Egypt

Challenges for Prayer

For over 1,000 years, Egypt was a majority-Christian country, even after the Arab Muslim conquest in AD 640. Egypt gave to the Christian world some of its greatest theologians and the monastic movement. Egyptian Christians may be more clearly linked to the original Egyptian civilization that pre-dates the coming of Islam. Some efforts have been made to minimize Egypt’s great Christian heritage, to downplay the size of the Church and to marginalize its contribution to society. But the Church survives. Pray for recognition of its history and role within Egypt and for an even greater role in the future.

Christian media is the most potent means of witness to the majority of Egyptians.Pray for:

a) Scripture distribution, which has increased in the last 10 years. The Bible Society’s effective marketing every year at the Cairo International Bookfair sees great success, with video and audio cassettes being especially popular. Special distribution for youth and children is very fruitful. The Society regularly comes up with creative ways to get Scripture into the hands of Egyptians and continues to enjoy high visibility.

b) Widely distributed Christian literature. There are over 30 Christian bookstores. The need is for more local Christian authors to write evangelistic and teaching materials. Pray also for production of evangelistic tools to be used by Christians in approaching their neighbours, which will help to break down Islamic misconceptions about the gospel.

c) The JESUS film in Arabic is widely seen on DVD and satellite TV. Pray for its wider distribution and availability.

d) Satellite TV. SAT-7 broadcasts 24/7, beaming high-quality Arabic programmes on both its adult and children’s channels. A large, loyal audience is building among Christians and non-Christians. Over the years, another seven stations have joined the effort, and many of them are very effective, such as Al Hayat, The Miracle Channel and two Coptic channels (Aghapy and Coptic TV).

e) Christian radio. This is a potent tool. Pray for the various Arabic-language studios where programmes are prepared, and for Christian broadcasters and listeners. There are over 40 hours of shortwave programming weekly by FEBA, HCJB, TWR (also using medium wave), IBRA, the AWR and others, as well as Internet and digital radio.

f) The Internet is an extremely effective means of impacting Egyptians. Several high-profile Coptic apologists (such as Father Zakaria) and former Muslims with websites are causing many to turn to Christ with their powerful testimonies and arguments for the gospel.

     For an additional 11 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.