PRAY FOR AFRICA
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.2 chronicles 7:14.
PRAYER TOPICS.
War
Sustained and particularly cruel wars have been the scourge of Africa in the past
decades. No region has been free from violent conflict. ‘Ethnic cleansing’ has
caused tragic amounts of bloodshed. Child soldiers, widespread rape and the
amputation of victims’ limbs are the sinister characteristics of many of these
conflicts. Pray for these wars to END, for God to exercise His power to protect the helpless and bring justice to all. Pray for more willpower in the international
community to help end these wars. Pray for Christians who are caught up in these
conflicts to have unshakeable faith.
Refugees
These conflicts inevitably uprooted many people from their homes. Africa has at
least 15 million refugees and internally displaced people. Countless more have
returned from their own displacement experiences. Many are Christians, and most
have been traumatised by the destruction and violence from which they fled. Pray
for the NGOs working amongst refugees and IDPs. Pray for the displaced, that as
they mourn, God will comfort them. Pray that they may return to rebuilt what was
destroyed. Ask the Lord to turn this evil to good and bring many of the refugees
in contact with the life-changing Gospel.
Islam
The relationship between Islam and Christianity is a major challenge for the
continent. The potential for widened conflagrations and confrontations is high
because of increasingly aggressive Islamist movements and African Christian
evangelism gaining converts from within Muslim communities. Violent Islamist
movements have deeply affected the continent. Muslim missionary efforts have
extended to nearly every country in Africa. African Christians as well as mission
agencies need to make Muslims a priority for demonstrations of the love of Christ
and culturally sensitive approaches must be developed for planting churches
among them.
Pray for understanding and dialogue between the faith communities. Pray that
neither faith will not be hijacked by violent and wicked men bent on destruction.
Pray for Christians in ministry to be protected and granted favour with the Muslim
community even as they minister in appropriate and respectful ways.
AIDS
AIDS in Africa now overshadows the future of the continent - 66% of the world’s
AIDS cases in 1999 were in Africa. Twenty five million are infected with HIV.
Lowered immunity has stimulated the spread of TB and other diseases and life
expectancies are dropping fast. Pray for
• Radical changes in society that deal with the moral, social and spiritual
deficiencies that spread the disease.
• Mobilization of churches to tackle the causes and effects of AIDS. They
alone have the belief system, moral authority and local presence to be
effective in ministries of prevention and care.
• Deployment of Christian agencies and skills to empower the Church in this
new realm of ministry.
Poverty/Debt
Africa’s economy has stagnated for 40 years; many countries have become
poorer, a few have made progress. There are many causes for decline. Part is
locally induced, part is of foreign origin. Pray for the governments of richer
trading nations to ensure a fair price for African produce instead of bolstering
protectionism in their own interests. Foreign debt has steadily grown. Many
impoverished countries spend more on debt servicing than on health and
education. Pray for the creditors to act with mercy and justice and forgive these
crippling debts.
Corruption
Too many Corrupt rulers who have enriched themselves or their ethnic group. In
some countries such as Nigeria and Congo-DRC the national debt probably equals
the money stolen by unethical leaders. Pray for these funds to be released back to
the people of countries from which they were stolen. Pray for justice for the
perpetrators, and for the culture of bribery, cronyism and corruption to come to
an end.
The Church – discipling, training, leaders
In the 20th Century, Christianity became the religion of the majority in sub-
Saharan Africa. In 1900 there were 8 million Christians (10% of the population of
Africa); by 2000 there were 351 million (48.4% of the population of Africa - 60%
of sub-Saharan Africa).
Pray for more effective discipling of new believers. Millions have been evangelized
and responded, but non-Christian customs and worldviews have invaded the
Church. The new generation, or third wave of African Christianity, takes a clear
stand against these but many churches are seriously compromised.
Leadership training is the critical bottleneck. There is a lack of funds for training
and supporting full-time workers. Leadership is limited at every level: for village
congregations, for the urban educated and for theological training. Pray for the
theological institutions, for curriculum appropriate to the African context and for
African theologians to emerge and lead the engagement with Scripture in ways
that speaks to Africans. Pray for God to raise up leaders at every level who
demonstrate commitment to the cause and submission to Christ.
Bible translation Africa is the greatest remaining challenge for Bible translation
with existing openings for missionary translators. There is work in progress in 373
and a definite need for translators in 297 more. This latter number could rise to
1,290 after careful field research.
Missions Vision
Praise God for the rapid growth and spread of African missions - in 2000 there
were estimated to be nearly 13,000 African missionaries with most serving in a
cross-cultural setting. Much of past and present church planting has been through
humble, dedicated African missionaries. Pray for:
Churches to see missions as fundamental to the gospel itself, and the task of
every believer - not just a white Christian!
Funds to be made available to train and send out missionaries. Exchange controls
and poverty prevent many churches from realizing their mission vision to the full.
Effective cross-cultural training for missions - few Bible schools do this, but they
should. Innovative training mechanisms have been set up and are growing in
different parts of Africa.
PRAY FOR SUDAN
SUDAN
has a population of 29.4 million with a third of
the people living in the capital, Khartoum.
There are more than 244 Ethnic groups in the country
but a deliberate policy of “Arabization” has made most of the groups in the North part of
the 45.2% Arab population. The
remaining 54.8% of the population are non-Arabs mostly in Central and South Sudan.
With an area of 2.5 million sq. km, Sudan is
clearly Africa’s largest country and is surrounded by 9 different nations. As
the experience of Chad and Uganda has shown, any major upheaval in Sudan impacts
several of these neighboring countries. After my recent visit to Khartoum, I
now better understand Patrick Johnstone’s assessment of the key challenges
facing the country. These call for urgent prayers.
Please read the section on Sudan in Operation
World, it’s available online at: http://www.gmi.org/ow/. Below are excerpts, with
my comments: Sudan’s civil war has been one of the world’s longest conflicts in
the 20th Century.
Pray for peace in Sudan, particularly in
Darfur. Pray also for healing as many still struggle with the bitterness from
decades of atrocities.
Pray that the Church will overcome the bitterness resulting from decades of persecution and reach out in love to the Arabs. It is urgent for the Church to have a vision for the lost within the window of opportunity the next five years presents before the referendum that would decide whether the South should remain a part of Sudan.
Sudan’s leaders proudly boast that they are the leaders of the Islamic Revolution in Africa. In fact, an Islamist Arab minority has used this as a tool to strengthen their personal control of the economy and political power.
The tragic cost is 2 million dead, millions traumatized and an economy devastated by the war, mostly in South Sudan. Suffering and disruption of lives appear unending in Darfur despite the presence of large numbers of peace keepers.
Pray for the disarming of the spiritual powers that have held the land in bondage for centuries. Pray for lasting peace.
“The LORD will demonstrate his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. The ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God” ~ Isaiah 52:10, NLT
There was once a strong Christian presence in northern Sudan, and for nearly a millennium the majority of the population was Christians. Muslims invaded and defeated the Christians at the end of the 13th Century and gradually Islamized the area by the 15th Century - a process now being extended to the non- Muslim south. The population in the north is largely Sunni Muslim, though among them are 300,000 or more Coptic Christians and about 2 million southern Christians displaced by war. Sufi religious orders are strong - especially Ansar, followers of the famous Mahdi. A small but increasing number have become Christians, disillusioned by Islam and attracted to Jesus. There are probably thousands of these as whole villages are turning to Christ. Pray that their numbers may increase.
The Nuba Mountain peoples are an island of non-Muslims in
a sea of Islam. Whole tribes are reported to be turning to Christ. I met with
the Episcopal Bishop of Nuba during my visit who confirmed these reports. As
large Muslim populations turn to Christ, the need for discipleship and training
is overwhelming. There are still a number of unreached people groups, but 60% of
the population has fled the area. Government policy has sought to eliminate the
Nuba by destruction of their villages,murder and their relocation as slave
labor.
There are few southern children who have had opportunity for education. Many are traumatized. There are many street children in Khartoum; an estimated 30,000 of them are homeless. For the past 3 years, ACF Missions, Inc. has sponsored two schools in the Displaced People Camps with over 250 Children as part of our Hope Education Project. Pray that Church leaders in Sudan and believers in the Western World will see the need to invest in Sudan’s next generation.
Oxford Analytical reports that Southern Sudan is one of
the least developed areas in the world, despite its vast natural resources and economic
potential. As the photo on the left shows, there has been much transformation
and construction activity in Khartoum largely from recent oil revenues but development
and reconstruction in the South has been scanty. The sustainability of the
fragile peace agreement signed in January 2005 depends partly on how well the
new government of Southern Sudan manages the many political pressures within
the south, and partly on its success in bringing about development and economic
growth.
Pray for Southern Sudan leaders. Pray for a fair
distribution of the country’s oil revenues.