INFORMED INTERCESSION: PRAY FOR EUROPE.

This week, we focus on the Region of Europe for Prayer.
We also want to remind you to join the “Ramadan 30 Days of Prayer” beginning today.

PRAY FOR EUROPE:

IMPACT OF SECULARISM IN EUROPE.

Massive cultural shifts are occurring right across the continent as Europe finally reaps the harvest sown from the Enlightenment through WWI up to today. Christianity was effectively replaced by humanist philosophies and nationalism. It is no accident that the regions of the world where relativism, individualism and existentialism reign supreme are also spiritually the bleakest.

This has had several debilitating effects:

• The elevation of the individual and instant gratification spur on hedonistic, nihilistic lifestyles that often end in dysfunction, emptiness, loneliness and despair.
• Moral uncertainty. With transcendent authority undermined (and the authority of the Bible dismissed long ago), right and wrong are determined by consensual bureaucracy or individual inclination, leading to a morass of relativism.
• Societal disintegration. Traditional values regarding the family, childbirth, marriage, sexuality, sanctity of life and community are being dismantled not just culturally, but also legally.
•  As traditional foundations of healthy societies are deconstructed in Europe, some suggest the term “sociocide”, self-aware civilizational suicide, as an adequate description.
• Pray that Europe’s sophisticated societies might turn back from the brink, affirming and working out together the Judeo-Christian values that so profoundly shaped them and gave them the freedoms they now misplace.
• The heartlands of Protestantism are now some of the most irreligious and secular on the entire continent. They include parts of Germany, Sweden and Denmark, the Benelux countries, the UK, France and the Czech Republic. Many of these areas have had little meaningful exposure to biblical Christianity for several generations.

The 10 Most Populous Nations of Europe:

PRAY FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM:

Freedom of public religious expression continues to erode, largely due to insistent secularism. It is acceptable to have religious faith – as long as it remains a thoroughly private affair that is not inflicted upon the secular public.
This manifests itself through:

• Prevalent secular values, which regard Christian absolutes with intolerance.
• Practicing Christians are marginalized and caricatured in the media and popular culture.
• Christians, and evangelicals in particular, make soft targets for those who hate religion and insist on sidelining it from the public sphere.
• National governments and the European Union press on with legislation that attempts to safeguard freedoms and human rights, but in doing so virtually shackles the public practice of biblical faith.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH:

Positive and encouraging developments in the Church:

• The impact of evangelical and charismatic movements within the mainline confessions. The Church of England is significantly touched by renewal, by evangelical activism and especially by discipleship courses – the Alpha Course and Fresh Expressions being two of the most notable of these. Charismatic movements within Catholicism also touch many lives in Europe and beyond.
• The emergence of patterns of church, worship, mission and social action which reflect spiritual authenticity, holism, social engagement, postmodernity and multiculturalism. These are especially strong among, but not limited to, young people.
• The proliferation of prayer movements, initiatives, networks, houses of prayer, etc.
  The scope of their intercession ranges from a specific neighbourhood, to cities, regions, nations, social and political issues, and other religions (such as praying for Muslims during the 30 days of Ramadan).
• It seems there is much more prayer happening in European Christianity than in recent memory – not least due to the presence of ethnic minority Christian communities which are deeply committed to prayer!

GROWTH OF EVANGELICALS:

As strong national Christian identities erode, evangelicals are in fact growing in maturity, confidence and a sense of their own identity within many European countries.
The robust nature of these evangelical and charismatic movements is demonstrated by their increased presence in mainline churches, which are otherwise declining, in the relative stability of theologically conservative denominations and in the arrival of dynamic new fellowships and networks onto the Church scene.

Many European countries and peoples possess a strong and ancient Christian tradition, but very few evangelicals. These include Orthodox and Catholic heartlands such as Serbia, Poland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, the Basque region, Belarus, Georgia, Russia and more.

In 17 nations in Europe, evangelicals make up less than 1% of the population. And of these, five have a percentage of less than 0.25%. Pray for the planting of many vibrant, witnessing groups of believers in these lands.

A Prophetic Prayer for Revival in Europe!

Read about this Prophetic Prayer for Europe in this post. Click Here

The Unreached Peoples of Europe.

Over 400 peoples live within Europe’s countries; nearly 250 of them can be regarded as only partially evangelized at best and often are completely unevangelized. Of these, the majority are immigrant or refugee peoples for whom specialized outreach is needed, including:

• Muslim ethnic groups from the Middle East, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the Balkans (including Bosniaks, Albanians and Turks).
• The Jewish remnant – reduced in many countries to a mere fragment of their former numbers during the Holocaust and through emigration to Israel, but still needing to be brought to the Messiah.
• The many ethnic minorities of the Russian Federation – in the Caucasus, Siberia, the Urals and the Arctic.
• The Chinese, who number over one million in Europe – a number climbing steadily, and almost doubled if Siberia and the Russian Far East are included. While in several parts of the UK and Germany there are thriving congregations, in most of Europe they are unreached.
• Asians from South and Southeast Asia, especially in Western Europe, who are from unevangelized peoples in their home countries and who remain equally isolated from Christians in their host nations.

The growth of Islam through immigration and a higher birth rate is such that Islam has become the second religion of Europe. It is the largest religion in Albania, Bosnia and of other potential new nations – Kosovo as well as several republics in the Russian Federation. Integration and extremism remain serious but unresolved issues. But higher birthrates, the continued immigration of Muslims, savvy lobbying for concessions to Muslim sensibilities and a fundamental inability to exist as a placid minority mean the rise of Islam’s influence in Europe.

Read More about Europe for Prayer:

Starting Today: 30 Days of Prayer for Muslims during Ramadan!

Please Join this Prayer Movement by Clicking Here

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

Thank You for praying for Europe and for the Muslim World.

Sources: Operation World.