Mongolia: Riding the wave!

As we recorded the first song of our session in a makeshift studio in Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, something like an invasion took place.--As if the Lord was riding on the crest of the song. The opportunity to record a worship team traced back to our songwriting workshop held 16 months earlier. One of the participants had asked us to consider recording the worship music from her church, where she served as worship leader and composer.
Having only 6 days to do multi-track recording of these eleven Mongolian worship songs stretched us all. But the two steel shipping containers welded together, wired, paneled and outfitted for recording became far more than a makeshift studio. We were in a miniature, God-saturated steel-clad cathedral.

NEW WORSHIP SONGS FOR MONGOLIAN CHURCHES

While some of us worked on recording the worship team, other Heart Sounds staff led a workshop each evening for both traditional and contemporary songwriting. About 25 local people participated.

Because of our vision to promote indigenous approaches to worship, HSI launched a third activity in Mongolia--an internship program. Paul Neeley, one of the HSI leaders who focuses on ethnomusicology, mentored a student who conducted interviews with people in the city. A major focus was to get feedback that will help to guide HSI and local worship leaders in thinking through which contextualized Christian song forms might be most popular among certain sub-groups of the population, including the nomads who still travel the countryside with their animals.

During the week of songwriting, a prominent Mongolian musician/composer, Pastor Puje, started sharing his dream to create a Christian songwriting fellowship, as well as an annual music concert to celebrate new songs birthed each year. The HSI team started praying and working behind the scenes to encourage the formation of a music and worship committee. It took little persuasion for Puje to grab onto the idea of leading the committee.

STANDING-ROOM-ONLY CONCERT

As in last year's trip, the crowning event of our visit was a music concert featuring the new songs composed at the workshop. A standing-room-only crowd squeezed into the small church hall to witness the two-part concert. More than an hour's worth of indigenous songs and poetry with Christian themes dominated the first part. The remaining part of the concert featured new contemporary Christian songs driven by guitar or keyboard. One highlight of the concert was a Mongolian Christian song for children. Only three such original children's songs (not translated) are known in the country, all composed by Pastor Puje.

As we recorded songs (about 40 during our 15-day stay) and discussed cassette distribution, God showed us ways that we could partner with Mongolian churches and expatriate missionaries to reach into the entire nation with indigenous Christian musics. This includes the minority cultures as well as the more than four million people living in Inner Mongolia (a part of China). Through prayer, networking and brainstorming, preliminary plans were presented in a multi-year proposal.

ORCHESTRATED BY GOD

Looking back, we realize that during our short visit we had been privileged to add our little part to the great symphony God was already orchestrating across this land. He had empowered the entire visit. We were merely swept along, riding the crest of the wave!

Heart Sounds International projects are sponsored by Operation Mobilization. For a full report of the Mongolian visit and to learn more about this ministry, check out the HSI website: www.heart-sounds.org

OM’s role in the Church is to mobilise people to share the knowledge of Jesus and His love with every generation in every nation. OM pioneers and leads initiatives to redeem lives, rebuild communities and restore hope in over 110 countries.