Pray for Madagascar Madagascar is the world’s 4 th largest island with a reported population of around 23 million. The large majority of these are subsistence farmers growing rice and other crops. There is evidence of increasing affluence amongst certain sectors of the population and the capital, Antananarivo, now has its share of stylish shopping centres and restaurants and many new and luxury 4x4s are seen on the road. In contrast to this, many people in the towns live in ramshackle houses and struggle to find food on a daily basis.

The ring-tailed lemur is one of over 100 known species and subspecies of lemur found only in Madagascar.

Political stability Political instability has led to an increasing gap between rich and poor. It was hoped the election of a new president early in 2014, bringing to an end the transition government established following the coup in 2009, would bring greater political stability and a solution to some of the economic problems, corruption and crime, but so far this has not been the case and there is much uncertainty about the stability of the current government. Hery Rajaonarimampianina is a Malagasy politician who has been president of Madagascar since January 2014

Antananarivo is the political and economic capital of Madagascar.

Malagasy people are very religious and many people go to church on Sunday morning, but sadly much of this is nominal religion. Catholic, traditional Protestant (Lutheran, FJKM – Malagasy church of Jesus Christ) are largely formal in their practice and have no qualms about mixing Christian practice with elements of ancestor worship, which is sometimes justified as simply being a means of showing respect to their deceased family members, but is more about seeking blessing from them. There are undoubtedly some true believers amongst these churches who would not participate in such practices, but rather than leaving to attend Bible-based churches, these individuals tend to find fellowship through para-church organisations such as Christian unions, which thrive not only amongst students, but amongst professionals and other working adults and many are converted through such groups.

 The island's iconic traveller's palm (ravinala) features in the national emblem.traveller's palm

 There are various evangelical groups as well as Pentecostal and charismatic churches which vary significantly, some being mainline in their gospel teaching, whilst others are proponents of false doctrines such as the prosperity gospel.  The CEIM church (Independent Evangelical Community of Madagascar)’ established about 25 years ago in association with French brethren assemblies, is one of the main evangelical groups and are strong on evangelism and church planting as well as seeking to train pastors and church leaders through their seminary.

Bible Baptist churches The Bible Baptist churches have sometimes been criticised for a lack of vision in evangelism, but while this may be true of some of the bigger, more established churches, many of the churches belonging to this association are very active in evangelism and church planting. There are now 153 Bible Baptist churches, some small and in remote areas. The Baptist Association has a strong tradition of seeking to hold firm to biblical truth and to implement this in church practice. To this end the Bible Baptist seminary exists to train men that they may be better equipped to teach and train others. For those men unable to follow the three-year theological course in Antsirabe (a small town 150km south of the capital) there is training in 9 different regions which usually takes place in monthly blocks three times a year. With so many false teachings and sects around, it is vitally important that church leaders are able to help others discern what is biblical and what is not. One of the rural Bible Baptist churches: the believers have little materially but sing and pray with all their heart Current seminary students

Good News Hospital in Mandritsara One of the major projects under the auspices of the Baptist church is the Good News Hospital in Mandritsara. This hospital has just celebrated its 20 th anniversary and through this work many have received medical and surgical care, but more importantly many have come to faith in Christ, through the witness of those who work in the hospital, and many churches have been established in surrounding villages. There are several smaller projects in other areas of the country, seeking to share the gospel, teach and train leaders as well as showing the love of Christ through practical care.

Bible translation Welsh missionaries wrote down the Malagasy language and translated the Bible between This translation has been updated, but there are 18 ethnic groups in Madagascar, many of whom are largely unreached and some of the dialects are very different to the official Malagasy, making Bible reading difficult for them. In addition adult literacy is low – official figures say 60%, but it may be much lower. Some work has been done seeking to translate the Bible into other dialects, but there is still much work to be done in this area and this needs to be coupled with an emphasis on teaching literacy.

Pray for Madagascar  Political stability – effective measures to deal with corruption and poverty  Advance of the true gospel  Challenges – nominalism and syncretism  Protection against cults – Mormonism is particularly prevalent and JW’s  Training of Pastors/church leaders. Great need for teachers and students so pray the Lord would raise up more godly men able to preach the gospel and teach others.  Good News Hospital Mandritsara- staff, funding, ongoing evangelism & church work.  Unity and cooperation between true believers and Bible-based churches: Satan always wants to attack the Lord’s work by causing division. No church group is perfect and all projects are liable to attack so this is an important area for prayer.  Bible translation projects  Unreached people groups – many live in rural communities not easily accessible  Mission groups working in Madagascar: SIM, AIM, Southern Baptists – main emphasis of such missions now is usually on unreached people groups and training Bible teachers