Rev. Chin Cho (second from left, front row, kneeling) and Grace Cho (5^e from left, second row, standing) at a UMC leadership retreat in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. PHOTO: COURTESY OF CHIN AND GRACE CHO

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The United Methodist Church in Mongolia will celebrate the ordination of its first local elders in missions, a new palliative care facility, growing missions, and new work with children and youth at its annual meeting in October 2022.

By Christie R. House
July 7, 2022 | ATLANTE

In Ulaanbaatar, the largest but still remote city in Mongolia, Urje led a carefree life with little purpose. That was until she had a car accident and was confined to bed for a while. A Christian visited him and shared the gospel. He asked if she would pray to accept Jesus. She didn’t really believe that praying would change anything, but she prayed anyway. Subsequently, she found Gerelt (meaning “light”) United Methodist Church, where she attended worship services and was also hired to clean the church, as she needed a job.

Then Urje dreamed that sheep were following her. She could hear their “baa-baaing” behind her. She thought, “What a weird dream!” The dream came back to him a second time. She asked her missionary pastor, Reverend Millie Kim, what that might mean. Pastor Kim suggested that God might call him to ministry. Urje prayed about it and before she knew it, she was studying at Trinity Theological College in Singapore, where she earned a Master of Divinity. Upon her return to Mongolia, Urje was appointed Pastor Gerelt UMC, where she had first served as a church cleaner.

Another pastor, Munkhnaran, contemplated suicide at one point in his life. She suffered from a chronic illness. But then she heard about a medical mission team coming from the United States to Ulaanbaatar, and she met them for a medical examination at Khonkhor United Methodist Church. She stayed for the worship service, and for the first time heard John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” read by the local pastor, Naranbaatar.

Although the Nashville medical team had no cure for her illness, her visit planted a seed of faith in her soul. She still goes to the hospital twice a week for treatment, but her perspective has changed. “I thank God for my poor health because it makes me completely dependent on the power of God,” she says. His favorite Bible verse is 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. Wherefore will I boast all the more willingly of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (NAV)

Munkhnaran also earned a master’s degree in theology and returned to her church as the new pastor, which was renamed Ezenii Urgoo UMC, meaning “house of the Lord.”

UMC Mongolia has 12 churches and 12 local leaders, including nine women and three men. Five of them qualified to be mission pastors. But these two women, Urje and Munkhnaran, are ready to take the next step – ordination as local elders on mission, roughly the equivalent of elders in annual conferences.

In October 2022, during the annual meeting of the Mongolian CMU, Bishop Jeremiah Park, Presiding Bishop of the Missionary Initiative, will officiate the ordination ceremony. This will be a historic moment, not only for The United Methodist Church in Mongolia, but for the entire United Methodist connection.

Lean back and move forward

For the past six years, Reverend Chin Cho has served as the missionary coordinator of the Mongolian Missionary Initiative. Grace Cho, his wife, oversaw Christian education for the church. At the end of 2021, they returned home to the United States, but Reverend Cho continues to guide the church a little longer until the new director arrives in Ulaanbaatar.

One of the first Mongolian Mission ministries, Grace Hospice, was established by the initiative’s first missionary, Helen Shepherd, in 2005. This ministry has continued to grow and change under Mongolian leadership. Grace Hospice director Dr Altankhuyag told Reverend Cho that they started praying in 2012 for the resources to build a 24-hour hospice.

Grace Hospice is one of only five hospices in Mongolia, and the other four have their own hospitals for round-the-clock service. Grace Hospice staff perform home care, taking the hospice to patients.

Dr. Sang Chun Lee, of Detroit, is a frequent visitor to The United Methodist Church in Mongolia, coming with church mission teams to provide periodic care. Back in Detroit, he cared for a patient who had recovered well and wanted to donate to something Dr. Lee appreciated. He was aware of the hospice staff’s desire to open a 24-hour facility and suggested a donation for this building project. His patient made an initial donation of $50,000.

“It became seed capital to start the project,” Cho explained. “When we shared the need for this project, many Korean United Methodist churches also contributed. We raised approximately $176,000 to build this 24-hour hospice. We can accommodate 10 patients for full-time care. It’s a dream come true, and we named this hospice “Compassionate Sight”, after Matthew 9:36, so that doctors and nurses would have the same heart and eyes as Jesus to care for patients with a compassionate heart.

They have yet to be recognized by the government as a 24-hour hospital and estimate they will need around $40,000 for additional medical equipment to meet standards. They have already raised $10,000 and welcome gifts thanks to the Advance #14928A.

Caring for the elderly and children

While Chin Cho officially continues with the Mongolian Missionary Initiative, Grace Cho has continued to serve as a volunteer with Christian Education.

When they served in Mongolia, Grace helped the Mongolian church start the Happy Kids Afterschool program, which supports children from low-income families. The program provides nutritious food and educational programs. It all started at the Kairos Mission Center, which has a small library. Children and young people participate in the library’s reading program and can also take lessons in musical instruments, arts and English. National leaders expanded this program to three locations.

Grace helped start another new program, Teens for Christ, late last year. This program is funded by a Mongolian leader named Batbayar. It relates to the worldwide organization Youth With A Mission. Teens for Christ meets three times a week for Bible study and fellowship. During the Mongolian school’s spring break, they held a week of Bible training. Grace says that in July they will participate in two weeks of discipleship training at Chingeltei UMC in Ulaanbaatar – for 60 teenagers and teachers!

“Imagine,” Grace noted, “the sleeping arrangements for 60 people in a church. A missionary team is coming from Korea and will offer Bible study, discipleship training and music training.

Grace oversaw the translation of Christian books from English and Korean texts into Mongolian. “The new curriculum is a great need in Mongolia. Sunday school materials, Bible study curriculum, advice for teens, we have also translated inner healing books and a curriculum book for parents.

Global Ministries has assigned a new missionary director to the Missionary Initiative in Mongolia – Rev. Dexter Ceballos of the Philippines’ Provisional Southern Tagalog Eastern Annual Conference. He has over 20 years of experience in church ministry and currently serves as district superintendent in the Laguna and Quezon districts. He and his wife, Laraine Abobon, plan to arrive in Mongolia by August 1.

The Chos go to Mongolia at the end of September. They will welcome the new missionary director and stay for the annual meeting, the dedication of the hospice and the first ordinations of the initiative. It will be a big party.

The Mongolian Missionary Initiative can be supported by the Advance #00209.

Christie R. House is a consulting writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.