GlocalNet

A couple of months ago I was in Mongolia speaking to Christian leaders.  It was an incredible time.  All were first generation Christians and pastors, very few were over the age of 40, most were in their 20’s and 30’s.  In 1992 there were no believers there - today there are probably around 150,000.  They are a fascinating people to me.  They are not the quiet, reserved, formal East Asians that I am used to being with, though they look like East Asians.  They are more Russian in their personality - loud, laughing, very happy, and aggressive.  It makes sense, Mongolia is just below Siberia.  You can read my blog of June 21 to recap what the Mongolians see as unique about themselves and in their ability to fulfill the Great Commission.  Since that time, I’ve read 3 or 4 books on Genghis Khan - the best, hands down, is Jack Weatherford’s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Western World.  If you can read just one, read it.  But in studying him, I asked the question - If Genghis Khan would fulfill the Great Commission how would he do it based on how he lead?  Here are my answers based on a man that did in 25 years what took Rome 400 years to do - and he did it with a smaller army and had a much larger empire.

1.  He wouldn’t do it by force.  That may shock you - but there wasn’t a single battle that he did that wasn’t in response to someone coming to first take his life.  At the age of 60 he was ready to retire and sent a delegation to a part of Russia to build a relationship with the leader there.  The leader killed his envoy - next stop Europe!  Yes, he was bloody.  Yes, once in battle, good luck - he was brutal.  This was the story of his whole life.

2.  He would start where the easy pickings were - and then move in.  He would never take the heart of a city - but start with villages surrounding the city and work his way in.  It allowed for both PR and psychological warfare.

3.  Everyone got a horse - or was equipped.  His force was much smaller than any force in the world at that time, but the fact is all 100,000 were on horses - that was the uniqueness.  The concept of Blitzkrieg came from the Germans from a battle where he defeated them in Germany.  Like lightening they would move in.  On horses they could move quickly, efficiently, and respond much quicker than foot soldiers.  The horse allowed them to charge into masses of men. 

4.  He would send them out like Jesus - only with the bare essentials for his army.  Most armies built supply lines - not him.  Instead he took engineers and builders and built what he needed along the way with the natural things he found.  It allowed for mobility and quick travel and not having to keep up with lots of stuff.

5.  Anyone who wanted to join was given equal status.  He didn’t subjugate people like most rulers did in his day.  The most gifted people in a society wound up at the most strategic spots.  Time and time again he wouldn’t put his family or friends in key places of leadership - only the best qualified.  This would be a lesson his descendants forgot.

6.  He believed everybody should be engaged in society.  He got domains.  He would gather the best minds in the best fields of government, health, education, philosophy, engineering, science, astronomy.  The result was they would merge domains and make use of general knowledge.  They took gun powder from the Chinese, bell makers from Europe and invented the cannon.  The list goes on of things they did like that.  He was among the first to promote public schools for the masses.  He also came up with an alphabet for the creation of a global language - the first ever, and maybe last!  (Yes I know about English - but it wasn’t created to become a global language.)

7.  He would promote human rights as the key for people to be informed, connected, and treated right.  He was perhaps the first to promote religious freedom.  There were Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists - every religion that was among him.  He built temples, mosques, churches - all of them.  He also saw the value and began to establish international law and came up with things like diplomatic immunity, etc. 

8.  They worked in groups of 10.  When they would take over a city - each man would have 10 other men to work with.  Its how they fought, led, and ruled.

9.  He was born simple, lived simple, and in reality as a person in his personal practices didn’t change that much.  He didn’t allow wealth, etc., to impact him.  He was buried in a land called “taboo” and 800 horses ran over his grave so no one would ever know where it was.  He never had any pictures painted of himself deliberately.  He said that “self-control is the first lesson of leadership.”  He also said, “Don’t talk too much, let your actions be your words.”  He told his sons to “avoid a colorful” life, in other words don’t live extravagantly. 

10.  For the Mongolian it wasn’t fighting but winning.  May our battle cry be “Hurray” as it was the cry of the Mongolians’ as we fulfill what Jesus has called us to do.  Years ago a lady told me, “We should stop talking about the Great Commission and think in terms of the Great Completion.” 

Dream big Mongolians - play hard - teach us well - we are watching - we are learning - let us run beside you!