PRAY FOR NORTH AFRICAN COUNTRIES

WHAT IS NORTH AFRICA LIKE?

North Africa has massive mountain ranges dominating much of Morocco and Algeria, vast fertile valleys yielding vegetables, fruit, and grains, and the Sahara in the south. The beautiful beaches, ancient Arab cities, and Roman ruins attract countless tourists.

Though the climates vary widely, all but the desert regions are quite livable. Known as the Maghreb (Arabic for “the west”), North Africa was first conquered by the Phoenicians, then the people of Carthage, and then the Romans in 44 AD.

Muslim expansion in the 7th century led to successive local Berber Muslim kingdoms controlling the region for more than a thousand years. French, Spanish, and Italian colonial powers dominated from the 18th century until the modern nation states became independent after World War II.

North Africans are amazingly friendly, open, hospitable, and resilient people. They are mostly Mediterranean peoples who share much in common ethnically, culturally, and historically with the peoples of southern Europe. There are still millions of indigenous people – the Berbers – despite the early dominance of the region by Arabs.

Large minority groups speaking several Berber dialects thrive in the mountainous and other remote areas. Local dialects of Arabic prevail in the cities. French is widely spoken everywhere except Libya, especially in the cities.

Impact of Islam in North Africa:

Islam shapes many cultural features typical of the region. North Africans are generally proud to be Muslim, though they often do not practice consistently. Islam is often nominal and the people secular in outlook. People do not separate their national identity from their identity as Muslims. Mainstream Sunni Islam predominates.

God working in North Africa:

No country in the region has a surviving Christian community that originated before the arrival of Islam. There has been Protestant missionary work in much of North Africa since the 1800s (it only began in Mauritania in the 1980s).
The strength of the underground church varies, and the number of foreigners working and serving in-country fluctuates. Satellite TV and internet ministries operating outside the region are bearing increasing fruit.

Since the 1990s Algeria has witnessed significant conversions among the Kabyle people, with perhaps several hundred thousand Christians today. Other countries have seen far smaller and less resilient underground house church movements.

Levels of persecution vary, with the strongest opposition to Christ coming from family and community members. In recent decades, reports of dozens of house church plants in Morocco and Tunisia provide great encouragement, but very little is happening in Libya and Mauritania—yet. But God continues his work!

Challenges & struggles to come to Christ:

Developing a Biblical Worldview
Family and community pressures
Threat of physical harm due to decisions about Jesus
Fear of new ways of life, persecution, societal influence, loneliness
Spirituality – focusing on relationship with God instead of doing good works
Leaving behind traditions and previous ways of life
Difficulty integrating into communities of Muslim background believers
Living in countries where change of religion isn’t allowed
Emotional wounds and struggles due to low economic status or difficult backgrounds