Strategic prayer

  • Evangelical growth in Gabon has been steady and sustained. Through the CMA, the Pentecostals and newer indigenous African churches, evangelicals increased from 2.3% in 1960 to 12.7% in 2010.The Church is also maturing, as indicated by increasing numbers of prayer events – yearlong prayer chains, all night prayer gatherings, weekend prayer retreats and such.
  • Peoples of the interior – long unreached and even previously out of bounds for evangelical missionaries – are opening to the gospel. Research in the late 1990s identified the unengaged and least-reached peoples, and Christians are beginning to plant churches among them. Included in these are the Baka people, Gabon’s earliest inhabitants, who are proving quite responsive to outreach.
  • Muslim numbers continue to grow, initially by immigration of Hausa, Fulani and other West African Muslims, and more recently by conversions among Gabonese men.The former president’s conversion to Islam played a huge role in this, and his son/successor is likely to continue favouring Islamic evangelism, which often involves financial inducements.
  • Evangelical churches are committed to evangelizing the whole country. The vision is that by 2025 evangelicals will be 20% of the country’s population, and every Gabonese person will have had the chance to hear the gospel. The CMA-planted churches have a World Missions Centre and a Prayer Chapel for the nations and are beginning to send workers to other countries. Bethany churches have been sending missionaries for years. Pray for all evangelical churches to catch the same vision that the leaders share.
  • Missionary sending is a new concept for Gabonese churches, but is beginning to grow.The Gabonese CMA has sent and is supporting three families as foreign missionaries to other African countries. Pray that these firstfruits of sending might herald a greater harvest.