Stories
First-generation
Christians
Zaya tells her story: When I was at Bible college in Mongolia, I was praying for a job that would use what I had learned. There are very few Christian jobs in my country, so I knew it would be difficult. I looked and looked and found one as a book editor! I didn’t really know what I would be doing, but I took the job. So for six years I have worked with the TEE program.
One of my tasks is adapting a course on spiritual warfare that was written in the Philippines. It was written for their culture, and I am contextualizing it for our own culture. As Mongolians, we have many old traditions in our background. We are very concerned with spirits. And the biggest influence on our ideas of spirits is shamanism. We also have influences from communism, Buddhism, atheism . . . and many believers communicate with God but still hold on to other non-Christian beliefs as well.
I think the most difficult thing Christians face is confronting their Buddhist or shamanist worldview. Their family, their friends, the whole culture is against the Bible. When people become Christians, they always say, “Oh, I can’t do this and that, but I can do this.” They want to make rules. So I have to push them a little and say, “It is more than rules!”
The first generation of Christians are struggling to develop a biblical worldview. Who is God? How do we communicate with him? Most people think God is someone we have to please. Someone far away. We have a lot to learn! But with TEE, step by step we gain knowledge.
I’m very happy that God called me to this ministry and very honored, too. I see Mongolians – of my generation, older, the ones just growing up – and I think, There are so many things to do for them!
Mongolian group
