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This is an Intercessor & World Report
message, and is intended solely for use by A/G churches. It should
not be redistributed in fax or electronic form.
Now Available • If you did not receive the free DVD prepared by AGWM for the World Prayer Meeting, please contact us. We will be glad to send you one. Our phone number is 417-862-3420.
Prayer Requests Physical Needs • Mechthild Clark, wife of Paul (Germany), broke her arm in a fall last Saturday. • Larry Stevens (Botswana) has two bulging discs above a fusion in his neck. His wife, Arlene, needs healing from a broken leg that is not mending properly. Ministry Need • A children’s ministries seminar will be held in Thailand May 28–30, hosted by missionary Carol Feigleson. Pray that God will anoint the speakers and that many people will be challenged to minister to children. Country Needs • Pray for believers as they minister to victims of Monday’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck just north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu in central Northern Asia. The present death toll of 12,000 is expected to rise as debris is cleared. All our personnel in Northern Asia are fine. • Pray for AGWM personnel and national believers as they minister to victims of last week’s cyclone in Myanmar. Family Need • Pray that God will protect and bless MKs serving in the U.S. military. Several are in war zones. Pray also that they will be strong witnesses for Christ.
Forgiveness Rallies Spark Healing KENYAWhile the nation’s authorities relocate people left homeless after January’s uprisings, 300 pastors and church leaders from several denominations, including the AG, have initiated “forgiveness” rallies. Six events, held in the conflict’s “hotspots” of Mombasa, Nairobi, Naivasha, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu, marked the beginning of the reconciliation process. Each rally included a meeting with local pastors and a prayer service open to the public. Leaders focused on five areas they believed had defiled the nation: immorality, spilling of innocent blood, breaking of covenants in the political arena and in families, neglect of the poor, and consulting witch doctors. Pastors from several tribes participated in public confession and sought forgiveness from one another. Peter Njiri, Kenya AG general superintendent, helped organize the events and attended each rally. He believes they are the beginning of a nationwide revival. “Thousands of people came together to seek God and ask for forgiveness,” says missionary Bill Kuert, who participated in two rallies. “The meetings were powerful, and as a result, a great healing has started across the nation. The Spirit of God was so very real and present.” Intertribal violence erupted in January after late December national elections. About 1,500 people died and 600,000 were left homeless. As many as 350 churches were burned.
Missions News FIJIThe national Assemblies of God credentialed 150 ministers in their August 2007 General Council. The Fellowship also commissioned seven missionary couples who sense God’s call to minister on other islands of the Pacific. SAMOA SENSITIVE COUNTRY
Facts That Influence Missions 1. About 150 years ago, a people group in Nagaland, a state in east India, were headhunters. Now more than 95 percent have accepted Christ as their Savior. 2. About 700 million people are 19 years old and under. • SOUTH AFRICA: 1. Of the 39.5 million people living with AIDS, 5.5 million live in South Africa. 2. 3.1 million women are infected with AIDS. 3. 1.2 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. 4. In 1990 only 0.8 percent of the nation was HIV-positive. Today, that figure is nearly 30 percent 5. 1,000 people die each day of AIDS. 6. Several elementary schools in Cape Town report that 90 percent of their students use drugs. 7. Nearly 1,000 people die each day from AIDS. 8. The nation has 11 official languages. • GUATEMALA: 1. After 36 years of civil war and a neglected educational system, the nation has one of the lowest literacy rates in the Western Hemisphere. In some areas, nearly three out of four adults cannot read or write. 2. Childhood blindness from vitamin A deficiency is a major health concern. 3. More than 90 percent of schools lack textbooks and basic library books. 4. Fewer than 5 percent of children have used a computer. 5. Fewer than 5 percent of children have used a computer. 6. Diseases from contaminated water account for 25 percent of all childhood deaths in the nation. • FRANCE: 1. Less than two-thirds of 1 percent of the people are evangelical believers, and evangelical churches are considered cults. 2. Less than 1 percent of the 12 million people living in Paris claim to be evangelical Christians. • ENGLAND: 1. A January 17, 2008, article in the nation’s Evening Standard reported that hundreds of foreign children arrive each week unable to speak English. In London alone, four out of 10 primary-age children speak a language other than English at home. According to the reporter, non-native speakers in secondary schools rose from 33.5 percent to 35.3 percent in 2006. • MONGOLIA: 1. About 1 percent of the population are Christians. • TONGA: 1. The national AG fellowship has 37 churches within the nation, but 57 Tongan AG churches are scattered throughout Australia, New Zealand and the United States. More Tongans live outside their country than within it. • PAKISTAN: 1. Nearly 90 percent of drug users are suffering from hepatitis; 21 percent have tuberculosis, and 37 percent are HIV-positive. 2. This nation has the world’s highest ratio of drug addiction — nearly 8 million in a population of 160 million. Of these, 1.5 million are women. • PANAMA: 1. The government declared September as the “Month of the Bible.” • ARGENTINA: 1. The School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, estimates that 500,000 girls under age 16 are involved in prostitution in the nation’s northeast states. 2. An April 7 national newspaper announced that in recent days the price of basic food has risen 144 percent. 3. Buenos Aires is one of the top 10 destinations for child sex tourism. • BRAZIL: 1. A report from the nation’s Institute for Geography and Statistics showed that the average worker’s monthly salary jumped from $450 to $483 last year. The percentage of child laborers fell, but 11.5 percent of children from 5 to 17 years old still work to help support their families, and 40.2 percent of all children are considered poor. • ZAMBIA: 1. One-third of the nation’s 12 million people are infected with the HIV virus. • MADAGASCAR: 1. The cost of electricity has increased by 200 percent in the past four years. Gasoline is more than $4 a gallon. 2. Only 40 percent of the population has access to clean water. • PARAGUAY: 1. Nearly half of the nation’s 6.3 million people are under the age of 21. 2. Many children spend their days playing on the streets or begging as their parents sell bananas, newspapers or gum at busy intersections. • SPAIN: 1. In 2006 the nation reported the fastest growth of immigrants in Western Europe. 2. Of the nation’s 8,022 towns and cities, only 572 have an evangelical witness. 3. More than 20,000 people came from Northern Asia to live in Madrid last year. Another 20,000 moved to the city from North Africa. • BELGIUM: 1. 27 percent of Belgians say they do not believe in any god. 2. Only 40 percent of Belgians believe in life after death, but 83 percent have religious funerals. 3. Only 43 percent believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 4. Only 11 percent attend church weekly; 45 percent attended weekly in 1964.
• In a village on the border of two Central Eurasian nations, 70 percent of the women are in prison for selling and/or using drugs. Heroin is easier and cheaper to access than alcohol. • 26 percent of the world’s population has never heard the gospel. • 78 percent of the world’s 700 million Pentecostals live on less than $2 per day. • In a sensitive country, 95 percent of new believers say Christian media played an important part in their decision to turn to Christ. • About 28 percent of the Uzbekistan population lives in poverty. • 85 percent of believers found Christ between the ages of 3 and 14. • More than 80 percent of the world’s supply of cocaine is grown, processed, or transported through the nation of Colombia. • SOUTHEAST ASIA:1. More than 15 million children work as bonded child laborers, and nearly 500,000 children are forced into prostitution. 2. More than 41 percent of the world’s 6,697 least-reached people groups can be found here. 3. More than 18 million children are homeless and live on the streets. 4. Nearly 2 million children never live to see their first birthday. 5. More than 500,000 children are forced into prostitution. 6. More than 100 million children between ages 6 and 14 are outside the school system and are highly likely to be child laborers. 7. A national newspaper reports that a city in the region has more than 900 child prostitutes. 8. More than 125,000 children sleep on the streets of a major city. 9. Nearly 80 percent of the population does not have safe drinking water. 10. Of the area’s more than 2,500 people groups, 89 percent are unreached by the gospel.
• LAOS: • PHILIPPINES: • Most experts suggest that about 200 million Christians are suffering persecution for their faith. Another 200 million to 400 million face discrimination in some form simply for being a Christian. • According to the United Nations Development Program, every 18 seconds a child dies from inadequate drinking water. • The Indonesian government recently declared that churches with fewer than 90 adult attendees must be closed. • Less than 1 percent of the Bangladesh population professes Christianity. • Every day at least 327 people die from AIDS in the Latin America/Caribbean region. • More than 11 million people in the five drought-stricken countries are on the edge of starvation in East Africa. • About 40 percent of people in South Africa, between 12 and 36 years of age, are HIV-positive. • Because of a 15-year emphasis on abstinence and faithfulness, the rate of HIV infection among the population of Uganda has decreased from 15 percent to 5 percent. • Only about 2 percent of church members in the northern part of Germany attend services regularly. • More than half the world’s 6.7 billion people live in poverty. Nearly 1 billion live on less than $1 per day. • According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Colombia has an estimated 3 million displaced persons, the second highest number in the world. Sudan is first. • AFRICA: • ANGOLA: • SWAZILAND: • EUROPE: 1. About 77 percent of East Germans and 22 percent of West Germans say there is no God. 2. Only 52 percent of Germans believe religious organizations are a positive force in the world. 3. Only 43 percent of Germans acknowledge that religion helps to determine what is right or wrong. 4. In 2006 more than 10,000 babies were aborted in Berlin. 5. 25 percent of pregnancies in Berlin are aborted. 6. More than 80 percent of people in some areas of Dresden profess to be atheists. 7. A missionary reports that a purchase of 12 gallons of gasoline for his Speed the Light vehicle costs $90. 8. A survey conducted in 2005 found that only 50 percent of Germans believe there is a God, yet 66 percent claim to be nominal followers of traditional Christian churches. • RUSSIA: Researchers report... • The ARABIC LANGUAGE is: • Ethiopia: • BURUNDI: • GHANA: The average annual per capita income is $600. • TURKEY: Once a hub for Christianity, this nation of 72 million has only 4,000 known believers and is the world’s largest unreached nation. • REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA: Since November, the dollar’s value has decreased 30 percent and prices for most items, including food, has increased 40 percent. • EURASIA: Regional Director Jerry Parsley says that 2,654 unreached people groups in the region have never said “no” to an altar call because they have never heard the gospel. • HAITI: • BANGLADESH: Only 8 percent of the population had access to a television in 1995. Now 65 percent of people 15 and older watch television at least once a week, and 41 percent have a television in their home. • NORTHERN ASIA: • PARAGUAY: • CAMBODIA: • The prevalence of tuberculosis throughout the world has declined by 20 percent in the past 15 years. But the number of new cases in Africa has quadrupled during the same time period. • Nearly 3,000 baby girls die daily from female infanticide in southeast Asia. • About 25,000 brides are burned annually as victims of dowry deaths in southeast Asia. • Some 1,200 people die every day from the lingering effects of war in Africa. • Twenty percent of African children die before reaching 5 years of age. • Dutch sociologist Nan Kirk de Graaf, who studies faith and belief, reports that 21st century Europe has “one of the least religious populations in the world.” • About 15,000 homeless and unsupervised children live in abandoned buildings, on the streets and in underground city utility tunnels of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. • More than 75 percent of Moroccan Arabic speakers are functionally illiterate, meaning they cannot even write their own name. • The International Federation of Red Cross reports that an estimated 300 million to 500 million cases of malaria each year cause 1.5 million to 2.7 million deaths. More than 90 percent of the deaths are children under age 5 living in Africa. • Violent crime is increasing in Guatemala. This small country of 12 million, on average, has 15 murders occur daily. A recent news article stated that more than 3,000 women were murdered last year – mostly by gangs. • More than 800,000 K’ekchi’ Indians, descendants of the ancient Mayan Empire, live in Guatemala’s tropical jungles. Missionaries James and Delrae Wiseman say that only about one-fourth of them live in towns and villages along an accessible road. The rest live in remote areas in small villages as many as 11 hours from the nearest road. • In recent days, within the naton of Chile, the dollar has lost 20 percent of its value. • Total Internet users around the world - 409,421,115 • These 10 cities have the highest cost of living in the world, according to a survey conducted by the London-based Economist Intelligence: • The ambition of many fathers in much of Africa is for their family to eat one meal each day. As soon as a meal is finished, the quest begins to provide something for the next day. • About 20 percent of children in Africa die before reaching 5 years of age. • Nearly 3,000 people die from AIDS each week in Zimbabwe, Africa; 25 percent of the population is HIV-positive. • Less than 1 percent of Thailand’s population is Christian. • North Korea has 70 bronze statues (including one valued at $800 million), 40,000 plaster figures, 250 monuments, 350 memorial halls and 3,500 towers of eternal life — all honoring former leader Kim II Sung. • Nearly 34,000 Japanese businessmen commit suicide each year because of business losses. Until recently, these self-sufficient, self-reliant and indifferent men were the hardest segment of society to reach with the gospel. Now after 14 years of recession and the loss of jobs, retirement benefits and lifetime employment, many are listening to the message of Christ and the hope He brings. • More than 32,000 Japanese commit suicide each year. • Although the first missionaries arrived in Japan in 1549, believers comprise less than 1 percent of the population. • The average life expectancy for a Russian woman is 72 years, but life expectancy for Russian men has dropped to 58 years. • The crowded conditions of Bangladesh can be compared to half the entire U.S. population living in the state of Iowa. • Less than 3 percent of Europe’s population claims to be born-again believers. • About 80,000 abortions take place each year in Spain. • Teen Challenge of Serbia has a list of more than 100 drug addicts waiting to enter the program. • Most Peruvian pastors do not have a study Bible, commentaries or a Bible dictionary to help them prepare messages and Bible studies. • Jamaica has the third-highest murder rate in the world — one murder every six minutes. • Nearly 75 percent of the population in the central jungle area of Ucayali, Peru, is unemployed. • In Russia, an opinion poll of 1,600 people living in 46 regions reports that 58 percent say they believe in God. However, 88 percent don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. • An article in a leading U.S. newspaper states that alcohol plays a role in nearly a third of Russian deaths. Alcohol poisoning kills an estimated 40,000 Russians each year. • Every major religion except Islam is declining in Western Europe, according to the Center for the Study on Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. The drop is most evident in France, Sweden and the Netherlands, where church attendance is less than 10 percent in some areas. —From “Religion Takes a Back Seat in Western Europe” by Noelle Knox, USA Today. • Arabic is the official language of more than 1 billion people in 22 countries and one of the world’s top 10 languages. • Mexico City has about 4,000 barrios. Only 1,000 of them have an evangelical church. • More than half of Ukraine’s Pentecostal pastors have had no formal pastoral training. • Tibetan Buddhists carry a prayer wheel because they are physically unable to pray as often as they are required. • The United Nations labels a nation in crisis when HIV infections reach 1 percent. Nearly 7 percent of Jamaica’s population is HIV-positive. • It costs approximately $140 to fill a tank with gas in Rwanda. • More than 1 million children of all ages live on the streets of Russia and never attend school. • Nearly 7,000 children are on Latin America ChildCare’s waiting list for sponsorship. • 4.4 billion people have not had an adequate witness of the gospel.
Statistics Concerning Children in Africa
• Approximately 17 percent of Africa’s labor force is children. • Nearly 25 percent of Africa’s children between the ages of 10 and 14 are involved in labor. • About 80 percent of the world’s children under the age of 15 who are living with HIV are from Africa. • More than half of the continent’s estimated 15 million refugees and internally displaced people are children. Only about 30 percent of them receive any type of education in refugee camps.
AGWM Stats 2002 – Churches/Preaching Points: 222,471 2002 – Members/Adherents: 38,244,082 2003 – Churches/Preaching Points: 238,734 2003 – Members/Adherents: 40,246,064 2004 – Churches/Preaching Points: 268,486 2004 – Members/Adherents: 52,534,858 2005 – Churches/Preaching Points: 280,481 2005 – Members/Adherents: 54,717,677 2006 – Churches/Preaching Points: 295,724 2006 – Members/Adherents: 57,023,562
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