Philippines
Continent: Asia
Capital: Manila
Population: 119,106,224
% Urban: 47.7%
Population Under 15: 30.5%
Literacy Rate: 95%
Life Expectancy: 69.3 years
% Christian: 92.3%
% Evangelical: 12.3%
Largest Religion: Christian
% Largest Religion: 92.3%
People Groups: 202
Least Reached People Groups: 30
% Unevangelized: 5%
The Philippines are made up of a series of hundreds of islands in the South Pacific. It is economically a poor nation with constant natural disasters. Tropical storms, floods and landslides are constantly destroying what the people have built up to survive. Corruption in the government runs very high despite being a predominantly Christian nation.
While the nation had grown in Christian belief in the 80’s-90’s, the churches tend to remain small and keep splitting, no longer growing at the same rate. Over half of the communities do not have an evangelical church in them, covering around 30 million people without a church to attend or evangelize them.
Many of the churches have been infiltrated with cultic beliefs and teachings. Control is put on the people to believe only in certain ways while rejecting the truth of God’s word.
Over 100 seminaries and bible colleges exist throughout the nation, but are unable to meet the needs of training new leaders in the church. Very few can afford the cost of schooling, and many that can often move to America after being trained rather than helping in the small rural churches across the country. This causes a lead to distorted teachings arising in the church that are not of God. However, at the same time the Philippine church has sent out nearly 50,000 missionaries around the world.
Points to pray for:
Over have of the population is under 20. Of those, nearly 25% are unable to attend a school. Pray for teachers and workers to train the children in the ways of the Lord.
The sex trade industry is very high in the nation. Several hundred thousand children and women are trafficked every years. Pray for the safety of the children and adults; for the rescue of the children and women; for the rehabilitation of the children and women; and a destruction of the evil trade.
Pray for the unreached groups on the various islands and remote areas of the nation.
Pray for the ability to use media to spread God’s word to the people.
Pray for the bible to be brought to the people in their language.
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