Answers to Prayer

1 A well-known national evangelical leader was used of God in 1998 to broker a significant reconciliation meeting after a generation of instability, coups and violence

2 Many local churches and some denominations experienced considerable growth in the 1990s

Challenges for Prayer

1 Widespread evangelism since the 1960s has yielded a massive response

a) Evangelical nominalism and a syncretistic world-view is fairly common, and there is little depth of commitment

b) Divisions in the Church have hindered cooperative efforts

2 The unity of the Church is a fundamental need

a) The AEC (Alliance Evangélique Centrafricaine) and others that they might work effectively for a unified, God-glorifying witness in the country

b) Cooperative research of the harvest force and harvest field in the CAR

3 Training and ministry modelling for leadership is a great need

a) The dozen or more Bible schools – all are limited by lack of staff, students, funds and resources

b) The Bangui Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (BEST) opened in 1977

c) TEE is important in this large, underpopulated land, but much work must be done

d) Missions vision needs to increase, though some are gaining a vision for the Pygmies and Fulbe

4 Young people and children

a) The impact of CEF and SU on children's ministry

b) Secondary students

5 Bible translation. Only 4 indigenous languages have the whole Bible

6 The less reached

a) The northern lobe is difficult to access and largely Muslim

b) The Muslims have increased through immigration (Mbororo Fulbe, Arabs, Sudanese, Chadians) and increasingly by conversions

c) The forest areas

d) Sara peoples along the Chad border have lower percentages of Christians

7 Mission agencies have played an important role in education and health as well as in planting churches, translating the Scriptures, etc

8 Christian media and help ministries:

a) Christian radio – pray for the removal of all obstacles to setting up an effective evangelical radio station

b) EHC launched a nation-wide distribution of literature – some for illiterates – in every home in 1995

c) The JESUS film has been widely shown in French, Sango, Gbaya and Zande, and is in production in other languages

d) MAF has two planes for serving the churches and missions in this large country

e) GRN has recordings available in 17 languages, but this number could be increased

Geography

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Area 622,436 sq.km. A landlocked state in Africa's geographical centre.

Population (2000) 3,615,266 +1.92%AGR

Capital Bangui 687,104.

Peoples

Adamawa-Ubangi 79.2%; Sudanic 8%; West Atlantic 6.5%; Bantu 3.2%; Semitic 1.8%; Pygmy 0.8%; Other 0.5%.

Literacy 33%. Official languages French and Sango (trade language used by 90% of the population). All languages 69. Languages with Scriptures 4Bi 1NT 5por 8w.i.p.

Economy

Underdeveloped. HDI 0.378; 165^th/174. Public debt 76% of GNP. Income/person $310 (1.1% of USA).

Politics

Formerly part of French Equatorial Africa.

Religion

Freedom of religion.

Churches in Central African Republic

Missionaries from Central African Republic

49 in 6 agencies, most in CAR.

Missionaries to Central African Republic

192 in 29 agencies from 18 countries

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