Prayer Request 10/17 -- 10/23

Tuesday
In a large independent survey 37% of men aged 18-54 admitted they have sex with prostitutes and only 30% of the men surveyed ever discussed AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases with their spouse or partner. The common saying that "Once men become rich, they become bad." has much truth in modern China. Money and sex are corrupting the believers too. Let us pray especially for the guarding of hearts of Chinese male believers and all the male church workers alike .

Wednesday
In Taiwan, one in four brides is a non-Taiwanese. Half of them are from mainland China and the rest are non-Chinese Asians. Nearly a quarter of the children in Taiwan have mothers who are not Taiwanese so for them Chinese is not their mother tongue. Such demographical change is rocking Taiwan. Let us pray for new strategies for churches in Taiwan in reaching out to their neighbors and the "mixed" young generation .

Thursday
According to a recent survey, 68% of the residents of Taiwan who are older than 15 do not read any book in a week. Reading books as a leisure enjoyment has been steadily decreasing. Christian books sale has suffered. Taiwan is the largest market for Chinese Christian books which are mostly translated American books. Let us pray for all of the literature ministries that often struggle to stay in business. We pray, too that there will be a new generation of Chinese Christian writers and thinkers .

Friday
On an average 473 couples are married each day in Taiwan but the divorce rate is approaching 35% and each Taiwanese couple usually has an average of only 1.3 children.Churches in Taiwan must adjust their ministry to reach out to divorced people as well as single parents. Let us pray for all who are involved in family counseling and children's ministry, especially to children from divorced homes .

Saturday
The oldest copy of the Koran in China (which is about 700 years old and bound with rhinoceros leather) will be restored and displayed in Xining, Qinghai, the city that is the beginning point for the new railway to Tibet. The influence of Islam in China is very deep. The government grants special favor to Islam because it is the religion of several large ethnic minorities. They also strongly discourage conversion of Muslims to Christianity. We lift up all who are involved in work among Muslim .

Sunday
The kung fu movie by Jet Li, "Fearless", became a hit. Some had predicted that Chinese fighting movies are losing their attraction. This realistic fighting Chinese-speaking movie was released with English subtitles. Kung fu style movies of the old days have become main stream in Hollywood In many ways, China churches are no longer merely the rural churches of peasants and uneducated. Yet, there are still many, many souls rural churches can reach effectively. We pray earnestly for another revival of rural churches like those during the years of 1980-90 .

Monday
Urban churches in China have been going through a phenomenal change in the past three years. Churches of six to eight hundred people are common now. House churches of forty to two hundred can be found in nearly every city. It is estimated that by 2020, half of the Chinese population will be in the cities. Many former believers from rural churches have not been plugged into city churches. Let us pray for this tremendous loss of God's sheep .

星期二
據一項國際網路調查顯示，年介18-54歲的成年中國男子中，37%承認有嫖妓經驗，而曾與性伴侶討論艾滋病或性病危險的卻不到30%。所謂「飽暖思淫欲」，這話在現代中國更爲真實。金錢和性的誘惑也敗壞了許多信徒。讓我們特別爲中國的男信徒以及教會的同工禱告，求神切切保守他們的心懷意念，時常儆醒躲避試探，以聖潔自守來與主同行。

星期三
臺灣2002年結婚的佳偶中，外籍新娘占了26%，其中半數來自中國大陸，其餘還有約占1/8的非華人的亞裔籍新娘，普通話非其母語。可預見四分之一下一代臺灣人是由外籍媽媽所生，這樣的人口變化激蕩著臺灣。讓我們爲教會能有效地把福音觸角伸到社區鄰里，以及多元化的年輕世代來代禱。

星期四
根據最新統計，臺灣十五歲以上的人，有68%在一週內沒有閱讀任何書籍，喜好閱讀的人數正逐步減少中。臺灣是中文基督教書籍最大的市場，但書架上銷售的大都是美國書的譯本。中文基督教書籍的銷售一直沒有起色，讓我們爲所有掙紮求存的文字事工禱告，求神興起素質優良的新一代華人基督徒作家和思想家，藉文字來拓展神的國度。也求神讓信徒看重文字和閱讀的重要性及其廣大深遠的影響力。

星期五
臺灣每天平均有473對新人結婚，但離婚率也升至35%。另外，平均每對夫婦只生1.3個小孩。面對社會型態變遷，教會須調整事工方向以顧及失婚和單親家庭。讓我們爲從事家庭輔導和兒童工作的肢體禱告，求神與他們同工，以神的愛和救恩幫助這些人，尤其厚賜智慧與能力更有效地幫助破碎或單親家庭的孩子。

星期六
國家文物局將撥出經費，修復中國最古老的「古蘭經」手抄本（約有700年之齡，函封為犀牛皮），並將展於青海的西寧市，即通往西藏的青藏鐵路的起站。伊斯蘭信仰對中國的影響非常深，是中國好幾個大的少數民族信奉的宗教，因此得到政府特別的關照。為了宗教和諧的緣故，政府不鼓勵穆斯林改信基督教的態度強勢。讓我們切切為回宣事工禱告，求神保守看顧參與回區宣教的同工們。

星期日
當一些人認爲中國武打電影已失去市場吸引力時，李連杰主演的「霍元甲」卻成功掀起熱潮。這部功夫片即使全片都用華語僅附加英文字幕，卻仍在美國十分賣座，並把過去的武打電影推入好萊塢主流。今天多數的中國教會已走出了鄉村，農民，和基層的舊框框，跨入城市主流社會，但在農村仍有眾多急待救恩的靈魂。讓我們爲農村教會另一波大復興來禱告。

星期一
過去三年來中國城市教會經歴了重重變化。隨著農村人口向城市湧流，40-200人的教會比比皆是，六百到八百人的教會亦不斷湧現。預計到2020年，中國人口半數將集中城市，然而很多從農村來到城市的信徒，卻遲遲未能加入城市教會，我們爲這群流失的信徒禱告，求主使城市教會有此負擔，積極為主尋回迷羊。