We had a relaxing time … but in the end were ready to get out of the heat and back to a cooler Mongolia.

Now just three months until Home Assignment. Where have these four years gone?

One of the enjoyable things we had the opportunity to do on this recent vacation was to see several new movies in the theaters of Bangkok. It was fun to see several films that have not and will not ever make it to Ulaanbaatar. One of the treats was to see James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster film “Avatar” in 3-D Imax. I know that there are lots of opinions about this movie. Some good. Some not so good. I went forewarned by many of it’s “pagan and environmentalist” themes. It may be because I tend to look for it, but I actually found a lot of Gospel in that film. However, that’s a write up for another day. I thought it was a beautiful, well-crafted movie. I’m not sure that I follow the complaints of “no plot” that some have made – again I thought the plot had Biblical undertones, which is actually true of every story worth telling. Again, probably controversial to some, but for another blog on another day (probably by a different writer on a different website). However, I did find this movie to be very helpful for anyone working in a cross-cultural situation. In fact, if I were a professor of missiology at a Bible school or seminary someplace, this film would be required viewing.

For those who haven’t seen it, Avatar is a futuristic tale of how us earth-folk are trying to explore, settle and tame the planet Pandora. The main reason for their interest in Pandora is a precious metal which can be found there, and the humans are wanting to mine the alien ground for it’s resources. There is a humanoid race of people who happen to live on this planet (called the Na’vi), and of course they tend to get in the way of the human mining interests. The corporate mining folks took a two fold approach to “controlling” the native population: penetrate the culture with humans taking on the form of the creatures on the planet, if that fails the old standby of military bombs and guns. The corporate guys tried cultural contextualization first. If that didn’t work effectively enough (read: quickly enough), bombs and guns would do the trick. It is actually a beautiful film to watch. The world that was created is a masterpiece. There are very few plot holes and visually it’s a truly stunning film.

I understand that a lot of Evangelicals are saying that James Cameron and company had some kind of “environmentalist, pagan, anti-American, anti-Christian, unbiblical” agenda with this film. I somewhat disagree, I think James Cameron was given a lot of money to tell a story that’s been told thousands of ways over thousands of years – through which he has once again struck pay dirt to direct the largest box-office grossing movie in history. I personally don’t think there was any intentional agenda, at all. But what do I know? He told the story from his world-view (which is probably not Biblical), but every good story that’s worth telling has Avatar’s Biblical elements of good, evil, incarnation and redemption. But again, my point is this: For the person working in a cross-cultural environment, there is much to learn here.

In summary form here’s what I observed:

1. Understanding a culture must come before serving a culture.
Jesus said I did not come to be served, but to serve. That was his incarnational MO. He washed feet and fed people and healed people and laid down His life. However, I think it significant that Jesus didn’t just appear on earth as a fully grown human. Jesus was born into our earthly culture. He grew up in our earthly context and knew first hand the difficulties of living on this planet. Long before he washed the disciples feet, he understood what it meant to actually have dirty feet and skinned knees and hurt feelings. The film Avatar showed that it takes a lot more involvement than coming into an alien culture with a readiness to serve. It is incredible arrogance that says we will come here and teach you our language and build you our schools so that you can be educated in our system, without ever taking the time and effort required to understand and to learn about them. We then hold up our supposed ‘good deeds’ as service. Jake Sully’s (the main character in the film) line to the Na’vi “I am here to learn” should be the attitude of anyone seeking to work and serve in a culture that is not their own.

2. Learning the language is not the equivalent to understanding the culture.
While this understanding involves language learning, it does not equate to language learning. It’s possible to learn the host cultures language and still have absolutely no clue as far as cultural understanding is concerned. Grammar and syntax may say a lot about a people, but real understanding comes with eating their food and singing their songs and understanding what they laugh at and what they cry over – with them. You can’t read those things on a book or learn them from a distance. The Avatar film reveals quite clearly the fact that Jake was well ahead of his other “avatar” co-workers – not because he learned the language better (in fact, in the film he didn’t know it at all at first), but because he was willing to become one of them in the ways that are most important.

3. The host culture’s perception of the outsider could be very surprising and is also critical to understand.
In the film, the people who were on the planet Pandora for pure militant capitalism didn’t really care what the native population thought about the humans. However, later even the research folks were surprised at what the Na’vi really thought about the invading “sky people”. They thought they were doing good. However, because of their lack of understanding, even their perceived good was doing harm to relationships. They had no idea what the Na’vi really thought about them. I have asked of our Mongolian staff and Mongolian friends this question: What are your perceptions of us and the other foreigners in our organization? What do you think of us? After a few minutes of getting past the “polite” answers, it was enlightening to hear what their real thoughts and perceptions were. Some things were good. Some were not so good. However, knowing what the host culture thinks about us and understanding why they think this is incredibly valuable information when trying to work effectively in a cross-cultural situation. How we’re perceived may be very different from what we actually are or what our motives may be. However, effective cross-cultural understanding requires that we listen to perceptions. Another persons perception of me is actually their reality.

4. Incarnation is indispensable to effectiveness.
Watching this film once again confirmed my personal conviction that Jesus-shaped incarnational ministry is really going to be the only effective ministry in the end. I don’t want to be overly critical of “big-bang” ministry. But I am highly suspicious of any ministry that has the pattern of coming into a new location with lights, cameras, action and eye-candy, draws a huge crowd and gets that crowd to respond positively, then packs up the road show to head back home with glowing reports of all the work that God did – leaving behind a crowd of people whom they never took the time to know or understand. We get this kind of thing in Mongolia a lot. Frankly, I wish a lot of these groups would either stay home or begin to really work with those of us who are trying to incarnationally live here. Their coming and going does do more harm than good. The Avatar film reveals this in a very graphic way.

5. Incarnational contextualization takes time and patience.
I am becoming an outspoken believer in this. Cross-cultural ministry is not going to be effectively accomplished with a “hurry-it-up” microwave mindset. The mining/military folks at the Pandora outpost did not have the patience to wait for it. Of course, since their motive was less than pure, no amount patient waiting would have accomplished what they purposed. However, it serves as a reminder to me that the same holds true in mission and missional church planting. If we come in with a perceived sense of sanctified imperialism, I believe we’re missing the missiological mark. We have had individuals and organizations who have come into Mongolia and in less than two years have claimed church planting victory. The country is evangelized. The church is established. We can go to America and teach seminars now. Entire organizations are founded on the premise of “planting the church as quickly as possible” and “rapid reproduction”. Good has come from these groups and the folks in these groups. However, I wonder if our general Western impatience has done more harm the good in the long run. And while I believe that Jesus can build his church with asses of every kind (myself included), the greatest need I see in Mongolia is for teachers and trainers who are willing to do what it takes, however long it takes, to work, teach and train Biblical understanding in the local context, culture and language. In my particular organization we have a stated purpose of “planting prevailing churches”. I think the key word is prevailing. Prevailing requires more than a flash in the pan ministry stint.

6. The Gospel transcends everything – but will be ineffective apart from contextualization and cultural understanding.
I love any movie, book or other pop culture item that is a window to the Gospel, because I love the Gospel. I don’t think you have to look hard at the Avatar film to see that window. Granted world views will have different ‘takes’, and I am sure someone with a pagan world view could see and relate to as much, if not more, than I have as a Christian. However, the Gospel of incarnation and laying down rights and life for the sake of others is crystal clear in this film. The movie shows that there must be a motive which transcends greed and profit when entering into a new culture – genuine love and compassion for people, salvation, service. However, contextualization and cultural understanding MUST accompany our preaching of the Gospel. Gospel preaching and Gospel living in a cross -cultural context will be totally ineffective if we move forward with our western assumptions, mindset and worldview. People will feel used, not loved. If we are entering ministry with a mere “get the church planted” agenda, and we only discuss the issue of “how” while merely assuming the issue of “why”, I am not convinced there will be much long-term good. The 2/3 world spiritual landscape today is a wasteland of “church planting movements”. I know that’s true for where I live. The “flash in the pan” has created spiritual burn out. The greatest need of the hour is long-term, contextual, Biblical discipleship which produces genuine, prevailing Jesus followers.

That is, after all, the heart of the “Great Commission” to begin with (Matthew 28:18-20)

Greetings from Chiang Mai Thailand! We’re taking a bit of a breather here for a couple of weeks and enjoying the down time!

This newsletter features our staff members at the Grain of Wheat. We hope that you’ll prayerfully read this and get to know the folks that God has us working so closely with. Pray for these guys who are all not just co-workers, but friends.

We are also asking our supporters to prayerfully consider some “above and beyond” giving for our GOW staff. We have approximately $700 per month which goes for salary support for the workers you will be introduced to in this newsletter. We have an approved special set up through the C&MA national office called “Ulaanbaatar Outreach” we are trying to raise enough in this fund each year to completely cover the operating expenses and support required for both the Grain of Wheat Student Center and the coming UB Community Center (hopefully we’ll have more on that in the near future!) Please consider giving to this fund either through your local Alliance Church by designating your check “Approved Special/Mongolia – Ulaanbaatar Outreach” or by giving directly online.

Be sure to check out our website (http://www.remembermongolia.org) for more frequent updates, blogs, etc. Our field website can be found at http://www.camamongolia.org.

And … if you’re interested … I (Bernie) am doing a daily photo blog at http://www.ploughedunder.com. It’s a few days behind right now, simply because my Internet has been sketchy the past few days. However, check back or subscribe via RSS to see our life in photos.

Thanks for your partnership and support! We really appreciate all of you and your concern for Jesus’ Kingdom in Mongolia.

Now … without further ado … we invite you to “Meet the Staff“!

I don’t know if it’s the cold or if it’s the humidifiers we’re running in our home or some odd combination of both, but this year we’re finding that the outside windows and doors are consistently getting a build up ice. It freezes and melts and expands and is causing the concrete around the windows to deteriorate. We’ve had to put towels in the window sills to keep the melt off from running onto the floor. It’s kind of fun to watch the dog go to the door leading out to our balcony and chisel the ice off with her teeth in some bizarre attempt to get a drink or chew on something or … actually who knows what she’s thinking. It’s entertaining, nonetheless. There have been some days where it feels that our home is being invaded by the outside ice and cold, like it’s alive trying desperately to come in rule on the inside in the tyrannical way it’s ruling outside right now. We have to keep things warm enough on the inside to fend it off. Defeat the ice.

For me personally this is not a new problem at all. I’ve had to fend off ice ever since we started living here in 2006 (we’re pushing the four year mark). No, we don’t have the ice in the window phenomenon all year round. But I do find that there is a similar thing that happens to my heart … all year round. There is a creeping iciness, coldness of heart that I feel I am constantly having to battle. I am thinking there is a sense in which we all fight the fight of the ice. Contexts change but spiritual ice is the same wherever you are. It’s always there waiting for you to turn the heat down just enough to creep into the interior of our hearts.

In Mongolia interior ice can have an abundance of catalysts. Bad driving, constant begging, pushing and shoving, cutting in line, isolation, spiritual oppression and depression, constant busyness, outward demands, inward stress and pressure, language (or lack thereof), weariness. They’re all factors. Some of these factors will be the same where you live. Some different. Maybe you have more. But the truth is that it’s incredibly easy for my heart can get hard. Cold. Frosty. Like my window. I’m seeing that there’s a sense in which I’ve had to wage the battle of the ice ever since I started to follow Jesus over twenty years ago. I am thinking that this battle becomes more intense with time. Harder, not easier.

This year’s ice serves as a not so subtle reminder that I am in constant need the Word to keep me soft; His Spirit to keep me warm and make me compassionate. Jesus lived in a world that was way different from His familiar, comfortable and happy home of heaven. I am thinking that He had run into irritations that were real issues, versus my irritations that are in reality quite petty. The incarnation never ceases to humble and amaze me.

I must say that our impending vacation is something I am very much looking forward to. (We have the opportunity to go to Thailand and hit the beach and hang out with some friends up in Chaing Mai.) It’s not so much a way to escape the literal ice in my window. Renee’ and I really don’t mind the meteorological climate here so much. We rather enjoy it. However, the spiritual iciness that ever so slowly creeps in and takes over needs some thawing in me. I am hopeful and glad for that opportunity to get away, reflect, pray, write and rewarm. I need the Word and the Spirit to do His thawing, softening and warming so the relentless creeping of the ice will again be thwarted and Jesus reign supreme.

I was driving to Darhan and stopped at the half way point “rest stop” to find them still all decorated from New Years. Here is their very original “New Year’s Tree”:

Seriously though, don’t leave home (or at least the country) without it. Here is our usage of duct tape this week:

1. Patching up the hole in the tortilla bag so they don’t go stale after the puppies foiled attempt at junk food.

2.Even though you have perfectly good wallets in your drawer, a duct tape wallet is just cool.

3.Getting the Christmas tree back into its original box once the branches have been fluffed out is just darn impossible.

4.And last but not least, what else do you do when you live in a country with no Walgreens or medical supply stores?

“Some people have thought that … the gospel is preached and that the truth has a kind of general moral effect upon people … But it is not that. It is an operation of the Spirit upon the men and women themselves, in the depths … It is the Spirit acting upon the soul from within and producing within us a new principle of spiritual action.”

D. Martin Lloyd-Jones

“Not everyone who says to me on that day, Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven…”

Jesus

Not everyone who says they are Christian are in point of fact regenerate believers. Not in America. Not in Mongolia.

The last numbers that I saw from the Barna group say that 45% of the people in America would fall into the category of “born again”. In Mongolia there are supposedly 45,000 Christians (which is still less than 2% of the total population). There is a sense in which these numbers are sadly low. We want to see many more people than this who are radically changed by the power of the Holy Spirit and who know the efficacy of the Cross of Jesus. However, in reality these numbers are probability outlandishly high, in that there is not near enough visible evidence to cause me to believe that there are even close to this many true believers in America or in Mongolia. Here, reports that came out at the end of 2009 state that alcoholism rates are up, poverty rates are up, murder rates are up and theft/crime rates are up. This doesn’t really jive with supposed increased in Christian salt and light.

In Mongolia we are finding that many of the people who have claimed Christianity in the past are not living a life which would give evidence of any sort of regeneration or new birth. Some of these people, including several we know personally, have flat out rejected the claims of the Gospel and are no longer making any pretense to follow Christ whatsoever. Some statistics that I have read are saying that in Mongolia there are fewer believers today than there were ten years ago. My guess is that all of those who have ever made some sort of profession of faith, even if that profession has been recanted, are still counted in the grand tally.

I was an American pastor once. I know how the numbers game works. But the stakes are too high, and this is far too serious of an issue to play games with numbers so we can impress donors at home.

I’ve heard various proposals for solutions to the problem of the troubling rate of attrition. We need to offer more training. We need to have greater discipleship. We need to plant more churches. While I am not going to say that any of these solutions are bad or that they will not help with the problem, I’m convinced more than ever that this will not come close to resolving the problem. The issue as I see it has little to do with these things and has everything to do with the nature of true conversion and regeneration of the believer. Those of us in Christian ministry are satisfied to count the coercion of profession, rather than actually believe God for true conversion.

It’s not popular, nor is it pragmatic (at least from a human perspective) to expect people to turn from sin and turn to God without some measure of human arm-twisting. At the very least there needs to be some sort palatable presentation of why Jesus “makes sense”. After all, people are pragmatic to the core and in order to properly contextualize the message, we should teach it in a simple practical way that folks will understand.

Please don’t misunderstand, I am a strong believer in and practitioner of contextualization. This is why we took two years of full-time language and why we continue to study and learn from the language and the culture. It’s never ending. That said, my convictions are becoming stronger by the day as we live here, and as we view the results of so much that has taken place here in the past. There is one key and crucial ingredient lacking in the so-called church: regeneration. True conversion. There’s been intellectual ascent to Christian teaching. There’s been the formation of churches. There’s even been the formation of a sort of “Christian culture”. There’s Christian publishing, Christian books, Christian music. However, I’m finding that there’s a huge differential between what is professed and what is actually lived out in terms of character and holiness. Not meaning to be unnecessarily cynical, but I feel sometimes like Nashville has been imported to Ulaanbaatar, minus the Starbucks.

I’ll qualify this. I am not talking about perfectionism. I am not saying that there are not inconsistencies in my own life and in my own spirituality. No question about this. It’s true for all of us. But my concerns and the issues that I am seeing in Christianity here (and in other parts of the world as well) is that there are not just small differentials. There are huge gaping divergences. There are “Christians” who are consistently getting drunk, lying to clients, sleeping with folks other than their spouses, continuing to practice idolatry and spirit worship, acting unethically in business and society. Some write this off to “culture” or “context”. But Bible trumps culture. Every time. This is true in America, where we have a culture of materialistic consumerism and it is true in Mongolia where the culture is rife with alcohol, spiritism and pragmatism.

The need of the hour is Gospel proclamation in the power of the Holy Spirit. Not a message of “only believe” or “Jesus can improve your life” or “come to church” or “let’s work together and see how quickly we get the church planted so that we can leave”. But rather a call for sinners to repent and prayer that asks the Holy Spirit of God to open up hearts and eyes to His holy awesomeness and our absolute helplessness and hopelessness any other way. The dead come to life and the blind are made to see. That’s the message of Christianity. Any other message is counterproductive and will hurt, not help the Kingdom.

I personally am not willing settle for less than Jesus raising the dead.

It was fun watching the staff at the Grain of Wheat begin to anticipate Christmas this year. They asked a lot of questions about how and why Christians celebrate, and there was a sincere desire on their part to share the story of Christmas with students who came into our Center. Here is a video that we put together for that purpose. The music (with the exception of Silent Night, of course) is all original music. Zolo, a staff member wrote it, taking the words directly from the Mongolian Scriptures. The singer is a young lady who works at our office and guest apartment as a cleaner while she is going to school. You can tell by the sound of her voice that she will not be cleaning apartments for the rest of her life. She sings like an angel. All editing mistakes in this video are mine. Zolo was in a car accident just before it finished and had to go to the hospital. He’s fine now, and we thank God for that. But we had to do a quick editing job on his concept. There will be a final “fixed” version that will come out later.

This is the updated and fixed version! Check it out on Vimeo, as well.

We had 30-40 students come to the Center party on the 23rd. Most were regulars and members. Many (if not most) were not believers. We sang Christmas Carols and shared this video. After the video, we made a clear appeal to follow Jesus. It was a good night with great opportunities.

Christmas Eve found us back at the Grain of Wheat for a Midnight Christmas Eve candle light service. We had a multi-national bunch of folks who came to pause, worship and remember the coming of our Savior. Readings were in English and Mongolian. The presence of the Lord was evident to all who were there.

We had a quiet Christmas morning with our family, Skyping in both sets of Grandparents when the time was right. Gifts were somewhat minimal this year, since we will be taking vacation in Thailand at the end of January. But all seemed pleased in their giving and receiving. Even the dogs…

On Christmas Day in the evening, we gathered with our UB staff, both Mongolian and foreign and enjoyed a multinational celebration of food, song and story telling. We ate from various American, Philippine and Korean traditions … with the underlying Mongolian tradition of a lot of meat. Three different kinds, to be exact. We sang carols in Mongolian and English, as well as had a bi-lingual reading of our favorite Anderson Christmas tradition of “The Tale of Three Trees”.

On Saturday night our home was opened up to 30 teenagers. We had our Annual Anderson Christmas Smorgasbord with the kids and their friends. Much food and much fun. We have a great group of MK’s here in Ulaanbaatar. As you can see from this photo, they had a good time (no one looked at the camera for the group shot, but that actually made it more interesting…)

Finally on Sunday afternoon the Cornerstone Church of All Nations, UB’s only International Church, had a Christmas celebration. As part of our worship time we exalted the coming of Jesus as the “Desire of Nations” by having everyone in the congregation (every continent, 25+ nations) write ascriptions of praise to Jesus in their heart language.

It was a fitting end to a busy, yet satisfyingly celebrative season of Christmas. We hope and pray that you and your family also have a blessed New Year.