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GEOGRAPHY

Area 56,785 sq.km. The Atlantic coastline is only 56 km long but the little land stretches 540 km northwards to the Sahel. Wedged between Ghana and Benin.

Capital Lomé 700,000. Urbanites 31%.

PEOPLES

Over 78 ethnic groups in 2 major language families.

Kwa 53.4%. Mainly in the southern half of Togo; largest: Ewe 1,050,000; Wachi 570,000; Mina 327,000; Ife-Yoruba(3) 166,000; Aja 142,000; Akposo 121,000; Anufo (Chakossi) 53,000; Akebu 52,000; Fon 46,000; Mahi 30,000.

Gur 42.4%. Mainly in the north; largest: Kabiye (Kabré) 730,000; Kotokoli (Tem) 300,000; Moba (Bimoba) 243,000; Nawdm (Losso) 187,000; Lama (Lamba) 177,000; Gurma 154,000; Ntcham 150,000; Konkomba 67,000; Akaselem (Chamba) 45,000; Ngangam 44,000; Taberma (Somba) 26,000; Mossi 25,000.

Foreign 2.2%. Ghanaian, Beninese, Nigerian, French, Lebanese.

Other 2%. Fulbe 64,000; Hausa 13,000; Bisa 10,000.

Literacy 52%. Official language French. All languages 43. Only two indigenous languages used in education system: Ewe/Mina and Kabiye. Languages with Scriptures 6Bi 7NT 3por 12w.i.p.

ECONOMY

Subsistence agriculture involves 80% of the population. Main exports are phosphates, cotton, cocoa. Economic growth lags behind population growth because of endemic corruption and a large, inefficient state sector. Much foreign aid has been suspended because of lack of fiscal discipline and a poor human rights record. HDI 0.469; 143^rd/174. Public debt 81% of GNP. Income/person $300 (1.1% of USA).

POLITICS

German colony 1884-1914. Independent from France in 1960. One-party military-civilian regime in power since 1967. Pressure internally and externally to open up the country to multi-party democracy led to a national conference in 1991 in which Eyadema, the President, was stripped of his powers and a transitional government installed. A referendum in 1992 confirmed a multi-party constitution, but its provisions were eroded in a contest of power between Eyadema and the transitional government. This degenerated into anarchy and virtual civil war between the southern and central peoples. Eyadema, a Kabiye from the north, maintains a facade of democracy, but personally controls the military, the justice system and all political processes.

RELIGION

A period of intense anti-Christian rhetoric in the 1970s cooled to an official indifference. In 1978, 20 religious groups were banned, only Muslims, Catholics and five Protestant churches were legally permitted to function. In 1990 nearly all restrictions were lifted, and there has been considerable religious freedom since.

Missionaries from Togo
P,I,A 97 in 13 agencies to 8 countries: Togo 81.

Missionaries to Togo
P,I,A 256 in 28 agencies from 27 countries: USA 138, France 24, Nigeria 19, Ghana 17.

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Answers to Prayer

1 Regaining religious freedom in 1990 has given a decade of more rapid church growth and reaching of many peoples for the first time. Evangelicals have grown from 17,000 in 1960 to nearly 400,000 in 2000.

2 The Assemblies of God set the goal of 300 churches and 36,000 members by 2000. They exceeded this with 110,000 members by the beginning of 2001.

Challenges for Prayer

1 The government of Eyadema has been maintained by manipulation of elections, widespread human rights abuses and crushing of any dissension through fear and poverty. The southern peoples have been politically marginalized. Pray that those in leadership might have a change of heart or be replaced by those who fear God, respect the constitution and treat every section of society fairly.

2 The Church in Togo stagnated between 1960 and 1990. The long established Evangelical Presbyterian Church became theologically liberal and nominal and remained confined to the Ewe, while the Methodists remained among the Mina. The Catholics likewise only grew slowly. During the 1980s newer evangelical groups began to grow – the AoG (once mainly in the north and now predominantly in the south), the Baptists (IMB-SBC and ABWE in the south) and the Missouri Synod Lutherans among the Moba in the north have all seen encouraging results. Many new denominations from outside Togo commenced work in the '90s and all denominations began to grow rapidly. Pray for the establishment of strong, indigenous congregations and denominations with visionary leadership.

3 Leaders for the young churches are few, and training facilities in Togo limited. Pray for appropriate vernacular and French Bible Schools and TEE programmes to be launched. The Baptist School of Theology and AoG Advanced School of Theology in Lomé serve Francophone countries all over West Africa. There are several recently-started Bible schools. Pray for many more Spirit-filled Togolese leaders to be raised up for the multiplying churches.

4 The whole body of Christ in Togo is beginning to unite in common vision for reaching every part of their land – and beyond. Pray for barriers of mistrust and denominationalism to be broken down and for a Great Commission movement to be firmly established. A national survey of the unfinished task was under way by 2001 on behalf of many evangelical churches and agencies with the help of SIL. Pray for its successful conclusion and results that lead to church planting among these peoples.

5 The strongly entrenched powers of darkness have scarcely been challenged through intercessory prayer and confrontation with the power of the gospel. The two major forces to be tackled:

a) The idolatry and strong secret societies of the Ewe, Fon and other tribes with intense opposition to the gospel. Christians cannot grow in their faith until they have fully repented and renounced the works of darkness.

b) The growing strength of Islam. Muslims dominate in trading, taxi services, and in national education throughout Togo. There is a steady stream of conversions to Islam throughout the country, yet there are few Christian workers focused on Muslim evangelism in the eight Muslim peoples or the high concentrations of Muslims in urban areas – a total of 1,100,000.

6 The less-evangelized peoples of Togo. Togo and Benin have long had the highest percentage of unevangelized traditionalists in Africa. In 1990, 15 peoples had evangelical congregations in their cultures, 25 had none. Many of these unreached peoples now have congregations or groups of believers, but in most, only a beginning has been made. The major challenges:

a) The eight majority-Muslim peoples – the Kotokoli (SIM, IMB-SBC and now 50 believers), Anufo (YWAM, 200 believers), Akaselem (AoG, handful of believers), Bago (9,000), Akpe (4,000) and Anii (1,000) as well as the more dispersed Hausa and Fulbe (Baptists).

b) The northern traditional peoples – the Nawdm (AoG, Baptist, Deeper Life), Konkomba (Ghana workers), Taberma (AoG, Baptist, Church of Pentecost), Sola, Lokpa, Mossi (AoG), Bisa. Pray for these pioneering efforts to see breakthroughs for the gospel.

c) The south-central traditional peoples – the Akebu, Anyanga, Adele, Delo and Kpessi.

d) The southern coastal area which is poorly researched. There are likely to be many unmet needs among the Fon, Mahi and others.

Many of these peoples could be best reached by Ghanaian and Benin believers who are of the same language group.

7 Ministries to young people and children developed rapidly in the greater freedoms of the 1990s.

a) Schools and the university – CCCI and GBUST(IFES) have campus ministries with a growing number of students involved. The latter had 33 groups with 700 members in 1998. SU has a good ministry in high schools – but many schools have not yet a witness. Pray for the development of mature believers and groups.

b) Churches are generally ill-equipped to address the needs of children or young people. Pray for more with vision and gifting to change this situation.

c) There is a significant evil trade in children who are 'exported' to other lands for the sex industry. Pray that this may be ended.

8 Evangelical missions have been few, but have increased in number during the '90s. Church planters, disciplers and leadership trainers are needed. The largest missions are YWAM (64), ABWE (46), IMB-SBC (38), AoG and Ministry of Jesus (22)

9 Bible translation remains a major ministry challenge. Pray especially for the completion of the whole Bible in Kabiye – one of the two indigenous languages used in schools. There are at least six and possibly a further 12 languages into which the NT should be translated. Work is in progress in 17 languages, 10 of which are in the hands of the 37 SIL workers. Pray that there might be adequate teaming up of translators with evangelical church planters.

10 Christian media ministries for prayer are:

a) Christian literature is in great demand. Pray for the ministry of both the well-used CLC bookstore and of The Bible Society in distributing Scripture. The latter has a successful 'Faith Comes by Hearing' programme of cassette tapes of Bible readings for pre-literates which has enhanced desires both for literacy and for the printed Scriptures.

b) GRN have produced materials in 32 languages.

c) EHC has launched an ongoing nation-wide coverage. After 800,000 booklets had been distributed response was so significant that 349 Christ groups were started by 1999.

d) Christian radio – local stations broadcast Christian programmes; there is also one well-acclaimed Christian radio station in Lomé. A national Christian television channel opened in 2001.

e) The JESUS film has been shown extensively in film and on TV in seven languages. A further nine language versions are in preparation.

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