I have a horrible confession to make. Growing up I thought that all countries south of the United States were the same. So if someone said that people were Mexican I assumed that meant South Americans too. By God's grace I have since realized the error of my ignorant ways. So doing these missions focused posts is as much an exercise in my own understanding of other cultures as it is for my greater blog audience.
Argentina fascinates me. I'm not really sure why, but it does. While Argentina is a South American country, like so many countries to our south (and even our own country) many of the native peoples are no longer the majority. Native Argentinian people are the minority and 80% of the people in Argentina are actually European. The population of Argentina is over 40 million and only 9.1% are evangelical. The majority of Argentinians would call themselves Christian, but this is mainly Catholic or nominal at best. Like many large nations poverty is a tremendous problem with 13 million living in poverty and 43% of children living below the poverty line.
Ways to pray:
Pray for the one million university students. Many live in poverty. Pray that God would use their physical poverty and quest for knowledge to lead to an understanding of their spiritual poverty leading to a knowledge of Christ.
Pray for the rural areas. Many of the churches are growing in the cities, but there is a need for churches in rural parts of Argentina. Pray that churches would feel compelled to plant churches in these regions.
Pray against false teaching for the spiritually hungry. People are hungry for spiritual truth and while some are turning to Christianity, others are turning to cults and false truths. Pray that God would give the Argentinian people eyes to see the true and living God and that they would trust in Christ alone.