A New Church planted in Buryatia

In November 2005 a five-member team came to Mongolia from Buryatia, Russia. The members of the team all have a vision to reach Buryats for Christ and had attended GCI training earlier in 2005. Currently there is no indigenous Buryat church and there is very little evangelistic work taking place among Buryats. However, Buryats are closely tied to Mongolians racially and culturally, and in recent years Genesis-AOM has had a vision to see the Gospel spread throughout Buryatia. In 1994 and 1995 teams from Genesis traveled to Buryatia to bring GCI training to Russian groups that are seeking to minister to Buryats, and in November 2005 the above-mentioned team came to Mongolia to preach in prisons and raise support for their work through the Erdenet Missions Conference. They were greatly encouraged by their Mongolian brothers and sisters in Christ and returned to Buryatia with renewed vision and focus. As a result, one member of the team, Tumen, proclaimed the Gospel in the village of Mogoit and approximately 20 Buryats came to the Lord. They have started a small group, meeting to fellowship together and build each other up.

We feel that this is the time that God has chosen to move among the Buryats and call them to Himself. We are tremendously blessed and encouraged to see this young church start, and pray that through God’s mighty power these young believers will grow and mature in God, and will in turn reach out to those around them. May God’s Kingdom be established throughout Buryatia.

This year Genesis will continue to work in Buryatia, bringing training, fellowship and prayer. Ochiro who is a GCI graduate and a Mongolian missionary to Buryatia will be financially supported through the Pastoral Support Programme to enable him to devote himself to the work of the church. The Church Support Programme will help to support this young church and ensure that it does not fail through lack of resources or support. Additionally, we will continue to bring Buryats and those ministering to Buryats to Mongolia for training and to share ideas and resources with them. We hope to see a strong Buryatian church that numbers in the thousands in the near future.