Trip to Ulaanbaatar.

Fr. Alexei Streltsov, LTS rector, and Fr. Timothy Quill, CTS professor and director of the Russian Project there, visited Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, May 13-16. The trip had as its goal getting acquainted with Lutheran missionary work in Mongolia, and offering Lutheran seminary education to those who may become pastors and teachers in that country.

This trip came about as a result of a letter sent by Rev. Pentti Marttila, Finnish missionary in Ulaanbaatar, who asked Rev. Timothy Quill for assistance in the matter of education. Because of family problems, Rev. Marttila’s family had to go to Finland some days before the trip, and so he was not present in Ulaanbaatar at the time of the visit. Staff worker of Finnish Lutheran Oversees Mission Mica Laiho took Fr. Quill and Fr. Streltsov around Ulaanbaatar and generally took very good care of them.

The trip turned out to be very fruitful. Ulaanbaatar has over 700,000 inhabitants. Yet there are few Christians there, as the national religion is Buddhism in its Lamaism form, mingled somewhat with animistic beliefs and practices. Conceivably, the first Christians appeared in Mongolia in 1989 when the country opened up for missionary work. At the present time there are dozens of various missions at work in Mongolia. Korean Presbyterians and Pentecostals are most widely represented – there are about 100 Korean families who just came to live in Ulaanbaatar.

The first Lutherans appeared in Ulaanbaatar in 1994. It was Norwegian Lutheran Missions (NLM) that started work there. Finnish Lutheran Oversees Mission (FLOM) came to Ulaanbaatar in 1997. At present these two missions work together. The missionaries learn the Mongolian language; most of them can use it already. When it comes to Lutheran literature, right now there is only the Small Catechism in the Mongolian language. There is obviously a great need for the translation of more Lutheran writings. And of course there is a great need for Mongolian pastors and missionaries.

There is one Mongolian young man there who may become a student of theology in Novosibirsk in the future. His name is Shavlan. He is 27 years old, married, and has two children. He graduated from Arts University in Ulaanbaatar with a major in piano performance. Currently he is a first-year student at the non-denominational Bible Center in Ulaanbaatar.

This school is more or less dominated by Korean Presbyterians. Obviously this is not the best place to train future Lutheran pastors, to put it mildly. But this is the only theological school in Ulaanbaatar that has official state registration. Several confessions send their pastoral candidates to that school. In the beginning there was a great deal of external unity among different Christian groups working in Ulaanbaatar, but now confessional principles play an ever-increasing role.

Fr. Timothy Quill and Fr. Alexei Streltsov attended a church service on Sunday, May 14. Shavlan preached there and also played music. There were 14 Mongolian attendants at the service, as well as several children. The Gospel text read was from John’s Gospel, on the Good Shepherd. Toward the end of the service Frs. Quill and Streltsov were invited to say some words in front of the church. Both of them concentrated on motif of having a shepherd, that is, having valid pastoral ministry.

After the service, Fr. Alexei Streltsov held a catechism class, which lasted for one and a half hours. There were two Mongolian women at the catechism lesson. Middle-age Mongolians learned Russian in school, but they have not had much opportunity to practice it in the last 19 years.

Still, their Russian is better than their English. Discussions in the class took place in three languages: Russian, English, and Mongolian. These ladies could understand Russian, but they had a very difficult time speaking it. The topics of the catechism class were the Lord’s Supper and Prayer.

Monday, May 15, there was a meeting with the Norwegian Lutheran Mission resident representative, Mr. Verner Larsen. Mr. Larsen shared a detailed description of NLM’s work in Mongolia. NLM operates in Ulaanbaatar and in Darhan, a city in the northern province of Mongolia. This mission is officially registered as a humanitarian aid organization. It helps in the matters of health, wool production, gardening, and animal breeding. Besides congregation in Ulaanbaatar, there is a little congregation being organized in Darhan. It has its own governing structure, as was indicated. NLM tried already to send some people to study abroad. At present one female Mongolian student studies at the Lutheran seminary in Japan, and a male student studies in the Interdenominational Bible Center in Singapore.

Mr. Larsen was glad to know that there is a conservative Lutheran seminary in Siberia. Mr. Mica Laico also felt that it would seem reasonable to send Mongolian nationals to Siberia. Mongolians had strong connections with the Soviet Union in the twentieth century. There was a strong cultural as well as linguistic influence. In certain respects, Ulaanbaatar looks just like a typical Russian city. Mongolian students will have much less cultural shock and adjustment in Novosibirsk than in Singapore or Japan.

The plans for the future may include attending the 2000 Summer theological seminars in Novosibirsk and Irkutsk by Shavlan and perhaps some others. Another option, of course, is the monthly seminars. The major objective, however, is to provide high-level confessional Lutheran pastoral training to the Mongolian nationals. Novosibirsk seems to be a suitable place for this. A new group will be enrolled in LTS in 2001. We do not know yet if Shavlan or any other people from Mongolia will be able to comer to us at that time, but we will diligently pray and work in cooperation with FLOM, NLM, and the nascent Mongolian church to bring about the best possible results. There is certainly a tremendous potential in this undertaking that we should endeavor to use to spread the gospel in Mongolia in accordance with the teaching of Scripture and the Confessions.

News

News: Professor Kurt Marquart Gives Lectures in Ekaterinburg. [June 2000]

News: Completion of 1999-2000 Academic Year. [June 2000]

News: Summer Practicum. [June 2000]

News: Seminary Movie. [June 2000]

News: LTS Theological Journal. [May 2000]

News: Trip to Ulaanbaatar. [May 2000]

News: A Missionary and Catechetical Trip to Khakassia, Buryatia, and Irkutsk. [May 2000]

News: Student’s Daughter Baptized at the Chapel’s Baptismal Font. [May 2000]

News: Students Conduct Fieldwork during Holy Week. [April 2000]

News: LTS holds April seminar in new seminary building. [April 2000]

News: Dr. Scaer teaches full course in Novosibirsk in one week. [March 2000]

News: LTS student participates in international Christian Pedagogical conference. [March 2000]

News: New congregation comes into being due to the practical work of the students of the Biblical School in Khakassia. [March 2000]

News: Three New Students Accepted at the Seminary in Novosibirsk [February 2000]