AFWIS Joins Operation World in Prayer for the Federative Republic of Brazil - Latin America

Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)

Home > Mar 16: Brazil

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Mar 16: Brazil

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Brazil

Federative Republic of Brazil

Latin America

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Geography

Area: 8,511,965 sq km
One-half of the land surface and population of South America. The world’s fifth largest country in both area and population.
Population: 195,423,252    Annual Growth: 0.99%
Capital: Brasilia
Urbanites: 86.5%
HDI Rank: 75 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 315 (18% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: Portuguese    Languages: 193 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Christian

Religion		Pop %	Ann Gr
Christians	178,616,852	91.40	1.1
Evangelicals	51,334,091	26.3	1.7

Prayercast

Answer to Prayer

Prayer movements and meetings are a strength of Brazilian Christianity. Huge gatherings, sustained intercession networks (such as the women’s prayer network in Goiania, which brought about much change there) and the spiritually oriented Brazilian mentality combine to make this a nation with many prayer warriors.
     For an additional 3 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.

Challenge for Prayer

The nation and government have made great strides but still face massive challenges. Pray about the following:
a) Endemic corruption and cronyism have been addressed aggressively, and idolatrous structures are crumbling. These have come at some cost, but they are moves in the right direction, bringing political accountability and economic transparency, establishing justice and enabling economic opportunity. Pray that future governments would not shirk from the painful but necessary process of excising all that is putrid and corrupt.
b) Poverty still affects tens of millions. Admirable reforms and progress are being achieved, but a significant proportion of dwellers in large cities still live in poverty-stricken, crime-ridden favelas, and the education and health care sectors are in serious need of improvement. The poor, especially street children and indigenous peoples, often suffer terrible discrimination and exploitation. Debt slavery affects up to 250,000 people (the official number is 25,000), especially in the Amazon.
c) Crime is a serious problem. Brazil is the world’s second-highest consumer of illicit drugs and has the world’s highest rate of firearm homicides. Nearly 150 people a day were murdered in Brazil in the years between 2000 and 2010. The police response has been brutally heavy-handed and rife with corruption, and the nation’s prisons are notoriously overcrowded and violent. Unprecedented breakthrough, spiritual and social, is needed to turn this around.
d) Racial differences may not seem an issue in the ethnic melting pot of Brazil, but statistics bear out a different view of Brazil’s complex racial context. While blacks/morenos are 40% of the population, they only account for 3% of college graduates and form the majority of Brazil’s poor. Although nearly half have African ancestry, less than 7% openly claim it on the census. This is, however, more a case of social rather than racial discrimination.
     For an additional 11 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 Brazil.