Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)
Nov 05: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Asia
See Prayer Information
Geography
Area: 65,610 sq kmLarge island 80 km southeast of India.
Population: 20,409,946 Annual Growth: 0.88%
Capital: Colombo
Urbanites: 15.1%
HDI Rank: 102 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Peoples: 76 (84% unreached) All peoplesUnreached Peoples Prayer Card
Official language: Sinhala and Tamil, with English as the link language Languages: 7 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Buddhist| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 1,710,353 | 8.38 | 0.8 |
| Evangelicals | 242,965 | 1.2 | 2.3 |
| Buddhist | 14,291,044 | 70.02 |
Answer to Prayer
Evangelical growth continues to be strong. From 0.2% of the population in 1960, evangelicals were 1.2% in 2010 – a 13-fold population increase! That largely indigenous workers drive such growth makes it remarkable; that growth comes amid upheaval, civil war and militant opposition makes it worthy of thanks to God.For an additional 3 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
Challenge for Prayer
The growth of evangelicals is both quantitative and qualitative, but it has a long way to go before maturity and fullness. Numbers continue to surge upward, and Sri Lanka sees the emergence of maturing, faith-filled congregations. This relatively small Christian community produces an impressive number of top-quality, global Christian leaders, thinkers and writers. Pray also for:a) Increased unity. The Church as a whole is divided – between Tamil and Sinhalese, between Catholic and Protestant, between mainline and evangelical, even between older Pentecostal and newer neo-Pentecostal. These divisions offer a poor testimony, give ammunition for opponents of Christianity and hinder progress in evangelization. Pray for the vital work of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance, the National Christian Council and the National Christian Fellowship of Sri Lanka, the last of which is the network for many of the Sri Lankan indigenous denominations. There are also a significant number of regional pastoral fellowships. Relying on foreign denominational structures and finance can also cause divisions.
b) The potential of the Church as a channel for reconciliation. Ultimately, no other national structure can meaningfully bring together the bitterly divided ethnic communities with their various castes and political expressions except a flourishing biblical Christianity. Pray that the universal love of God and authority of Christ might catalyze both Church and Sri Lankan society toward reconciliation.
c) Theological education, an area where evangelicals make a notable contribution. Lanka Bible College (LBC), Colombo Theological Seminary (CTS) and Assemblies of God Bible College, as well as Bible schools of Foursquare, GFA, Baldaeus Theological College and others train Christian leaders and ministers. LBC runs a degree programme to train teachers of Christianity in schools. A number of agencies run extension and TEE courses. Pray that the education received might equip students to capably minister with spiritual power, biblical truth and a critical ability to understand and address the cultural contexts of both the Church and the prevalent Buddhist mindset.
For an additional 10 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
