China, Macau

Challenges for Prayer

Macau has the dubious distinction of being the first Christian territory in Asia to become non-Christian. In 1600, 95% of Macau’s population were Catholic. By 2010, this had reduced to about 3.1%, a monumental decline. Protestant churches, while growing, have always been small. The number of Protestant churches grew from 33 in 1986 to more than 70 Chinese-speaking churches and more than 20 in other languages. Pray for believing Christians to win back this territory for the Saviour.

Less-reached minorities:

a) Casino workers are a crucial subsection of society, well paid, but isolated from the gospel. All casino dealers must be Macau natives; they number at least 50,000. Casino Workers Outreach Ministry was recently started to address this need.

b) Indonesians and Vietnamese, mostly engaged in domestic labour, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. There is little outreach specifically to them.

c) The Macanese (mixed Portuguese-Cantonese) are often Catholic, but usually very nominal. There is one evangelical church among them, but they are largely neglected by evangelical agencies and churches.

     For an additional 4 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.