Sunday, March 14, 2010

Day 18: Chinese & Church

No one trying to kick in our neighbours' door last night. Thanks God!

It was snowing again today. Snow this late is apparently unusual, and the ground outside is covered again like it was when we first arrived. So much for Spring. It was about -12 today, but with quite a sharp wind on top of that.

We went out for lunch. The place we were planning to go was shut, so we decided on a Chinese restaurant. Mongolian shops (not just food places) often seem to have an abundance of staff doing not a lot, and this was no exception. After vainly trying to order something with tofu off the menu, we settled for a beef stir-fry and some vegetables. It worked out pretty good in the end, and we had some leftovers to take home.

Church today was a long service. Almost 2 hours. That's not really that long for Mongolia, but it felt a bit long for us. The preacher was encouraging us in our total and utter dependence upon God, especially if we were 'weary' in the Christian walk.

I (Seumas. Have you worked out how to distinguish blog-post writers yet?) have spent a few hours today reading "Tentmaking: Business as Missions" by Patrick Lai. Tentmaking isn't really what our plan is, but it's been a really helpful read as we think about what we're doing and why we might come here.

We're not really Church Planters or Evangelists. And if we were, we'd probably go somewhere else! Mongolia doesn't need those really, the best people for that job are Mongolians! What God has given us to offer is solid biblical and theological training. Indeed, I suspect in the global shift of Christianity away from the West, this will be the West's best legacy: a 2000 year legacy of faithful and thoughtful reflection on the Scriptures. So our hope for the future is to serve Christians by thoroughly equipping them in authentic and rigorous engagement with the Scriptures. That's what will enable this tiny country of 3 million punch above its weight. Who knows, maybe Mongolian Christians will trace the paths of old Chinggis across Asia and the Middle East with the gospel?

4 comments:

  1. Sounds pretty interesting, and a 2 hour service would feel pretty long.
    I love snow, is it pretty?
    For every post it says who wrote it at the bottom and the time, also, in the title one of you puts a colon and one a dash. haha.
    I love reading about your teaching experiences, very interesting.

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  2. Oh yes, but plenty of people don't look at the bottom of the post. And yes, I use colons and Rachel uses dashes!

    Snow is pretty, except when it's blowing straight into your face. Then it's annoying! Maybe if we were Canadians or something we would be more bláse about snow, but it's all very novel and fun to us.

    Glad you're enjoying reading!

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  3. Thanks for blogging about your experience in Mongolia. Have you tried Caffe Ti-amo in Seoul street? They offer Italian coffee and ice cream, as well as delicious sandwiches. Their Facebook page is located at: http://www.facebook.com/caffetiamo

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  4. Thanks, we're familiar with Caffe Ti-amo.

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