After setbacks, sleepless nights and years of sheer hard work, the 7th edition of Operation World was officially released on November 9, remembrance day of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which many consider an answer to prayer. It's affectionately called 'The Prayer Encyclopedia' for the global church. "The purpose of Operation World is to inform Christians about the rest of the world, to mobilize them for prayer and for ministry in the neediest places on earth," says author Jason Mandryk. "It's about the state of Christianity in all countries and ways in which Christians can pray." The new volume is available in paperback and cd/dvd.
"We pray that through this book the unevangelized will be evangelized, the suffering will find relief, and the church will be mobilized in fulfilling the great commission," says Mandryk. "One thing is clear: we see the church growing more rapidly than ever before. We see people groups being reached more rapidly than ever before. And we see the challenges that the churches are facing becoming globalized more and more." http://www.operationworld.org
Pete Greig, leader of global prayer movement 24-7prayer, explains in this video why he believes Operation World is a vital tool to shape our prayers. (http://www.24-7prayer.com/blog/1370 )
Personally, I find Operation World to be a wonderful prayer resource. When, because of natural disaster, political upheaval, or other reasons, a country shows up in the news, I can turn to OW and find intelligent ways to pray for that country. One year I used OW as a guide to help me pray for the entire world throughout the course of the year.
How have you used OW in the past? How will you use this new edition personally, and in your prayer ministries?
--Cynthia Bezek
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Dear Cynthia,
This Is Rev Emoit Hedwig Omukaga I have been Missionary to East, Central and Southern Africa, And By God's Grace and the Prayer Mandate I managed to Plant Church In Mogale City west Johanesburg South Africa in 2009-2010, I have had challenges of putting official issues in terms of Church in another country in order but I could not go through, Therefore when my work permit of 6 months expired because I could not raise Rand 4500 for work permit I was forced to come back to Kenya,
Right Now am still In Kenya my home Town but am really discouraged that the Church in South Africa is gone very low,Am good friend to Phil Miglioratti and we have been friends for many years since 2003.
Back at Home in Kenya am Well Known But the problem is tribalism no one wants to assist and support my Vision and Plan, Therefore I struggle A lot to put things in Order,
I had a church In Nairobi and also dynamic Prayer Movement but due to lack of small money to move myself I stopped almost all this,
While In South Africa I talked to few Friend Pastors so that we can begin Africa Prayer Coalition and we were on the way to do it then my work permit issue came on,
God Is Good, am still very low But am Praying, I have Time Bomb In Me to Bring City wide wide Transformation but the question is how can I support myself,
I have really tried to explain this point to so many Leaders all over But no Response,What am I going to Do?
Will You help Me Pioneer Africa Prayer Coalition, So this comes as Direct tool for City Reaching?
Dear Cynthia - As prayer facilitator at my church, I found Operation World to be very helpful in preparing to pray for the persecuted church. For the entire month of November, individual members will each take a nation where believers are persecuted and pray each day during the entire month for that nation. Persecuted Christians are a focus for prayer all year but more strategicly during the month of November. I prepared card handouts for 12 of the top nations where Christians are persecuted the worst - a list of the top 50 which I downloaded from the persecuted church website. Each card (51/2 x 81/2) has a map of the nation, the flag, names of the leaders/presidents of the nation and a short bio about the nation which I obtained from OW. Each card also lists the primary religious affiliation of the nation as shown in OW. On the flip side of the card I printed scripture prayer points to pray for those persecuted, scriptures to pray for their persecutors and for the leaders of that nation. We placed a copy of OW in our Prayer Center as a resource for those who enter to pray for the nations.
Ann Brock
Ann,
Thanks so much for sharing this great idea! I included this idea in the blog I wrote today about Operation World and praying for the nations. I hope your prayer initiative goes well.
Here's a link to my blog in case you're interested. http://blogs.navpress.com/cynthiabezek/My-Blog
Cynthia
Operation World
The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation, 7th edition
Jason Mandryk
WEC International and Biblica, 2010, 978 pp. ISBN 978-1-85078-862-1
Jason Mandryk has worked with Operation World since 1995 and is the co-author of the 2001 edition of Operation World. Operation World was first introduced in 1974 and it has become the recognized worldwide guide to prayer for the nations.
It is written for believing Christians and it attempts to take a central position among issues that perplex evangelicals. The researchers recognize that the accelerating rate of change in the world makes any published statistic out of date. Nevertheless, "the purpose ofOperation World is to trace the work of God through the years and decades." (xxi) "Our longing is for this book to be seen as a tool for prayer." (xxii)
This book can profitably be used not only to inform for prayer but to mobilize for ministry. [At a conference in 1988 a woman told me her son was on the mission field because in reading Operation Worldhe became interested in a country and later impressed of the Lord to serve in that country. dlm] It can be used in the home, in church, and in school. The authors suggest praying through the book according to the calendar at the bottom of the pages, keeping it near your television or computer for reference when international issues are in the news, and using it with prayer letters and mission magazines and web sites.
An explanation of statistics and abbreviations is given at the beginning (pp xxviii - xxxiii). The statistical base date is June 2010. Most statistics were compiled from data between 2005 and 2010. The textual information is valid for July 2010. (xxviii)
Each entry is divided into two sections: statistical and background information and specific items for praise and prayer. The primary headings for the statistical and background sections are Geography(Area, Population, Capitals and Other Cities, Urbanites, Population under 15 years, and Life Expectancy), Peoples (Groupings of Peoples, Languages, Literacy, etc.), Economy (HDI Rank, Public debt, Income per person), Politics, and Religion. Religion is broken down in the various major religions, and the Christian MegaBlocs (Protestant, Independent/Indigenous, Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, marginal sects, and Unaffiliated). Evangelical percentages for 1960-2010 are carefully derived and the methodology is provided in Appendix 6. These evangelical percentages are a unique contribution of Operation World.
Where possible a distinction is made between charismatics, Pentecostals, and evangelicals. Their interrelatedness is complex. "All Pentecostals are, by definition, both charismatic and evangelical and therefore a subset of both." (xxxi)
Missionary statistics are generally not included, because despite a momentous effort, too many factors have conspired to prevent meaningful data. It is no longer possible to produce reliable figures of the number of missionaries serving in a country. (xxxi) Charts and graphs showing the changes in religious groups are very helpful in understanding the rapid changes in the past 50 years.
The first section of the book is an overview of the world, as a whole and by continent. This section alone makes the book worthwhile. Some of the data and changes are astounding.
For example, in regard to the world:
Geography: The world's population nearly doubled between 1970 and 2010.
Peoples: The Joshua Project lists 16,350 distinct peoples.
Languages: The largest languages are Chinese 1.213 million, Spanish 329 million, English 328 million. (1)
Religion:
Global Trends to Watch:
Demographic:
The Unfinished Task - Religious Systems
- "The world has seen a resurgence in religious sentiment and commitment in every region and in almost every religion." (21)
- "Recently, secularism as a social construct and atheism as a belief system in the West have, in some circles, become particularly aggressive and assertive, seeking to eradicate religion from the public sphere and humiliate those of religious -- or at least Christian -- persuasion." (21)
- "Global religious dominance will be contested by three main forces -- Christianity, Islam and non-religion." (21)
- "There are 14 countries with a resident Christian population of less than 1%, and a further 23 with less than 5%." (21)
- Muslim growth in the past 100 years has been rapid - from 12.3% in 1900 to 22.9% in 2010. (22)
- It is estimated that about 10% of foreign missionaries work among Muslims, even though Muslims make up about 37% of all non-Christians in the world. (22)
- "The non-religious, or secular, bloc has shown the most massive growth in the past century, from a tiny 0.2% of the world's population in 1900, peaking in 1980, but in 2010 representing 13.6% - mainly Europeans and Chinese. (23) "Countless millions of Christians are non-religious ineverything but name. Christians have generally proven singularly ineffective in communicating the gospel to secular, postmodern culture. But secularism is very effective atundermining Christianity...." (23)
- The Indian sub-continent has the largest concentration and variety of least-reached peoples. (23)
- "The proportion of Buddhists who have come to Christ is minute...." (23)
- 6,645 of the Joshua Project List of 16,350 people groups are in the Least Reached/Unreached category - 40.6% of all peoples. The total population from unreached people sis 2.84 billion, or 41.1% of humanity.(25) [This contrasts with David Barrett's number in "World A" of 2.05 billion or 29+% (IBMR, Jan, 2011)].
We have mined all of this from the first 25 pages and have not yet begun to study the continents and the individual countries. Truly this is a magnificent compilation of most important information for everyone concerned about The Great Commission. My personal growth goal for 2011 is to read and pray through Operation World. I challenge you to this goal as well. DLM.