Pray today
Praise God that peace has held since the end of the civil war in 1992. Since then, corruption in politics has been a big problem in El Salvador, but multiple free elections have occurred, with different parties prevailing at different times. El Salvador’s main struggles are now against poverty and gang violence. Money sent home from Salvadorans working abroad is the largest part of the economy. Nearly 23% of the country lives below the poverty line. Violent criminal gangs known as “maras” keep the nation among the global leaders for murder rates and juvenile delinquency. Overcoming these two giants will take more than just good social and economic policy – El Salvador needs a spiritual awakening that transforms the nation!
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The growth of Evangelicals in the midst of travail has been a modern-day miracle, but now the need is for consolidation of the work. There is a growing number of ex-evangelicals that underscores this need. The 1990s saw bold goals set for church planting; although those goals were not met, as many as 9,000 churches were planted. This fervour has subsided of late, even though more evangelical congregations are needed in the country. Pray for effective discipling and motivation of believers for service, witness and missions. Pray also for increased unity and vision for outreach so that this nation might belong to Jesus - El Salvador is Spanish for 'the Saviour'.
Leadership for churches must be multiplied. The war, lack of finance and insufficient staff crippled what training was available. Pray for the Bible schools, seminaries and TEE programmes. Pray for the provision of all material needs for staff and students in this time of economic stress. This ministry needs more missionary input. Many mission agencies are heavily committed to health, social betterment and educational ministries.
Missions vision has grown. The ministries of COMISAL (the national expression of COMIBAM) and of indigenous missions - such as MIES, AMIGA, EDEHM, COMIFAD, ADN, TRES, ATN and AoG Missions - are expressions of El Salvador's missions vision. These are in addition to international mission groups such as OM and YWAM/JUCUM. An estimated 165 missionaries are serving in other lands. Pray that mission involvement might increase and be fruitful.
Specific groups for prayer:
- The Amerindian population retain many of their cultural values and traits, even though they have largely lost their languages. Their treatment in the 20th Century has been horrific. Pray for effective ministries to begin and for culturally sensitive church planting among them.
- The 167,000 university students. MUC(IFES) has 35 student groups, reaching most universities and colleges. Cru also works in El Salvador. Training leaders is the greatest challenge.
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Content taken or adapted from Operation World, 7th Edition (2010) and Pray for the World (2015). Both books are published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.