Mongolia
A Background history of the mission presence
In 1798 two Lazarist priests moved north of the wall in order to spread the word. By 1848 there is an Apostolic Vicariat of Mongolia and it was his job to protect the Christian’s who fled the persecution of the Emperor Kia King. The Roman Catholic Church had over 120 centres with either foreign or Chinese priests in residence. The penetration of these centres was never very deep and they were spread along the border from Manchuria to Tibet. The communicants were mostly Chinese who fled persecution and little impression was made on the Mongolian population.
Mongolia was not ignored by the British and Foreign Bible Society and by 1846 they had translated both Testaments into Mongolian. This demonstrated the will to convert the Mongolians; but, in a pattern which will be repeated in other Mongolian cases, they did not have the resources to distribute them. A colporteur was only obtained in 1902. In 1868 Theophile Verbist led the last survivor from his original mission of four into Mongolia as he was attracted by the harshness of the field. These missionaries requested reinforcements and in 1878 operations were started in Kansu and in 1884 they established a mission centre in Kuldja. 1870 saw the arrival of yet another hardy missionary entering Mongolia for the first time; James Gilmour, he was to work in Mongolia on and off until his death in 1891. It was towards the end of the nineteenth century that the mission presence in Mongolia began to increase significantly and mission centres rather than individual missionaries began to penetrate. In 1885 W.P.Sprague of the American Mission established a Mission in Kalgann. 1886 the Scandinavian Alliance Mission established its first centre and had built another one by 1888. The Plymouth Brethren arrived in Pinghuan in 1897 with Mr.R.Stephen proclaiming that he wanted; ‘a field of work where as yet no witnesses of Christ had gone’1
The themes of harshness and
remoteness recur in this brief history of the mission presence in Mongolia
which acted both to attract, and repel, missionaries; and which meant that
Mongolia holds a special position in Chinese mission history. The description
of Mongolia in the ‘The Christian Occupation of China’ is almost hellish. The
winds are unhindered before unleashing their ‘full fury’ on the ‘tents of the
Mongols’. There are ‘severe’ winters and the no rain except during ‘heat-storms’2. This meant that it attracted men such as Theophile
Verbist and James Gilmour who wanted to test themselves, as well as spread the
word. An indication of this mind-set can be found in Gilmour’s question; ‘Who
can be restrained by the cold-blooded calculation of preserving health?’3. The fact that it was relatively
unmissioned appealed to those, such as Mr.R.Stephen who wanted to pit
themselves against a real challenge in order to prove both their faith and
their manhood. The repulsion of this climate is clear to all.
Another peculiarity to this region of China is the Mongolian race. Their national characteristics were undecided by the missionaries. In 1920 they are still described as the Mongol ‘hordes’ with all its implications of violence and barbaric slaughter; however, the alternate view of them was as a devout race who had been led astray by the ‘lamaists’. As some missionaries argued that Buddhism was a ‘Preparation for Christianity’ would seem that they would be an ideal race to convert. This assumption was challenged by the results of the missionaries work. In 1920 there was a communicant body of 438 converts of which just a few were Mongolians. The Chinese border with Mongolia became a mental as well as a physical boundary. The map of the ‘Extent of Protestant Christian Occupation in 1900’(fig. 1) makes this clear. When one examines the eastern border of Mongolia with China one can see the occupation (indicated by the white) is spread along the entire border but not cross it. At the border there is no sudden change in the physical terrain and there had been Chinese emigration to this area of Mongolia for some time; why was the border so hard to cross?
fig. 14
The Mongolia Missionary Experience
In this section we shall see how Mongolia’s harsh climate, strange people and other attributes altered the mission experience. When attempting to construct an experiential history one essential are ‘sources of experience’ be they journals, diaries, letters or indeed anything which will provide primary source material. Unfortunately there is not much of this material within the Bristol Library resources; however, there is one book which is invaluable in this respect- ‘James Gilmour of Mongolia’ by R.Lovett. Whilst there is no doubt that a large and varied selection of sources would be preferable this detailed account of the mental workings of a missionary is an invaluable tool. By using both Gilmour’s letters and non-experiential historical sources key themes in Mongolian mission history can be extrapolated.
The first decision which the missionary about to enter Mongolia had to make was how they would spread the word. In the easternmost section of Mongolia where towards the end of the nineteenth century agriculture was firmly established it was possible to use conventional missionary methods. Schools and hospitals were all viable in these high population density areas; however, this was also an area which was mostly peopled by the Chinese, when one of the attractions of evangelic work in Mongolia was to convert Mongolians. In order to reach the Mongol people a very different method had to be adopted as most of the Mongolian were semi-nomadic, settling in one place in the winter and travelling in the summer. To get around this problem many missionaries adopted itineration as their method of evangelising. This meant that the missionary could not enjoy the sedentary life and the relative ease of the mission centres. The missionary had to travel to find the Mongols. Even allowing for the fact that the missionaries had servant’s, life out of a tent in an inhospitable climate, was not enjoyable. In the winter the cold was biting, whilst during the summer sudden downpours could produce potentially fatal flash floods. The constant walking also had the ruinous effect on the feet which one would imagine after walking ‘three hundred miles, in seven and a half days.’5 The weather had a deleterious affect on health in general with Mrs. Gilmour dying of a disease most probably contracted whilst in Mongolia.
The missionary experience in Mongolia did not just attack the physical well-being of the missionary but also, and perhaps more importantly, the mental well-being. For out on the wind swept Mongolian plains with neither hill, nor bush, nor tree to see in any direction the mind of a missionary must have been sorely tested. This depression would have been augmented by the many other daily difficulties which afflicted the missionary in Mongolia- in fact one of the most prevalent emotions in the missionary must have been frustration. One of the main contributors to this would have been the lack of success in conversion which the missionaries endured in Mongolia. These figures, which were compiled over eight months by James Gilmour, speak volumes.
it By 1888 after evangelising in Mongolia for more than eighteen years James Gilmour had created a church of sixteen converts. This pattern is repeated in other missionary societies with missionaries such as Mr. Lees thinking that was ‘a pity to take up such a seemingly unproductive field while so many more promising ones called for attention.’ The poor results from the ‘sterile field of Mongolia’ led to depression in James Gilmour and his diary during these times makes for very sombre reading
‘May 7- Downcast day. No one to prayer.
May 9- In terrible darkness and tears for two days. Light broke over men at my stand today in the thought that Jesus was tempted forty days of the devil after His baptism, and that he felt forsaken on the cross.
May 27- Sunday. Service- present, four Christians. Great depression.’6
In Mongolia one is able to study Christian missionaries when they do not succeed. There are those, like Mr. Lees, who advocate not wasting resources, and there are those, such as James Gilmour who persevere but can do without the success. The depression is also one which would be characteristic of the most zealous missionaries. For to work in Mongolia meant sacrifice; in Gilmour’s case the sacrifice of health, success and his own family. His language clearly indicates that he feels in some way out God’s grace; he is on his own like Christ in the wilderness and ‘forsaken’.
The
depression was compounded by his total lack of success with the Mongolian
population; ‘I came here to meet Mongols and I am flooded out by Chinamen.’
Gilmour also had in his congregation what he thought to be ‘rice’ Christian’s-
a feeling which must have been shared by many missionaries in the harsh land of
Mongolia. His head man in Ta Cheng Tzu, Li San, insisted that Gilmour had
promised him a job before he became a Christian; whilst in another unseemly
episode a Christian had stolen his bank book and stolen fifteen taels from
him: so for the ‘ten days [they] passed [in Ta Cheng Tzu they] were the song of
the drunkard and the jest of the abjects.’7 The feeling of being
oppressed can have only increased during times such as these.
The combination of the harsh weather and unreceptive community helped create an atmosphere depression, and yet these were not the only factors which held up the success of the Mongolian mission. A second strand of thought can be posited; that, rather than the difficulties specific to Mongolia causing the problems to the missionaries, it was the mission community’s perception of Mongolia which held back the missionaries. As late as 1920 there is not a single mission doctor in Mongolia. Gilmour finds himself in a constant battle with the mission board as they do not supply him with enough money; at one stage he is living on three pence a day.
This analysis of the missionary experience in Mongolia shows the daily struggle that missionaries in this province endured. The picture which develops is not that of the powerful missionary in a Christian community where they can, and do, intervene in local affairs. There is certainly no question of James Gilmour being able to mete out ‘missionary justice’ against those who he thinks deserve it. For in Mongolia one can see missionary work being carried out on the outer-most reaches of the Christian world. The experience here is not one of ease, but one of suffering and frustration with only the love of God for company.
Tom Shelley
1 The Christian Occupation of China- Milton T. Stauffer- 1920 page 273
2 ibid page 271
3 Gilmour of Mongolia- Lovett – 1896 page 175
4 ibid p. 134
5 ibid p. 56
6 ibid p. 101
7 ibid p. 254