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GEOGRAPHY

Area 21 sq.km. A single coral island once covered with phosphate from fossilized bird droppings 300 km west of Banaba, Kiribati.

Capital Yaren, 560.

PEOPLES

Micronesian 78%. Nauruan 6,000, I-Kiribati 2,000.

Other 22%. Chinese 900; Caucasian 800; Tuvaluan 900.

Literacy 93%. Official languages Nauruan, English. All languages 3. Languages with Scriptures 2Bi.

ECONOMY

Considerable wealth from mining phosphate, but this has left 80% of the island unusable and reserves of the chemical are now exhausted. The invested profits provide much of the country's income. Now an important offshore banking centre. Income/person $10,000 (35% of USA).

POLITICS

German rule 1888-1914. UN trusteeship administered by Australia and Britain until independence in 1968. Nauruans resisted invitations for resettlement elsewhere in 1964. Nauru became a member of the UN in 1999.

RELIGION

Freedom of religion.

Challenges for Prayer

1 Offshore banking on the internet is now a major source of income. This is a euphemism for money laundering for Russian crime syndicates – the sums processed are estimated at more than $US 65 billion. Pray for both the Nauruan and international authorities to courageously tackle this evil that enriches a few criminals and impoverishes millions, bankrupting countries.

2 The wealth of Nauruans contrasts markedly with the relative poverty of surrounding island states. Materialism has sapped the people of spiritual concern. Church life is at a low ebb. There are few evangelical believers. This isolated island paradise of materialism, where everything has been free, may end with the exhaustion of the phosphate deposits. There is low life-expectancy because fresh food cannot be grown locally. Pray that these realities may cause a turning to God.

3 The only clearly evangelical witness is through the small but growing Pentecostal Nauru Independent Church. The JESUS film has been seen by almost the whole population.

4 The workers attracted to Nauru by phosphate mining have the instability of impermanence – many live in temporary accommodation and their exploitation is becoming a concern to surrounding Pacific states. Little is being done to evangelize them.

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