Today we continue to pray for Burkina Faso. Please review pages 177-180.
Did you note the explosive growth among evangelicals - from 10,000 to 1.44 million in only 50 years? I had trouble wrapping my mind around that until I looked at it this way -- the evangelical church in Burkina Faso doubled, on average, every 7 years. To put that in perspective, roughly 30% of Americans define themselves as evangelicals. At this same level of growth, every person in the US would be considered evangelical in less than 14 years! That's just an unfathomable level of growth.
Of course, as we all know from our own lives and our own churches, there is still much spiritual growth left even after believing the basics of salvation and embracing the truth of Scripture. 1.44 million believers only equates to less than 10% of the overall country's population, so much mission work remains. And the societal needs of Burkina Faso remain significant, including the importance of reducing dependency and developing in a truly sustainable manner. Let's pray for all this today.
My prayer for today: Lord, we thank You for the growth of the church in Burkina Faso. We thank You for empowering Your people there to witness so boldly and faithfully over the past 50 years and for the move of Your Spirit that has led to this massive growth. We know Lord that You are still working among the church in Burkina Faso today, strengthening them and shaping them through the process of sanctification. We pray that You will remove all vestiges of spiritism and syncretism from the lives of believers. Help them understand the supremacy of Christ in their lives. We pray for unity among the churches, and thank You for the progress that has been made. We pray that they will fully unite to reach the many unreached in their own country, including the 27 unreached people groups. We ask You for wisdom for the missionaries there to know what role they should take and how to best partner with the BF churches. And Lord, for the nation itself we see such needs. We pray for the church to take a lead role in leading Burkina Faso to truly sustainable development that decreases dependency on the West. We pray for the church to set the bar high for meeting practical needs of the poor around them. We pray for You to demonstrate through the church in Burkina Faso what full obedience to the Gospel looks like. Bless Burkina Faso through its churches, Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen.
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