John 3:16 (ESV) - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Titus 3:5 (ESV) - He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer Points

1. The terrible violence and ethnic cleansing of 1999-2000 changed the Maluku Islands forever. Rioters destroyed many churches and mosques. Over 20,000 Christians died. Christians and Muslims now mostly live in separate villages. This helps peace, but hinders outreach. The Maluku Protestant Church was founded in 1605. It is Asia’s oldest Protestant denomination.

 Pray for healing for the many who suffered. 

 Pray for Christians to love their Muslim neighbours. 

2. On Sulawesi, less-reached peoples are many, but there are small Christian minorities in most of the larger groups. 

• The Bugis (5m) and related Makassar (2.1m) of South Sulawesi, with colonies all around the coast. Pray that the few thousand Christians among these groups will impact their colonies with the message of salvation.

• The Muslim Gorontalo (more than 1m), a cluster of five Muslim-animist peoples scattered around the north, and the Bungku-Bajau cluster in the southeast. There are some small churches indigenous to these peoples, but response is slow and many areas remain untouched. Pray that God will mightily use the small churches to advance the Gospel.