Informed Intercession: Pray for Africa & Muslim World.

This month we focus on Praying for the Region of Africa in our Global Intercession involvement.
We also focus on Prayer for the Muslim World during their Ramadan season from February 18-March 19.

PRAY FOR AFRICA:

Africa has 54 recognized, sovereign countries, all members of the United Nations and the African Union. We provide resources from Operation World to pray effectively for Africa.

10 MOST POPULOUS NATIONS IN AFRICA

CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA.

Christianity has grown to become the religion of almost half of Africa’s population, and nearly two-thirds of sub-Saharan Africa.

• From 1900 to 2010, Christian numbers grew from 9.1% of the population to 48.8%, and from 7.5 million to 504 million.
• Of the world’s evangelical Christians, over 33% live in Africa – a proportion that increases annually!
• In 1900, evangelicals numbered 1.6 million (1.5%), but now they exceed 200 million and approach 20% of the population!
• This is as much as all evangelicals in the Americas combined, and it is the largest evangelical population on any continent.
• It is very possible that within our lifetime, over half of the world’s evangelicals will be from Africa.
• Pray that the spiritual vibrancy of Africa’s believers will spread to the rest of the world’s Christians.

Pentecostals in Africa:

Pentecostal groups, strongly evangelical, have become a major element in the African Church. They are strong on the Scriptures and outreach, expectant of miracles, fervent in prayer, and courageous against the powers of darkness.

• The Assemblies of God in Kenya, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, DRC Congo, Ethiopia, and elsewhere continue to grow rapidly and plant new churches.
• Many other Pentecostals under the Pentecostal World Fellowship, such as the Redeemed Christian Church and Deeper Life Bible Church were both started in Nigeria and have planted churches in dozens of countries.

Intercession in Africa:

Prayer movements have a remarkable impact in Africa.

• The Global Day of Prayer originated in Cape Town through Transformation Africa and involved tens, if not hundreds, of millions of Christians.
• The all-night prayer meetings of the Redeemed Christian Church in Nigeria – called the Holy Ghost Services – attract an average of 500,000, but this is merely the most well-known of many such meetings.
• The familiarity of Africans with the reality of spiritual warfare, and their willingness to faithfully put in many hours of intercession, are possibly the most significant factors in the remarkable church growth on this continent.
• Pray for continued commitment to sustained intercession, and for the rest of the global Church to learn from this wonderful example.

Islam in Africa:

Islam is the major external challenge for Christianity today — both the 230 million Muslims north of the Sahara and the 325 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

• The “race” to win people to Christ from the traditional religions in West Africa and across the Sahel has largely been lost; most have been Islamized, even if only superficially.
• Muslim missionary efforts have extended to nearly every country in Africa, and in many places, especially in Central Africa, they are very successful.
• The use of oil-funded education, aid projects and grants, and a well-orchestrated drive to give Islam a role in Africa’s political life, have had some success.
• 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.
• The Arabs conquered the Maghreb and North Africa and imposed Islam upon the population. There has been little by way of outreach to them until recent years – and even less by way of response. They number nearly 210 million from Mauritania across to Egypt.

Africa Missions:

Mobilizing for Missions.  
Key to the whole African mission endeavour is the work of MANI (Movement for African National Initiatives), a pan-African mission mobilizing and networking movement.

• Several other nations have similar long-term mobilizing plans for raising up missionaries and reaching the unreached in their own countries.
• The National Churches of the Africa Assemblies of God Alliance has been actively mobilizing their Churches to send out missionaries.
• Especially, AG Nations of West Africa, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast have sent many missionaries to several other nations.
• Other AG Councils are rising up to the challenge of sending Missionaries to other nations.
• Many Pentecostal Churches in the Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF) under the ‘World Missions Commission’ are also mobilizing to send out African Missionaries outside Africa.

Africa’s Contribution to World Missions:

North Africa is a part of the 10/40 Window where the majority of the lost people are in the World.
Pray for the Missionary Sending vision in African Churches.
It is interesting that in the first Leadership Team in the Missionary sending Antioch Church, two were from Africa; Simeon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene (North Africa) Acts 13:1
Let us pray that Churches in 21st-century Africa will become the Antioch for the final Global Harvest.

PRAY FOR THE MUSLIM WORLD DURING RAMADAN.       

We encourage you to join in this special Prayer Initiative for the Muslim people around the World.
Please watch the video below, choose a Prayer Campaign, and register to receive daily intercession updates.
We highly recommend using these great Prayer tools for united Intercession.

WATCH THE VIDEO AND CHOOSE A PRAYER CAMPAIGN.
There are several Muslim nations and regions to choose from.

OR, CHOOSE TO JOIN THE PRAYER FOR NATIONS CAMPAIGN:

Thank you for Praying for Africa and for the Muslim World

Sources: Operation World.