FROM COMMUNISM TO CHRIST

By Pastor Puje Jamsran, Mongolian Evangelical Lutheran Church

My name is Purevdorj Jamsran (Puje in short). I grew up in Mongolia where I was indoctrinated by communist idealism. We were told that there is no god; Darwinian reality is the meaning of life. Communism was the highest expression that could ever be reached or built, and that Lenin had taught the way to reach this utopian existence. Religion was opium to our brains and minds; so hostility and mockery towards metaphysical questions and tendencies were permanent, persistent and, in some cases, punishable.

Otherwise, my childhood was normal; going to school in the morning, playing outside with friends till our parents returned from work, and doing homework. Besides schooling, I learnt dance at the Children’s Palace and was a band member at school where I learnt the basics of music.

My grandma always reminded me that I would be fine if I never talked about politics and religion. A few of our teachers gave the same advice. As our Creed, we had to memorise what Lenin, Marx and our Mongolian president said. We praised and worshipped Lenin as a god and even sang that he lives forever.

When Perestroika (Reconstruction) started in 1986, some people started to question what our society needed to improve in the socialist regime in order to reach communist ideals. They mildly criticised their immediate superiors but did so with a lot of courage and caution.

During the time of my tertiary studies at the Music College, this situation continued. Some people were glad, but many were worried about the situation. One thing led to another and finally, the communist regime collapsed in Russia and inevitably, also in Mongolia.

During this era of social upheaval, I became engaged and started my career as a teacher at the Music College where I had studied. My goal was to go to the Conservatoire in Moscow or Leningrad (St Petersburg) and become a composer. That was my future and the fulfilment of my dreams. However, our society collapsed and with that went my dreams.

In the early 1990s, Mongolia had no national resources and no supply from Russia. To buy bread and a few other items from the store required a government-issued ration card. People were left with many questions about life and many lost the will to live. We truly believed in communism and that belief turned out to be false. We became angry because of the years of dictatorship and deception. I felt hollow in my heart and couldn’t figure out why I was so angry and dissatisfied with everything.

But all those feelings were gone when I met Jesus. In 1991, my colleague was invited to a meeting that he was curious about and he asked me to accompany him. I found the meeting to be quite strange because a foreigner was speaking in English (or so I thought) and pointing to a doll. Later I learned that the Englishman spoke in Mongolian but with a terrible accent and talked about the Nativity story. (and it was Christmas Day)

A few Mongolians were very interested in his talk and one of them approached me because he heard that I was a music teacher. He asked if I could come on Sunday with an accordion and play it as they sang. I agreed.

When I arrived, there was a group of about 10-15 young people gathered there. A Canadian man spoke with a translator whose English was at Beginner’s level. The two men spoke, mostly to each other, and the translator summarised what the Canadian man had possibly said. Though we did not catch the precise communication, we knew that he said there was God who had created everything and sent His son, Jesus Christ. Newly translated and shipped New Testament copies were available at the meeting and I purchased two copies.

I read it during the week and got excited. When we gathered for the second time, I came prepared with many questions. As soon as the Canadian man finished speaking, people started throwing the same questions that I wanted to ask. Our gatherings went on for about a month, and we found ourselves confessing our sins and, with tears in our eyes, accepting Christ as our Lord and Saviour. There were less than twenty young people like me, and this was the beginning of the birth of the Mongolian church.

The Gospel gave me hope. I could not contain myself and talked about Jesus Christ to everyone I knew. We were on the street daily to gather people and evangelise them. By the time I was baptised on March 29, 1992, there were about 100 people baptised with me. Our church grew from 15 members to 400.

In the summer of 1992, I went to different towns and cities in Mongolia to evangelise and planted dozens of cell groups around the country. We were taught the Bible by a missionary in the morning and went out to spread the Gospel in the afternoon.

By October 1992, the church had grown so large that we had to divide it in two because we couldn’t contain everyone in one place. One year later, 750 people gathered to celebrate Christmas together. God blessed us with open and ready hearts to receive the good news of Jesus Christ.

I married my fiancée in 1992, and it was the very first Christian wedding in the history of modern Mongolia. By 1993, I had resigned from my teaching position and started serving in the church, learning and studying the Bible daily.

In 1995, we founded Bayariin Medee Christian Church, where I now serve, with the help of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission. My passion for music changed to learning the Bible and knowing God. But we cut an album in 1997, the first Mongolian Christian Praise and Worship record. By God’s grace, in 1998, I was accepted by the Singapore Bible College and the Lutheran Church in Singapore to study. I went to Singapore with my wife and two small kids. Studying theology in English, the language I had studied for only two years while working, was challenging. However, while studying, we recorded another album in 2001. God was so gracious to us. Later we made our third album and are currently working on our fourth.

When we came back home in 2003, a Bible school asked me to serve there as a part-time faculty member while establishing our church all over again. I served in the Bible school as a teacher, academic dean, and principal for 15 years as the first local leader. In 2017, I resigned from the Bible school and established the Mongolian Evangelical Lutheran Church. Besides theological education, I served in the church as a pastor with my wife. Currently, I am the president of the Mongolian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mongolia. It consists of 21 small congregations and gatherings throughout Mongolia. Mongolian Christianity has grown from 0 to about 40,000 in the last 30 years.

Praise be to God!