Challenges for Prayer

1 The deep impact of historic and recent hatred between Croat, Serb and Bosnian on every aspect of national life could continue to hamper the affected nations for generations to come

2 The link between ethnicity and religion for Orthodox Serbs, Muslim Bosnians and Catholic Croats has stifled any spiritual breakthroughs

3 Evangelical Christians have emerged as one of the only trans-ethnic bodies that have ministered to refugees of all communities

4 Evangelical churches have always been few in number and stronger amongst minorities, but there has been growth during the 1990s among the Croat majority

5 Leadership training

6 Foreign mission agencies have increased personnel in Croatia, most missionaries being involved in ministry to the refugees and traumatized, or in church-support

7 Specialized ministries for prayer:

a) Students – there is a growing witness since 1992 among the 80,000 tertiary students through STEP(IFES) with 120 involved in five cities

b) Izvori Publishing House of the Evangelical Church publishes literature and 3 Christian magazines

c) The JESUS film is available in Croatian, Italian and Venetian (for Istria), but has not yet been widely used

Geography

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Area 56,438 sq.km. Crescent-shaped country between the Danube River and Adriatic Sea.

Population (2000) 4,472,600 -0.09%AGR

Capital Zagreb 1,060,000.

Peoples

Slavic 94.5%; Romance 3.1%; Other 2.4%.

Literacy 97%. Official language Croatian – closely related to Serbian but written in Latin rather than Cyrillic script.

Economy

A slow recovery from long-term Communist mismanagement and the four-year war with Serbia. Unemployment 19%. HDI 0.773; 55^th/174. Public debt 22% of GNP. Income/person $3,800 (13% of USA).

Politics

Over 1600 years of Great Power rivalries lie behind the division between the related Croat and Serb peoples.

Religion

Freedom of religion, but there is a blurred boundary between the state and the favoured Catholic church.

Churches in Croatia

Missionaries from Croatia

20 in 6 agencies; 19 in Croatia

Missionaries to Croatia

117 in 26 agencies from 15 countries

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Internet Links