Read, understand and pray for Paraguay
General Information
Population: 6.5 million. Capital: Asunción (2 million).
Christians: 6.2 million. Evangelical Christians 393,000.
Highest Level of Faith: Christian.
Religion that grows the most: No religion.
Largest ethnic groups: Spanish-speaking / Guarani (90%), Amerindian (1.9%), German (3.1%), Spanish (1.9%).
Official languages: Spanish and Guarani (90% understand the language, but only 8% speak Guarani). Total languages 27.
Economy: Few natural resources beyond agriculture and vast hydroelectric potential. Corruption hinders development. Only 1% of the population owns 77% of the land, which creates widespread poverty and a subclass of landless peasants.
Politics: Independent of Spain since 1811. Faced devastating wars (1864-1870, 1932-1935) and a corrupt dictatorship (1954-1989). Recent democratic and economic reforms move Paraguay forward slowly in politics and in trade networks.
Main topics of prayer
1 – Paraguay suffered for two centuries with war and bad governments. National leaders were corrupt, foolish, or both. Thank God for the recent changes. Pray for the current leaders of Paraguay, so that they are correct and wise and will serve the suffering people of the country.
2 – The Roman Catholic Church dominates the spiritual and political life of the country. Few of the Hispanic and Guarani majority have a great living relationship with Christ. Pray for a spiritual awakening.
3 – Many of the believers in Paraguay are immigrants: Germans (Mennonites and Lutherans), Brazilians (Pentecostals), Ukrainians (Baptists and Pentecostals), Koreans (Presbyterians) and Chileans. Mennonites work with indigenous peoples in the Chaco region. The Koreans also reach them. Pray for a missionary vision in immigrant churches to reach out to cultures with the gospel.
4 – Thank the Lord for the growth of the evangelical church. The Pentecostal/charismatic churches of Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, in particular, had good growth. Pray for Christian unity and collaboration among so many different evangelical denominations. An association of pastors works to promote national strategies in order to evangelize the whole country and to help isolated rural churches. Pray that local churches will embrace the challenge of the unreached and needy within Paraguay and beyond. Workers planted churches among many of the 21 local Amerindian groups. Pray that the gospel will take root and grow in these and other minority groups.
5 – The country still needs missionaries to serve in the Paraguayan Church and strengthen the national leadership. There are opportunities in church planting, leadership training, holistic mission, and especially education. Many poor, school-age children work instead of studying. Schools, courses for teachers, and improvements in education and literacy will help transform Paraguay. The Christian Missionary Society, the Mission Latin America, and others work in these vital areas.
6 – Pray for the children, against abuses in general, and for them to receive a revelation of the fatherhood of God in their lives. Pray also for the strengthening of families.
Adapted from MANDRYK e WALL (2017). MANDRYK, Jason; WALL, Molly. Pray for the World: A New Prayer Resource from Operation World.InterVarsity Press: 2015.
