Prayer Focus for Czech Republic – Sunday, May 29

Challenges for Prayer

There are new ministry challenges in the new Czech Republic. With many younger people leaving to work in other lands and a low birthrate, the population is increasingly aged. This requires new and specific approaches to ministry. Likewise, increasing numbers of immigrants are coming into the country – especially Russian speakers and East and Southeast Asians. These groups also need loving and focused outreach tailored to their needs and communities.

Special ministries can potentially touch almost every aspect of society:

a) Young people ask questions unanswered by traditional religion. SU (primary schools), IFES/VBH (groups in several universities) and Youth Outreach, an indigenous ministry, focus on the younger generation. Also, teaching English and summer camps (speaking Czech, German and English) impact young people. Pray for enthusiastic workers and much fruit.

b) Christian literature is increasing in distribution and scope. The Bible Society sells large numbers of Bibles and NTs and has opened its first permanent Bible House. Navrat Domu, Nova Nadeje and other publishing houses increasingly produce Christian materials in Czech; discipleship and apologetic materials are important, as is development of Czech Christian authors. The Bible in Czech is available (text and audio) on the Internet. A new Czech Bible translation in everyday modern language (called Bible21) was completed in 2009 and became a national bestseller that year. The vision is to see one million copies distributed in coming years. Pray for the fulfilment of this ambitious vision.

c) Christian radio and TV programmes are going from strength to strength. There is now a Czech Christian TV station (TV Noe); Christian programmes are increasingly aired on state television. Pray for continued growth and funding. TWR (transmitting globally and locally), HCJB Global (via Internet) and Radio 7 all provide excellent programming in Czech and other languages. The JESUS film has been translated into these languages as well and has enjoyed a wide viewership.