Written by Bolortuya Damdinjav, Executive Council Member of Asia Evangelical Alliance, for AEA’s December 2022 Newsletter
At the invitation of the Mongolian Evangelical Alliance (MEA), Dr Bambang Budijanto, the general secretary of the Asia Evangelical Alliance (AEA), made an official visit to the country’s capital, Ulaanbaatar in October 2022. His six-day visit, from the 17th to the 22nd, was a tremendous blessing as MEA, our young national alliance, and its leadership, aims to strengthen the relationship with AEA.
MEA was founded in 1997 with just ten members churches, today we have more than six-hundred member churches and organizations from various denominations. Our vision is to “Make disciples of Christ and proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom to all nations.” The Alliance’s primary ministry focus is to represent Mongolia’s evangelical church before the government, protect it from cults and promote unity and partnership among churches.
The first modern Mongolian church was founded in 1991 and since then numbers have been steadily growing. Most churches are led by national leaders, each of whom strives to make disciples in our nation and beyond. We thank the Lord for what He has done in our country during these last thirty years through the churches. Meanwhile, we realize the importance of evaluating our past as we seek to move forward. Definitely one of the major challenges to the Mongolian church is the growth and further development of local leaders. Therefore, during his visit, we asked Dr. Budijanto to teach us principles of godly leadership.
His visit brought much encouragement to MEA and to local church leaders. Dr. Budijanto took time to listen, advise, teach and instruct us as a brother in Christ. One of his teachings was about building the Healthy and Strong National Alliance. Using the inventory and monitoring system that he taught us; we practiced evaluating our alliance’s ministry. It was a very helpful exercise and something we plan to do each year, in the hope that it will enable us to serve our members more effectively.
Moreover, God is raising up a new generation of church leadership. Our concern is how to equip these new, young leaders and help them grow to be godly leaders. Intergenerational leadership is indeed a critical practice in our church ministries.
Pastor Altantsooj. Ts, the president of MEA said, “Dr. Budijanto’s visit came at precisely the right time and was crucial for MEA and church leaders. MEA is thankful to be a member of AEA and we trust that our partnership will continue to grow stronger.”
We trust that God will use the churches to extend His Kingdom in Mongolia and beyond. For that, MEA has a pivotal role in keeping the unity of the body of Christ in the country.
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