God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

The following post is by Bernie Anderson, missionary to Mongolia and brother of Scott Anderson, Director for Networking & Partnerships here at DG.

Every culture on earth has fatal flaws. If any particular culture is followed to its logical and practical end, there is nothing but a grave. In American culture, one of these flaws is the assumption that materialism is right. Where I work in Mongolia one of those fatal flaws is the expectation of excessive alcohol consumption.

NPR recently did an interesting expose on alcoholism in Mongolia. I found the piece to be accurate in exposing the heartbreaking reality of what we see every day here. Watching a young child burdened with the responsibility of leading their drunk father or mother home is something we see frequently.

The man in the NPR article references the hopelessness of shamanism and folk superstition. There is a general sense of acquiescence among the people here regarding this issue. “It’s our culture.” “It’s the way it has always been. It’s the way it will always be.”

There is opportunity for the young church in Mongolia to step up and meet this problem with the power of the Gospel. People are ready for hope to be introduced. However, alcoholism is found in the church here, too. Again, where there there should be hope, there is hopelessness and apathy.

We who are working in Mongolia see this passivity as opportunity for the Gospel. Jesus will redeem the soul from the pit (Psalm 103:4). The challenge is in focused disciple-making within the Mongolian church.

Our dream to is to see men and women who love Jesus more than alcoholic euphoria. We want to see the church in Mongolia grow strong in the Word and deep in the Gospel so that this culture will ultimately transformed for the Glory of Jesus, and the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the water fills the seas (Habakkuk 2:14).

We have the privilege of working with such disciples here in the capital city Ulaanbaatar. Our work is primarily with students and young people, and we have a small handful who love Jesus more than anything else. We pray that God will deepen their love and their faith, root them in his Word and increase their number—for his name and renown in Mongolia.