Answers to Prayer

1 The peaceful ending of apartheid in South Africa and transition to multi-racial democratic government was considered impossible

2 In the 20th Century, Christianity became the religion of the majority in sub-Saharan Africa

3 The growth of Evangelicals has been even more spectacular

4 Remarkable revival movements have blessed the Church — in East Africa in the 1940s — '60s, and more recently in Ethiopia which resulted in massive church growth

5 The work of evangelical missions has been blessed by God with much fruit

6 A new sense of strongly evangelical Third Wave Pentecostal denominations have emerged over the past 30 years

7 Countries which experienced exceptional evangelical growth during the 1990s

8 The impact of the gospel on the educated

9 A vision for saturation church planting has grown

10 Mission vision. This has grown, and the number of African missionaries and agencies is steadily increasing

Geography

Area 30,212,000 sq.km; 22.3% of the surface area of the world's 238 countries.

Population (2000) 784,315,000 +2.41%AGR

Peoples

African 77.9%; Arab 17.3%; Imazighen (Berber) 2.6%; European 1.1%; Mixed race 0.7%; Asian 0.4%.

Languages 2,110; 30.5% of the world's total. Official languages Arabic in North Africa (7 countries). Elsewhere French (22), English (21), Portuguese (4), Spanish (1). The increasing use of European languages in education is at the expense of local languages. In only 6 nations is an African language officially used as the main means of conducting the nation's business.

Bible translation Africa is the greatest remaining challenge for Bible translation with existing openings for missionary translators. Languages with Scriptures 130Bi 237NT 250por. There is work in progress in 373 and a definite need for translators in 297 more. This latter number could rise to 1,290 after careful field research.

Economy

Africa's economy has stagnated for 40 years; many countries have become poorer, a few have made progress. HDI is a measure of the quality of life of 174 nations. Of the bottom 40 in this list, 33 are in Africa. Income/person $660 (2% of USA). Only 1.7% of the world's GNP is generated in Africa.

Politics

Black Africa's isolation from the rest of the world ended in the 'Scramble for Africa' by the European colonial powers in the 19^th Century.

Religion

Religious freedom has increased over much of Africa during the 1990s, but persecution of Christians by Muslims has also increased in Egypt, Sudan, northern Nigeria and the Comores.

Missionaries from Africa

12,442 in 620 agencies with 3,126 in other lands.

Missionaries to Africa

17,737 expatriates in 620 agencies.

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