| Pray for Srilanka |
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Sri Lanka is a large Island off the South East coast of
India. |
Sri Lanka gained independence over 50 years ago, since
then there have been tensions between two groups: the
Sinhala majority and the minority Tamils who would like
to be independent from the rest of the island. In 1983 a
bitter civil war broke out which has killed 60,000
people. Despite military intervention from India the
violence and instability continued. In 2002 a fragile
ceasefire was agreed but the northern part of Sri Lanka
is still largely hostile to the rest of the country and
to foreigners. This has made the Tamil area of Sri Lanka
inaccessible to both the gospel and aid.
The northern area was also the part of Sri Lanka that
was hit by the full force of the 2005 Tsunami killing 31
000 and destroying coastal villages. For two decades,
children have been kidnapped or recruited into the Tiger
militia. These child soldiers suffer both mentally and
physically as a result.
The majority of Sri Lankans follow Buddhism, the state
religion. Sadly, there is a growing resentment towards
Christianity – which is seen as a colonial religion. |
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Church Growth |
The commitment of many
missionaries over the years has seen the churches in Sri
Lanka multiply. In the 1970s only 26 new churches were
planted, but by the ‘90s this number had grown to over
330.
Despite the continual warfare and military opposition to
Christianity, the number of bible-believing Christians
in Sri Lanka has grown from 50,000 to 240,000 over
twenty years. |
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Pray for... |
The affected people in
Sri Lanka that they will be enriched physically and
spiritually.
Most of the Christians live in the urban areas of the
island, yet there are 35,000 villages that have no
contact with any Christians. Pray that Sri Lankan
Christians would develop a vision to see the gospel
spread all over their nation, especially into the poorer
rural areas and urban slums.
Buddhism is religion based on non-violence and
tolerance, so the violence of Buddhist extremists
against Tamil Hindus and Christians has shattered the
illusion. Pray that in this uncertainty people would
begin to look for Jesus. |
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| "Young children are used as child-soldiers" |
"35,000 villages have no contact with any
Christians" |
"22% of the population are below the poverty
line" |
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