A typical Mongolian yert.

Mongolia (MNN) ― Mongolian Cultural Week opened at the same time China unveiled its grandeur in the World Expo kickoff this week. The showcase reveals a picture of a hospitable nomadic people. 

It is common in Mongolia to see several generations of families living together in a khot ail ("group of tents") and sharing tasks. In this manner, people pool their strength for herding and other social functions. 

A larger neighborhood group called neg nutgiinhan ("people of one place") generally consists of four to twenty khot ails that frequently move and work together.

With these groups of people living and working together, the largest share of the family wealth would go to the youngest son, ensuring the healthiest means of caring for the elderly.

In that context, the Gospel made sense to the Mongolians, and they responded. Chinzorig Jigjidsuren became the founding overseer of Emanuel Fellowship in Ulan Baatar, a partner with A3. The church has been seeing healthy growth under careful cultivation. 

Then, A3 president Joe Handley says Jigjidsuren had an epiphany and realized that "he had spent too much time focusing on the church and not enough time on discipling his own family and discipling leaders to follow Christ." 

This realization prompted Jigjidsuren to follow a more Mongolian approach to discipleship. It was a radical decision to follow something that wasn't carrying a label like purpose driven, missional, organic,  or emerging.

It boiled down to the context of the family and Jigjidsuren's heritage. "He's setting that as a model for his entire congregation. He wants each person within the church to become kind of a spiritual father over their own family or small group." 

This approach illustrates the simplicity of the Gospel. It underscores A3's commitment to seeing a disciple-making movement transform the world.

Handley says, "Pray that we would be led to the right countries, that God would lead us to the right people to lead the movement in each country, and that God would provide the right resources to make it happen." Click here if you want to help them.