Pray for: 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! 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.

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.

Mobilizing. 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. Vision 5015 is the ambitious plan to raise up 50,000 Nigerian missionaries in the next 15 years. Several other nations have similar long-term mobilizing plans for raising up missionaries and reaching the unreached in their own countries. Pray that God will raise up innovative, effective, and locally appropriate strategies of mission mobilization, yielding a new generation of passionate African workers.

Nigeria and the Sahel, through which runs the north-south fault line between Muslim and Christian majority areas, are in profound need of prayer. The sporadic outbreaks of violence in Nigeria escalated into more frequent and intense pogroms against Christians by increasingly bloodthirsty fundamentalist Muslim groups (often importing fighters from farther afield). The Nigerian-originated Islamist and anti-education movement Boko Haram now assumes the role of most-feared terror group in Africa. Christian response to Islamist predations has been largely peaceful, but not always. Besides the religious fault line, the conflict also touches upon tensions over land between southern settled farmers and northern pastoralists. Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and other West African nations face similar tensions. Should something as terrible as north-south civil war in Nigeria break out, the likelihood is high of meltdown in much of the rest of West Africa. Pray for those orchestrating violence to be foiled and for those on both sides who love peace to prevail through wisdom, discipline and graciousness. Pray also for Christians to continue evangelizing the region’s Muslims with love and without fear.

Reducing local causes of poverty, particularly corruption, would reinject many billions of dollars back into the grassroots economy. Were greater economic accountability imposed and budgets actually spent on developing trade and production, many could be lifted out of poverty. Were wars and conflicts ended, infrastructure developed and education and health improved, a massive difference could be made. If Western and Chinese economic interests were less rapacious and dealt fairly and justly with African nations, Africa could make great progress. Pray for economic justice for a region that has endured centuries of plunder.

Discipleship is rightly being addressed as Africa’s greatest challenge. The growth of Christianity has been sensational, but the follow-up has traditionally been lacking. Non-Christian customs and worldviews permeate the Church. Syncretism is a major problem in many areas. Thorough repentance and renunciation of sin and the works of darkness are often lacking, and many Christians are not free from the influence of witchcraft and evil spirits. Growing numbers of churches and ministries throughout Africa now place a high priority on discipleship. This will shape more Christ-like character and promote a biblical worldview among church-goers. None of these challenges are unique to Africa, but pray nevertheless that God might purify His Church in this continent.

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 peoples 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. More recently, 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.