May 04: Croatia
Croatia
Republic of Croatia
Europe
See Prayer Information
Geography
Area: 56,438 sq kmCrescent-shaped country between the Danube River and Adriatic Sea. The land is almost bisected by Bosnia.
Population: 4,409,659 Annual Growth: -0.15%
Capital: Zagreb
Urbanites: 57.8%
HDI Rank: 45 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Peoples: 32 (9% unreached) All peoplesUnreached Peoples Prayer Card
Official language: Croatian – closely related to Serbian but written in Latin rather than Cyrillic script Languages: 22 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Christian| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 4,055,122 | 91.96 | -0.2 |
| Evangelicals | 19,359 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
Challenges for Prayer
Evangelicals are one of the few groups that straddle the ethnic divide. Many Bosnians, Croats and Serbs have been won to Christ and brought into fellowship together. The churches’ and missions’ care and love for those who suffered in the war won much credit for the gospel. Pray that evangelicals would continue to demonstrate the boundary-breaking, universal love of God.Believing churches are spreading. Though still relatively small in size and number, new fellowships are popping up around the country, but several areas require urgent prayer:
a) Continued growth. Planting churches is high on the priority list of almost all groups working among the unreached. Baptist, Pentecostal and Independent groups partner with foreign groups (Baptists, ECM, GEM,SEND, Pioneers, UWM, AoG, others) to establish vibrant new faith communities across the nation. Pray for creative and strong local expressions of the body of Christ.
b) Unity. Cooperation and partnership across denominational lines are essential in this land with a history of division. Evangelicals recognize the power of unity and the testimony it gives, but the enemy is in opposition. Pray for God’s people to win through as they draw together.
c) Leadership. Many evangelical pastors have no formal theological education and are often bi-vocational. As new churches outgrow the number of trained leaders, training new pastors and church leaders becomes a great challenge. Pray for effective, relevant and affordable training.
d) Theological education. The Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, an international, interdenominational school, is greatly impacting much of Central and Eastern Europe. Many fruitful ministries have been birthed out of it. Pray for the continued spiritual fruitfulness and theological health of faculty, students and graduates. Baptists, Pentecostals and Church of Christ also run Bible schools.
e) Prayer movements are springing up as the recognition spreads that Croatia will be transformed only through persistent, prevailing intercession.
For an additional 4 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
