AFWIS Joins Operation World in Prayer for the Union of Myanmar - Asia

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

Home > Sep 10: Myanmar

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Sep 10: Myanmar

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Myanmar

Union of Myanmar

Asia

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Geography

Area: 676,577 sq km
Basin and delta of the Irrawaddy River ringed by a horseshoe of high mountains that isolates the country from India, China and Thailand.
Population: 50,495,672    Annual Growth: 0.87%
Capital: Naypyidaw
Urbanites: 33.9%
HDI Rank: 138 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 142 (36% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: Burmese    Languages: 116 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Buddhist

Religion		Pop %	Ann Gr
Christians	4,534,511	8.98	2.7
Evangelicals	2,517,184	5.0	2.5
Buddhist	40,416,736	80.04

Prayercast

Challenges for Prayer

The least evangelized peoples. There are still many millions of unreached, and the need for bold but sensitive outreach and church planting persists. There is a young but encouraging movement to Christ that expresses the gospel in a framework sensible to Buddhists. It began among the Rakhine and moved to Burmese and Karen Buddhists. Pray for:
a) The Bama (Burmese) peoples, staunchly Buddhist (only 0.1% Christian). It is not easy for tribal believers to witness to them due to years of mistrust; nor is it easy for the politically dominant Bama to receive the gospel from them without prejudice. Pray for conversions among this staunchly Buddhist people.
b) The Shan are related to the Thai and live in the Golden Triangle area. Despite being primarily Buddhist, they suffered much in the wars with the military regime. Only 0.9% are Christian, and few have Bibles. The new Shan Bible translation was published in 2003.
c) Other Buddhist minorities have few Christians – Arakanese/Rakhine (0.1%), the Palaung (0.2%), Mon (0.9%), Lu (0.2%), Yangbye (0.5%) and several smaller groups.
d) The dozens of animistic peoples, many of whom are proving responsive to loving outreach. Pray for the emergence of vital church planting movements among all of them.
e) The Chinese number over one million, but only about 2.5% are Christian. Long holding significant influence in Myanmar, a recent and massive influx of Chinese over the Yunnan border has caused resentment. The recent arrivals are less evangelized than Burmese-born Chinese. Mandalay is over one-third Chinese.
f) The Rohingya of Arakan, Muslim descendants of Arabs, Moors, Moghuls and Bengalis who settled in Arakan 1,000 years ago. They are one of the most neglected and unwanted peoples on earth. They are denied citizenship and face numerous restrictions in their basic rights. Many have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh or emigrated illegally to other countries. There is little outreach to them. Pray for the few scattered believers.
g) The nine Hindu peoples were long neglected. In 1928 the first church was planted among them, but they still are only around 1% Christian.
Pray for the vast number of refugees/IDPs. In Thailand alone there are over two million Burmese (mainly for economic rather than political reasons), and more in Malaysia, Singapore and Western nations. Another one million are internally displaced, mostly from Christian areas. Both within Myanmar and among the diaspora there is increasing ministry and spiritual fruit, with many Burmese churches being planted. But many remain without the gospel, uprooted and far from home.
     For an additional 10 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 Myanmar.