Answers to Prayer

1 Church growth increased in the 1990s in the midst of political and natural disasters

2 Complete freedom of religion after years of Marxist rhetoric

Challenges for Prayer

1 The Protestant Church has had a glorious history of faith despite persecution from heathen rulers and harassment from the French Catholic colonial authorities

2 Spiritual deadness rather than revival characterizes many congregations

3 Evangelical believers are predominantly found in the revival movements in the mainline churches – especially sections of the Lutheran Church, and in the Pentecostal and Baptist Churches – most of which are of indigenous origin

4 Theological training is the greatest source of weakness for the Church

5 Young people are the key for the future in the rapidly-growing population

6 Less-reached areas and peoples:

a) Over 5,000 villages and 5 million people live in the less-evangelized north and south

b) Malagasy traditionalists are in the great majority

c) Muslims are growing in numbers

d) Ethnic minorities

7 The Protestant mission force has been small, but visa restrictions are a big limitation for increasing their numbers

8 Christian support ministries – pray for eternal fruit!

a) Bibles

b) Christian radio

c) The JESUS film, in both Malagasy and French, is being widely used, but needs to be available in dialects other than Merina

Geography

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Area 587,041 sq.km. The world's 4^th largest island – 1,600 km long in the Indian Ocean 600 km off the coast of Mozambique in Africa.

Population (2000) 15,941,727 +3.01%AGR

Capital Antananarivo 1,425,000.

Peoples

Malagasy 98.6%; Other 1.4%.

Literacy 46% – in decline; functional literacy even lower. Official languages Standard Malagasy, French. All languages 6. Languages with Scriptures 2Bi 1NT 1por.

Economy

Subsistence agricultural economy, yet not producing enough rice to feed all. HDI 0.453; 147^th/174. Public debt 108% of GNP. Income/person $250 (0.8% of USA).

Politics

The highland Merina people gained control of the whole island in the 19^th Century – a fact still resented by the lowlander peoples.

Religion

There is now religious freedom, but the power of the old Malagasy folk religion remains pervasive.

Churches in Madagascar

Missionaries from Madagascar

96 in 11 agencies to 10 countries

Missionaries to Madagascar

222 in 33 agencies from 15 countries

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