Please pray for Sri Lanka
Geography
Area: 65,610 sq km
Large island 80 km southeast of India.
Population: 20,409,946 Annual Growth: 0.88%
Capital: Colombo
Urbanites: 15.1%
HDI Rank: 102 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Peoples: 76 (84% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card
Official language: Sinhala and Tamil, with English as the link language Languages: 7 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Buddhist
| Religion | Pop % | Annual Growth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 1,710,353 | 8.38 | 0.8 |
| Evangelicals | 242,965 | 1.2 | 2.3 |
| Buddhist | 14,291,044 | 70.02 |
Answer to Prayer
The anti-conversion bill was not brought to pass, not so much defeated as deferred. Its implementation would bring difficulties for a number of minorities, but especially for evangelicals seeking to share the good news. Praise God that it has not yet become reality; pray that it may never become so.
Challenge for Prayer
Tolerance and non-violence have historically been watchwords of Sri Lanka. For centuries, it was a Buddhist kingdom that welcomed refugees from India fleeing persecution – Hindus, Muslims and Christians. However, this multi-religious, multi-ethnic country now sees religious extremism and persecution rising.
Pray for:
- The disarming of the spiritual powers and principalities that heavily influence a very religious society. Beneath the layers of Buddhism and Hinduism lie an ancient cocktail of spirits, gods and demons.
- The exposure of Buddhist extremism as a hateful aberration. This has taken shape as a very ethnocentric Sinhalese response to Tamil intransigence and to waves of Christian “proselytism”. But it has also been used to polarize society, to unduly influence politics and the military, and to marginalize and suppress ethnic and religious minorities. Pray that such extremism might create disillusionment and generate interest in the gospel.
Adapted from Operation World
