For decades, HIV/AIDS has devastated this country's population and health; the working age population was particularly impacted. Recent reports say 27% of adults are HIV positive - the highest rate in the world. Life expectancy was greatly reduced as a result. Many times, the eldest sibling leads a household of orphans. Talk about ministry and evangelism in Eswatini is not helpful if ministering to those with HIV/AIDS and assisting in prevention are not also addressed. Pray for treatment of the sick. Genuine Christian love, demonstrated in practical and gracious ways, could win many to the Lord. All churches must address the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of AIDS sufferers.

The Church faces many challenges:

• Nominalism is widespread. Far too many Christians live no differently from their unbelieving compatriots. Pray for God's Spirit to bring revival. Many churches, even traditional evangelical groups, are stagnating and losing their young people.
• Traditional practices adopted uncritically lead to syncretism, but outright rejection of them leads to legalism and irrelevance. Pray for the wisdom and grace to practise a culturally relevant but biblical Christianity. Men especially need to be drawn into the Church - the large majority of the faithful are female.
• The African Independent Churches claim more than half the population. Their beliefs range from an evangelical theological position to a high degree of compromise with polygamy, witchcraft, ancestor veneration and appeasement sacrifices. The large "Zionist" movement strongly emphasizes both pentecostal gifts and traditional African spiritual customs. Pray that these groups might be shaped by Scripture and directed by the Holy Spirit. Pray also for increased interaction between Zion and evangelical churches; this will teach and benefit both groups.
• Quality Christian leadership is in short supply and sporadic in quality. Most pastors are unpaid and limited in the time they can contribute to the ministry. Few congregations are trained to share the gospel confidently with either traditionalists or intellectuals, and so have little impact on the unchurched. There are seven Bible schools or seminaries in Eswatini, and TEE is available through most of the major denominations. Pray for Swazi pastors and lay Christians to make use of the training resources in the country.
• Youth ministry. The young people of Eswatini have little opportunity to be young due to poverty, unemployment and the AIDS devastation. Pray for churches to minister meaningfully to young people, both evangelizing and discipling effectively. Pray also for godly models and mentors for them.

Christian media ministries to pray for:

• The Bible in Swati. It is available in a recent translation, and Christian bookstores exist, such as ones run by CLC and the Nazarenes.
• National Christian radio. The SCC Media Centre produces 18 hours of Christian programming weekly for broadcasting on national radio.
• International Christian radio. TWR has three shortwave and one medium wave as well as one FM transmitter, reaching a potential 700 million people in 58 languages in Africa and southwest Asia. Pray for provision of programming in each language - especially in languages with few believers - and in areas of unrest.

Nearly half the population profess to be Christian, but many have little understanding of their faith, and Christian belief is often mixed with spiritism. In the larger Catholic and Moravian denominations, growth has been incremental, but recent Pentecostal and charismatic growth has been rapid. Pray for new life and dynamism to replace traditionalism and syncretism practised by many. Pray for increasing trans-denominational cooperation to continue in Bible-related ministries and outreach to every ethnic group in Suriname.

Most of the six Amerindian peoples are now at least nominally Christian. WT sees people movements among the Wayana, Akurio and Trio. The coastal Carib and Arawak are more needy. Some Amerindian churches are growing in faith and actively engaging in cross-cultural mission. Others struggle, reverting to sinful indigenous customs or outside secular and materialist pressures. Pray for stability, maturity and indigeneity to be maintained in tribal churches. Pray that Wayana and Trio missionaries rapidly learn and adapt, and pray for the cross-cultural workers among the Amerindians.

Less-reached peoples. Pray for these:

• The Javanese are predominantly Muslim, but nominally so. New generations of Javanese Christians, across denominations, rise to the challenge of reaching their own people. CMA and IMB now facilitate church planting training and mobilize churches to reach the Javanese. The Suriname Javanese NT was published in 2000, and plans are underway to translate the OT.
• The Indian community is only now beginning to respond to the gospel. WT, in partnership with SKS (a Hindustani organization), seeks to see a church within walking distance of every Hindustani. But local congregations are slow on the uptake regarding outreach to this long-neglected group; pray for this partnership to spark greater zeal for ministry among them. Currently, there is no work or witness among Muslims within the Hindustani. Pray that the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding be removed and the spiritual powers preventing their evangelization be rendered helpless.
• Chinese churches are growing and actively joining other local churches and missions to plant more churches among Chinese in the region. CMA and the Moravians are involved in this outreach to the Chinese, who come mostly from the southern coastal provinces of China.