Pray For…The Malay of Sri Lanka
Stats
•Population – 49,000
•Percentage of Evangelicals – 0.0%
•Total Number of People Groups – N/A
•Number of Unreached People Groups – N/A
•Language Spoken – Creole Malay
•Major Religion – Islam
Sri Lanka is a beautiful island country in the Indian Ocean, lying just off the southeast coast of India. Its 19 million inhabitants are divided into numerous ethnic groups. The Malay represent a very small percentage of one of the many minority groups in Sri Lanka. The Malay’s were brought by the Dutch in the 1700’s from their island Java, a Dutch Colony, to Sri Lanka. Over time the Malays integrated into Sri Lankan society, intermarried and began to lose their distinct features and their language became mixed with Tamil, the official language of Sri Lanka. Most Malays speak Malay Creole at home, though most can speak Tamil. The Malay people are spread throughout Sri Lanka, but the largest populations live in the major cities of Colombo, Kandy and Badulla. Most Sri Lankans are Buddhist or Hindu. However most Malays practice Islam and profess to be Shafiite Muslims. This practice of Islam is not a strict adherence to Islam, but rather a mixture of Islam and the Malay beliefs in spirits and ghosts. Sri Lanka is plagued with wars and conflict between two main ethnic groups. This has caused a problem for the entire country. Many people have been killed and face discrimination for being a different ethnicity. The violence has weakened Sri Lanka’s people and the deep rooted beliefs in Islam and spiritism has hindered the spread of the Gospel. The Church is non-existent among the Malay people in Sri Lanka. There are very few, if any, Evangelicals and there has been no active church planting in the last 2 years among the Malay.
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•Pray for God to reveal himself to the Malay People and that their eyes would be opened to the Truth.
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•Pray that the spiritual strongholds of Islam mixed with spiritism would be broken and that people would see the one and only God.
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•Pray for believers to reach out and share the Gospel with the Malay. Pray that the history of ethnic discrimination would not hinder the spread of the Gospel.
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•Pray for God to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in Sri Lanka and who face opposition daily. Pray they will be encouraged and strengthened daily.