and money to travel all the way to the other side of the world to make friends for Jesus. At the same time, evangelistic meetings were held in the center of Ulaanbataar each night, giving people the opportunity to know Jesus as not only Healer, but as Lord and Savior!
“Our journey to Mongolia could not have ended on a better note. More than 70 precious souls publicly confessed their love for Jesus through baptism. There may not have been much water in the Tuul River but there was enough for us to completely immerse every person. I even had the honor of baptizing a young lady with muscular dystrophy. I just cradled her small body in my arms and we both went down in the water. You should have seen her when we came up out of the water: smiling and crying all at the same time. Please don’t stop praying for Mongolia. Hundreds more, from our week here, are now being prepared for baptism in the future,” stated Yves Monnier, It Is Written evangelism director.
It Is Written’s “Mission: Mongolia” project brought the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people of Mongolia. People here must be reached. People are having their health needs met. Those who need clothing to protect themselves against the brutally cold winter are being helped also.
When it comes to really approaching them with the Gospel, and witnessing to them, we strongly believe Jesus’ simple approach is the best one: meeting their needs. This is the so-called “Christ’s Method Alone.”
In Matthew 24:14 Jesus strongly asserts, “And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come” (KJV). Now, if we are to take Jesus at His Word, what that means is that He’s not going to come back to this world until everybody in the world, including Mongolia, has heard the Good News. We know Jesus is going to come back soon, which means people all across this great nation, Mongolia, are going to hear the Good News. An everlasting empire and a new Khan (King) is about to come!
By Yure Gramacho (MM Communication Director)
& Yves Monnier (IIW Evangelism Director)