Mongol August 11

Customs: Through thousands of RUSSIA bitter winters the have

INNER lived in yurts, racing their horses, MONGOLIA raising livestock, and worshiping the forces of nature. LIAONING GANSU SHANXI Scale Religion: At the mercy of their 0 KM 800 vast and windswept landscape, Population in : the ancient Mongols based their 4,505,000 (1990) religion on the forces of nature. 5,811,400 (2000) 7,496,800 (2010) The moon, stars, and sun were Location: Inner Mongolia, Jilin, all revered, as were rivers. In the Liaoning, Hebei, Henan… past many Mongols were Religion: Shamanism : 12,000 Christians, converted by Nestorian missionaries between Overview of the Mongols the seventh and fourteenth Countries: China, Mongolia, centuries. Even a chapel outside Russia, Taiwan, USA Pronunciation: “Mong-goll” the Great ’s royal tent Other Names: “resounded with the sound of Mongolian, Menggu, Meng Zu public chants and the beating of Population Source: tablets loudly announcing the 4,806,849 (1990 census);1 3,416,881 (1982 census);2 appointed hours of Christian 1,614,000 in Mongolia (1993 P. worship.”7 Hulagu Khan’s wife Johnstone); 626,000 in Russia (1993); 6,000 in Taiwan (1993); was described as “the believing 8 Also in USA and true Christian queen.” The Location: Inner Mongolia Paul Hattaway Keirats, a Mongol tribe, Autonomous Region; Jilin; 9 AD Liaoning; Hebei; Henan; Beijing; Location: Almost six million Mongols are numbered 200,000 believers in 1007, Jiangsu; Shaanxi; Shanxi; Tianjin; scattered across a wide area of northern while there were about 30,000 Mongol Shandong; Shanghai China. Approximately three times as many Catholics recorded in China by 1368.10 Status: An official minority of China Mongols live in China as in the nation of Language: Altaic, Mongolian, Mongolia. The population of Mongols living : At times during the thirteenth Eastern Mongolian, Oirat-Khalka, in Inner Mongolia fell from 450,000 to and fourteenth centuries it seemed that the Khalka-Buriat 300,000 in the 173 years between 1772 Mongols were on the verge of adopting Literacy: 71% 3 Dialects (9): Chahar, Ordos, and 1945. Although their numbers have Christianity as their religion. Tumet, Shilingol, Ulanchab, since grown again, they are now swamped issued this challenge to : “Go to Jo-Uda, Jostu, Jirim, Ejine by the multitude of Han who have migrated your Pope and ask him to send me a Religion: Shamanism, Tibetan Buddhism, Animism, Christianity into their homeland. In 1982, 1,863 of hundred men learned in your religion, who Christians: 12,000 China’s 2,369 counties and municipalities in the face of these sorcerers… will show Scripture: New Testament 1952; contained members of the Mongolian their mastery by making the sorcerers Work in progress nationality.4 powerless to perform these marvels in their Jesus film: None Gospel Recordings: presence.… Then I will be baptized, and all Mongolian #00292 Identity: The Mongols — who consist of my magnates and barons will do likewise, Inner Mongolian Chahar #04947 “as many as sixty separate Mongolian and their subjects in turn.… Then there will Sheeringgul: Hohhot 5 Christian Broadcasting: tribes” — are one of China’s official be more Christians here than there are in 11 Available (FEBC) nationalities. your part of the world.” In 1992 there ROPAL code: MVF00 were about 2,000 Mongol believers 12 Status of Evangelization Language: The main Mongol language in reported in China. Today there are 77% China is similar to Hahl Mongol in believed to be between 5,000 and Mongolia, “but there are phonological and 12,000.13 In 1998 a German-based important loan differences.”6 ministry claimed at least 200,000 Mongol Christians in China.14 This has been 22% History: In the thirteenth and fourteenth strongly challenged by people close to the 1% centuries the Mongols brutally established situation who say this source is unreliable the largest empire the world has seen, and the claims are grossly exaggerated. A B C stretching from Southeast Asia to Europe. The size of the Mongol church in China has A = Have never heard the gospel They instituted the and ruled long been a matter of dispute. Many have B = Were evangelized but did not become Christians China from 1271 to 1368. The terrified been unable to distinguish between Han C = Are adherents to any form of Europeans called the Mongols Tatars, believers living in Inner Mongolia, and Christianity meaning “people from hell” (Tartarus). ethnic Mongols.15

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