AFWIS Joins with OW in prayer for The Republic of The Gambia, Africa

The Gambia

The Republic of The Gambia

Africa

See Prayer Information

Geography

Area: 10,689 sq km
A narrow, 400-km-long riverine enclave that virtually divides Senegal’s Casamance from the rest of the country.
Population: 1,750,732    Annual Growth: 2.78%
Capital: Banjul
Urbanites: 58.1%
HDI Rank: 168 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 32 (44% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: English    Languages: 23 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Muslim

Religion		Pop %	Ann Gr
Christians	78,433	4.48	3.6
Evangelicals	13,351	0.8	8.9
Muslim	1,566,730	89.49

Answer to Prayer

The degree of religious freedom and relatively amicable relationshipsbetween Islam and Christianity in the Gambia are noteworthy. There is greater openness than in most Muslim countries, although much of the freedom may be from a lack of ambition by the Gambian Church to do more direct outreach to Muslims. Even so, pray that the relative harmony and freedom in the religious sphere might enable the good news to impact this nation to a much greater degree.

Challenge for Prayer

Missionary work was pioneered by Anglicans and Methodists and mostly confined to the Aku (Creole-speaking descendants of freed slaves in Banjul). Nominalism is a challenge in most denominations, although the ministries of the above and of the Mennonites have had a valuable impact in development, education and medical work, especially among the Jola and Manjako. Many newer ministries from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and Cameroon have recently started. These have greatly added to the harvest force and the vitality of church and mission efforts. In all cases, the nominal Christian population receives much more spiritual attention than the unreached Muslim majority. Pray for effective ministry of expatriate Christian groups in demonstrating the good news. Pray also for nominal Christians to discover a genuine life in Jesus.
     For an additional 5 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 The Gambia.