Day 185; Saturday, July 4, 2009

Bayad People

Currently, there is no viable faith movement among these Mongol nomads. This is cause for concern, as groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and the Baha'i are very active in forming groups.

Physical distance from the capital limits their access to training and resources found there. Like other nomadic groups, "church" will look very different and will require a culturally sensitive missionary to seek to enter into the nature of the their life, in order to introduce them to the Son of Man, who also had no place to lay His head (Matt. 8:20).

Pray that followers of Jesus find ways to enter beyond the city into smaller pockets of remote nomadic tribes, such as the Bayads.-MB

Regular Bible Study for Missionaries

There were two things James Gilmour considered foundation stones upon which he built his missionary life and service. First, he never neglected to read his Bible. It ruled his life. Second, he respected the Chinese and the Mongolians and never looked down on them. He knew that God does not regard one person as better than another.

After the death of his wife, Emily, James decided to go to work with the settled farmers in eastern Mongolia. In this area missionaries were sometimes blamed for crop failures, and their lives were in danger. James knew that there he would be cut off from all Europeans and would be very lonely, yet he was not afraid. Each morning early, he would be at a stall in the market or on the streets, selling books, treating the sick, and having conversation with anybody who wanted to talk. Thus James Gilmour kept occupied until the last.

At the close of a very busy week, when he was exceptionally tired, he came down with typhus fever. He never regained his health, and in 1891, at age 48, he died.

In spite of Gilmore's good work in Mongolia, only in the last 20 years have Mongolians begun publicly turning to the Lord. Today several churches have been established in the capital city and the JESUS Film is being shown repeatedly throughout the country.-AL from "James Gilmour of Mongolia," his diaries, letters and reports arranged by Richard Lovett, Chicago, Student Missionary Campaign Library, n.d.

Pray for Mongolians to Listen to the Gospel

Even after getting married, because of the harshness of his work, James Gilmour often traveled alone or with caravans as he searched out the scattered Mongolians and told them the truths of the gospel. Dressed like an ordinary Chinese worker, he was welcomed by all.

Whenever James tried to present the gospel to the Mongolians, he ran into indifference. It wasn't that they rejected Christ; they were satisfied with Buddhism. But once a Mongol really listened, he became aware of a much more serious consideration: "Is it possible," a Mongol would ask, "for a false religion [Buddhism] to last so long, spread so far, and flourish so greatly that millions happily live and die in it?" And further, "If Christianity is true, why has it been so long in coming to us?" These Mongolian Buddhists had always believed that salvation depended on their own strength and good works. They had no concept of a God who could save them and atone for their sins.

Furthermore, to accept Christianity would mean financial and material ruin for them. So great was the power of the lamas (Buddhist priests), and so intense the spirit of the community, that any convert would be an outcast with no means of support.

God began to give Gilmour a harvest. In villages and towns, people came to him to be baptized. They demonstrated that they had given up their Buddhist idols and accepted Jesus as Savior.-AL

(Continued tomorrow)

Pray for God to open Mongolian ears today to hear that Jesus is the Truth.