Christianity in Mongolia traces its origins back to Nestorian Christians, who converted several Mongolian tribes in the 7th century. Even in the reign of the Great Khans during the height of the Mongolian Empire in the 13th century, religious tolerance was widespread and Christianity was influential. With the breakup of the Mongolian Empire in the 14th century, Christianity lost its influence and the territory of Mongolia became primarily Buddhist and Shamanist.
Protestantism’s influence in Mongolia began with missionaries who came from Europe in the mid-19th century. Their influence was short-lived as communism triumphed in Mongolia in 1924. Since the fall of communism in 1990, Christianity has been expanding rapidly, from a recorded number of four believers in 1989 to somewhere in the neighborhood of 60,000 believers today.
In 1994, the Norwegian Lutheran Mission (NLM) established a presence and began to work among the Mongolians. In 1997, the Finnish mission organization FLOM (Finnish Lutheran Overseas Mission) began its work in Mongolia. They have created a number of projects focusing on the economic growth and capacity building within the social and health sectors of Mongolia. Both the Norwegian and Finnish missions also assist local Lutheran congregations as part of their overall work.
Two LCMS representatives came to Mongolia in 2005 in order to observe the work of the local Lutheran church congregations in Mongolia. In 2009 and 2010, an LCMS worker assisted the emerging Lutheran church in providing theological education to local church leaders. Later, assistance was also provided to the local Lutheran Church in establishing a specifically Lutheran Bible School in the northern city of Darkhan.