Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Missions Wednesday: Algeria

Algeria is a country that has faced tremendous heartache from colonial exploitation by the French to various wars. This suffering has left an imprint on the lives of many Algerians. Algeria is a predominantly Muslim country (97.29%) located in North Africa, next to Morocco. Eighty percent of Algeria is desert and there are 41 different people groups. Eighty five percent of these groups are unreached.

The Church in Algeria has grown, and some believe that the number of Christians in Algeria exceeds 100,000. If this is true, that would be a tremendous encouragement. This growth is largely due to Algerian Christians commitment to move into unreached areas in order to spread the Gospel.

Ways to pray:
  1. Pray for the unreached. The majority of the unreached peoples in Algeria have yet to hear the name of Christ. Pray that Algerian Christians and foreign missionaries would continue to work to bring the Gospel to those who have never heard.
  2. Pray for Algerian Christians. Persecution of non-Muslims is a reality in Algeria. Pray that they would stay faithful amidst persecution and that Christ would be glorified in their life.
  3. Pray for the government of Algeria. There have been significant human rights abuses at the hands of terrorist groups and state security forces. Pray that they would execute justice rightly and that they would protect the people of Algeria.

2 comments:

Andrea said...

Hey! I'm sorry I don't comment much, but I do love to read your blog. You offer much encouragement in the way you cling to biblical truths throughout painful circumstances. I wanted to ask you if you are getting this information for Missions Wednesday from the book "Operation World"? We're reading through it with the children, and we love it. I'll admit it's a little difficult to summarize for a 5, 3, and 2 year old, but I think we'll get the hang of it. The book is very well done. Just curious. Algeria is actually our next country to cover!

Courtney Reissig said...

Whocanfind,

Thank you for reading and commenting! :)

I do use Operation World. I use the online version, which they just updated and it is really user-friendly now. http://www.operationworld.org/

I have heard there is an Operation World kids version, but I have yet to find it. Sometimes I try and include a missions focus for our children's church at church (so they can be learning about the same country as our adults), but I haven't really been consistent with that! Praise God that you are giving them a view of God's heart for the nations at such an early age!