Story number 2 for 12 Jan 2001

Next, decades of Buddhism and ancestor worship have made Mongolia a challenge for evangelistic outreach. Long-term solutions to poverty depend on spiritual as well as physical change. World Concern’s Paul Klien is working there. “We are essentially registered as a non-government organization that implements a variety of community development projects in different sectors like health education, agriculture, business. And, we do those programs with the focus on training and mentoring Mongols and we try to partner with the local church where we’re able to equip them as implementers.” Church members are then able to share their faith as they touch the hearts of the participants. However, Klein says they must be careful. “We are identified as a Christian organization, so you always run into some accusations of proselytizing people, or enticing them with money or with projects to become Christians, and so we just have to be very careful.”