December prayer letter

“The lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.” Several years ago, with the help of fellow missionaries in Mongolia, we began an English-preaching service to minister to expatriates and English-speaking Mongolians.

We are always looking for appropriate ways to encourage people to come to our church’s services, whether they are in Mongolian or English. Also, it is important that as many Christians as possible serve in their church. To facilitate both of these goals, we recently held a special Christmas service.

The special Christmas service held several “firsts” for us. It was the first time to meet at a public spot besides the church’s facilities. It was the first time for a choir to sing. It was the first time for many Christians to serve in a visible way in Mongolia. Further, I learned some important lessons about serving.

Jason Ritchie’s family arrived in Ulan Bator in May. Jason and his wife, Mary, have been studying the language since their move to Mongolia. But Jason also offered to pick music and organize a choir for a special Christmas presentation.

We had a good response, with 10 people offering to come early on Sundays to learn the music and present it. Then, several suggested that if we held the Christmas service at a more central location, more people would attend. So we decided to host it at Millies’ Espresso, which is mere minutes walking distance from the very heart of Ulan Bator.

Millies Espresso’s proprietor is Daniel Correa, a friend of mine. His restaurant is closed on Sundays, and he graciously agreed to allow us to host the Christmas special at his restaurant. This meant that we first had to re-arrange the restaurant to accommodate the choir and everyone. Then we had to put it all back, so that Daniel could open for business on Monday morning early. (He opens as early as any restaurant in Mongolia with which I am familiar.)

But nearly everyone pitched in to set up the restaurant, move over some needed items, participate in the singing and children’s program, then tear everything down, and reset the place for Monday.

We also had a good attendance, almost 60. A dozen of those were first-time visitors. The choir sang well, with Jason competently directing, and I preached the Gospel: God’s Greatest Gift. There was a fellowship afterwards, where many of us had an opportunity to talk further with our guests. Several visitors should be back with us this Sunday.


This experience was encouraging for three reasons. I was happy to see so many serve in various ways. Anytime we have a dozen visitors, it is a good turnout. And everyone that I talked to wants to do it again…at Easter.