Bringing the Bible to Mongolia

Location: Mongolia
Speakers: 5,000,000
Project Status: Bible
Christian Population: 2.5%

Mongolian, the official language of Mongolia, is spoken by five million people and primarily uses the Cyrillic script, although a traditional Mongolian script is also used. The Cyrillic script is used in Mongolia and Russia, whereas the traditional script (which is written vertically) is used in Mongolia and China. The language belongs to the Mongolic language family and is known for its complexity.

Despite over half of Mongolians identifying as Buddhist or Muslim, Christianity is growing at a rapid rate in Mongolia, considering that there were only four known believers in 1992. It is estimated that there are about 35,000 evangelical Christians in Mongolia. Although there is opposition on the family level, the government allows freedom of religion.

Since 2009 TBS has partnered with Dr Charles Keen (assisted by other American Independent Baptists) to prepare a new edition of the Mongolian Bible translated directly from the Greek Received and Hebrew Masoretic Texts. The first edition of the New Testament was published in 2017 but is being lightly revised to improve some of the phrasing. The Old Testament has been drafted with 20% finalised. We are eagerly anticipating the completion of the translation in 2027.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Great Company of Publishers for the Old Testament portion of this project. The Society funds the revision work on the New Testament which is ongoing.

‘Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else’ (Isaiah 45.22).

How to pray for this project:

• Pray for the translators as they endeavour to produce a faithful and accurate translation of God’s Holy Word in Mongolian.
• Pray for the Gospel to reach the hearts of Mongolians and that they would be brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.