AFWIS joins OW in prayer for the Republic of Singapore, Asia

______________________________________

Oct 25: Singapore

Join the Prayer Movement

click map to enlarge

click map to enlarge

click graph for key

Singapore

Republic of Singapore

Asia

See Prayer Information

Geography

Area: 699 sq km
One larger and 54 smaller islands off the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia; strategically located for communications and trade. Singapore is Asia’s cleanest and greenest city.
Population: 4,836,691    Annual Growth: 2.54%
Capital: Singapore
Urbanites: 100%
HDI Rank: 23 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 51 (41% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: Mandarin (Chinese), English, Malay, Tamil Indian. English is the primary language for education    Languages: 31 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Buddhist

Religion		Pop %	Ann Gr
Christians	775,805	16.04	3.9
Evangelicals	377,398	7.8	3.2
Buddhist	1,949,186	40.30

Answer to Prayer

The responsiveness of the educated continues to be a strong trend. The perception of Christianity as a progressive belief system, coupled with the positive influence of mission schools and effective campus ministries, draw many of Singapore’s educated to the faith. Nearly one-third of English-speaking Chinese university graduates are Christian. As a result, believers have a strong impact on Singaporean society, with great potential for tentmaking missionary service.
     For an additional 3 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.

Challenge for Prayer

The increase of the Church’s size and impact brings challenges. Pray for the following concerns:
a) Coping with affluence. There is the threat that believers mistake riches for spirituality and trade discipleship for wealth management. Many young Christians become inactive once they marry and become enmeshed in the materialistic “rat race” for the “five Cs”: career, cash, car, club and condo.
b) Spiritual pride is a constant temptation for such an influential, affluent Church. The same traits of sophistication and success that draw much of cosmopolitan Singapore to Christianity could be the very things that cripple and undermine it. The poor and working classes (heartlanders) are significantly under-reached and marginalized. Pray for urgent correction to this imbalance. Pray for transformed lives inside and out – for humility, continued brokenness and greater dependence on God.
c) Fear of control and intimidation in a closely governed and multi-religious society. Legislation against overt proselytism exists, but the only force preventing effective outreach is the Church’s own unfounded fears. Pray that Christians would know how to maintain inter-religious harmony without compromising on evangelism.
     For an additional 6 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.

More Information

The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Singapore.