Key Ministries
Students
We serve as teachers in educational settings from grade school to university. Outside of class time we share the gospel, lead Bible studies and welcome students into our homes.
Vulnerable people
We care for children with special needs and their families, and provide mentors and living space for at-risk young adults. In these relationships we testify to God’s glory, love and power in Christ.
Churchless communities
We aim to plant churches in churchless communities of the city and countryside. We are especially concerned to do so in the countryside, where there are very few churches and pastors compared with Ulaanbaatar.
Spiritual Landscape in Mongolia
Mongolia’s national census of 2020 reported that 40.6 per cent identify as non-religious, while the remaining 59.4 per cent identify as 87.1 per cent Buddhist, 5.4 per cent Muslim, 4.2 per cent Shamanist, 2.2 per cent Christian and 1.1 per cent other. Officially, the government supports religious freedom but local authorities can sometimes be unhelpful.
The first churches were planted in the early 1990s after Mongolia’s transition from socialism to capitalism. At that time, there was rapid growth in the number of believers, but the growth rate has slowed markedly since 2009. The Mongolian Evangelical Alliance believes there were approximately 33,000 church-attending believers in 2020, just one per cent of the population.
There are some strong churches but many Christians are first-generation believers and have few models from which to learn. We also see much nominalism, spiritual immaturity, and a tendency to rely on foreign funds while avoiding any preaching related to financial giving, and have heard credible reports that infidelity is increasing among young believers.
Mongolian pastors must contend with some local cults that seek to draw congregants away from the churches and turn them against evangelical leaders. Additionally, there is a significant Mormon presence and we sometimes see their workers on the streets. Finally, the government has engaged in the worship of Chinggis Khan in the last few years and a large golden statue of him was enshrined during Lunar New Year of 2025.
Please pray
- For more workers to come to Mongolia to facilitate the growth of Mongolian churches
- For the revival of Mongolian churches – Mongolian Christianity is facing challenges of secularisation, insufficient leadership, and many of the current Christian leaders moving overseas
- For a country director for SIM Mongolia to lead a unified team and develop partnerships with local churches
- For follow-up with local churches who are requesting mission agencies to reach out to communities.
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