Czech Republic

[David]

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GEOGRAPHY

Area 78,864 sq.km. Landlocked central European state.

Population		Ann.Gr.	Density
2000	10,244,177	-0.16%	130 per sq. km.
2010	10,066,401	-0.21%	128 per sq. km.
2025	9,512,292	-0.48%	121 per sq. km.

Capital Prague 1,200,000. Urbanites 76%.

PEOPLES

Slavic 96.3%. Czech 9,492,000; Slovak 314,000; Polish 59,000.

Other 3.7%. Gypsy 300,000; German 50,000; Chinese 3,000; Jewish 3,000.

Literacy 99%. Official Language Czech. All Languages 8. Languages with Scriptures 4Bi 2NT 3w.i.p.

ECONOMY

Diverse industrialized society, but suffering from uneven implementation of market capitalism. Despite much foreign investment, significant recession since 1997. Many key industries are near bankruptcy, yet the country has the potential to be a successful market economy. HDI 0.833; 36^th/174. Public debt 22.7% of GNP. Income/person $4,740 (16.5% of USA).

POLITICS

The bloodless �velvet revolution� against Communist rule in 1989 was followed by rapid democratization and the �velvet divorce� from Slovakia in 1993. Multi-party presidential democracy, aspiring to EU membership in the near future.

RELIGION

Eventful religious history. The churches suffered, especially under Communist regime, but neither has the subsequent freedom proved easy. Now a secular state with religious freedom, but the influence of the Church is fading rapidly.

Religions	Population %	Affiliates	Ann.Gr.
Christian	53.22	5,451,951	-3.0%
non-Religious	45.02	4,611,928	+3.7%
Other	1.50	153,663	+8.3%
Muslim	0.20	20,488	+5.8%
Baha'i	0.03	3,073	+8.3%
Jewish	0.02	2,049	-0.2%
Buddhist	0.01	1,024	-0.2%

Christians	Denom.	Affil. %	,000	Ann.Gr.
Protestant	22	2.56	258	-1.0%
Independent	11	1.74	179	-0.1%
Anglican	1	0.01	1	+0.0%
Catholic	2	34.28	3,512	-3.0%
Orthodox	1	0.34	35	-8.0%
Marginal	8	0.33	34	+2.0%
Unaffiliated		13.96	1,430	n.a.

Churches	MegaBloc	Cong.	Members	Affiliates
Roman Catholic	C	2,917	3,500,000	3,500,000
Hussite	I	340	118,881	170,000
Evang Ch of Czech Breth	P	264	150,371	150,371
Silesian Evang (Luth)	P	34	27,000	48,000
Orthodox	O	36	20,000	35,000
Jehovah's Witnesses	M	289	17,500	28,000
Seventh-day Adventist	P	178	8,000	15,200
Uniate Catholic	C	13	8,770	12,200
Congregational	P	167	4,500	8,325
Moravian Ch of Brethren	P	25	2,400	4,800
Chr Fellowship Prague	I	64	2,400	4,800
Pentecostal	P	31	2,000	4,400
Slovak Evangelical	P	3	4,200	4,200
Evangelical Free	P	8	1,640	4,100
Baptist Union	P	24	2,500	4,000
Church of the Brethren	P	56	2,000	4,000
Other denoms [29]		139	12,139	22,038
Total Christians [45]		4,588	3,884,301	4,019,434

Trans-bloc Groupings	pop. %	,000	Ann.Gr.
Evangelical	1.1	108	-0.8%
Charismatic	0.6	66	-0.6%
Pentecostal	0.1	13	+3.5%

Missionaries from Czech Republic
P,I,A 24 in 6 agencies to 10 countries.

Missionaries to Czech Republic
P,I,A 232 in 45 agencies from 14 countries: USA 164, Germany 15, United Kingdom 15, Korea 9.

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Challenges for Prayer

1 Though Communism is a fading memory, the transition to another social paradigm has not been easy. The entry of market capitalism has left its trademark – wealth and hedonism for a few, but increased economic stress for many. The great moral vacuum formed by decades of Communism has not been filled. The resultant moral decline in the past decade has been accompanied by an increase in crime, substance abuse, prostitution and family breakdown. Pray that this negative spiral might be cut short by the intervention of God into this godless society.

2 The Catholic Church outnumbers all other denominations nearly 7 to 1, and yet is in serious decline. It had a brief opportunity to re-establish its influence after 1989, but failed due to internal dissension and insufficient action. The Church is now making conciliatory gestures towards other Christian groups and a renewal movement is active, but the leadership is old (average priest's age is 69), and the laity is aging and decreasing rapidly. Pray for God's Spirit to sweep through the Catholic Church and awaken these millions to the living reality of Christ.

3 Czech Protestants are experiencing life without persecution for only the second time since 1620. The Protestant churches have an important place in the history and culture of the nation. Pray that this may also become true spiritually. Pray for Evangelicals both within the larger Protestant denominations and the smaller, younger groups, such as the Baptists, Pentecostals and numerous independent congregations. Almost all evangelical churches are experiencing at least modest growth, and several are seeing this accompanied by charismatic renewal.

4 Christian leaders with the precious combination of spirituality and adequate biblical training are few, but on the increase. For many years, little training was permitted – especially in biblical theology. After a decade of freedom, only now is significant fruit being seen. Pray for the Protestant theological training institutes, especially the ones with a strong evangelical emphasis – Baptist, Reformed, and interdenominational Bible schools in Olomouc and the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Prague, run by the Brethren. The latter also has a training programme for government social workers, which could prove significant in transforming Czech society. TEE programmes could also prove vital for the training of capable leaders throughout the country. Foreign missionaries have not done enough to foster growth in Christian education. Pray for an improvement in this area.

5 The recent religious freedom has been a double-edged sword. Believers are free to minister and evangelize, but openness has taken the cutting edge off of the Church. There are more denominations and missions working in the Czech Republic than ever, but also more divisions. The influx of foreign workers in the 1990's has proved to be very helpful in some cases, and harmful in others. Pray that all those working for the evangelization of Czechs would do so with a unity of purpose and synergy of action. The Evangelical Alliance works to coordinate the efforts of member churches. Pray for the indigenous churches to mature into sending churches, fulfilling their vision of supporting missionaries both at home and abroad.

6 Freedom of religion means complete freedom, even to believe lies, or not to believe at all. Most mainstream Christian groups do little by way of outreach, despite general interest in spiritual things. Marginal religious groups are much more active in this area. Pray that God might awaken Czechs to their deep spiritual needs and mobilize believers to leave their spiritual ghettos and demonstrate the love of Christ to hungry hearts.

7 Young people are searching for life-satisfying answers, but are often cynical and apathetic about organized religion. CEF is working among children, SU in the primary schools, and IFES has groups in several universities. Pray for fruitful ministry for these agencies. Religious education in schools is permitted. Pray that teachers with spiritual zeal may minister life in the classrooms. Summer camps (in Czech, German, and English) are also proving helpful in evangelizing and discipling young people.

8 Christian literature is increasing in its distribution and its scope. The Bible Society continues to sell large numbers of Bibles and New Testaments. The Navrat Domu and Nova Nadeje Publishing Houses, as well as several others, are publishing more and more Christian materials in Czech. EHC has reached about half of Czech homes with Christian literature. Pray that the impact of the written page may remould the people and build the Church. Pray also that outside groups who come to distribute literature might work in cooperation with national groups.

9 Christian radio and television programmes have much potential and are open to evangelical influence. Pray that the vision and funding might come in to kick-start a national Christian broadcasting movement. There are 21 hours of Christian radio each week from TWR and HCJB, in Czech, Slovak, German and Polish. The JESUS film has been translated into these languages as well, and has enjoyed a wide viewership. Pray for God to use Christian radio, TV and film to both reach unbelievers and train up Christians in all truth.

Web links for Czech Republic

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	CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ez.html)
	Country profile, with only very brief information on religion or society.
	Brief, largely statistical information on geography, people, government, economy, and more.
	Czech Info Center (http://www.muselik.com/czech/frame.html)
	A commercial Web guide.
	Czech.cz (http://www.czech.cz)
	Government site with country info and links
	VMS - informace (http://www.prayer.cz)
	Prayer information. In Czech.
	V�ra na Internetu (http://www.vira.cz)
	Popular Christian Web guide and many online services. In Czech.