Pray for Laos

Pray for Laos （From prayercast）

About Laos
Head bowed, palms pressed together in a prayer gesture, and the Laotian words, “sabai di” (good health) are called a nop and are used as a social greeting by Laotians. This narrow landlocked country in Southeast Asia is surrounded by China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar. Laos is mostly mountainous and one of the few communist nations left in the world.

Laos was part of French Indochina until communist forces removed the French in 1954. Since 1975, the communists have maintained firm control. Closed for many years, Laos is one of the Asia’s poorest and most underdeveloped nations. Poverty is most prevalent on 5 percent of the land, where 75 percent of the 6.6 million Laotians live and depend on agriculture and natural resources. Economic reforms towards a more free market system have helped to lower poverty in recent years, but the economy still depends heavily on foreign investment and aid.

Following the communist takeover, Christianity was declared an enemy of the state. Two thirds of Laos’s Christian believers fled the nation, and those who remained had to meet in secret. Laos’s Buddhist majority was also suppressed. Today, Buddhism, which meshes easily with animist spirit worship, has again become the religion of over one half of Laotians. Christianity is one of four government-approved religions, but open churches are closely scrutinized. Intense persecution and restrictions still occur, mostly at the local level. Despite those pressures, the Church in Laos has shown encouraging growth through the evangelism of indigenous Laotian Christians.|

關於寮國
低頭，雙手合十，做出祈禱的手勢，並說“sabai di”（祝你健康）——這被稱為“nop”，是老撾人用來問候的社交禮儀。寮國是一個狹長的內陸國家，位於東南亞，週邊被中國、越南、泰國、柬埔寨和緬甸包圍。寮國多為山地，是世界上僅存的幾個共產主義國家之一。

寮國曾是法屬印度支那的一部分，直到1954年共產黨軍隊驅逐法國。自1975年以來，共產黨一直牢牢控制著寮國。多年來，寮國一直處於封閉狀態，是亞洲最貧窮、最不發達的國家之一。貧窮人口主要集中在5%的土地上，而660萬寮國人口中，75%的人生活在這些土地上，依靠農業和自然資源生活。近年來，朝著更自由的市場體系邁進的經濟改革有助於降低貧困率，但寮國經濟仍然嚴重依賴外國投資和援助。

共產黨執政後，基督教被宣佈為國家敵人。寮國三分之二的基督教信徒逃離祖國，留下的信徒只好秘密聚會。寮國佔人口多數的佛教徒也遭到鎮壓。如今，佛教與萬物有靈崇拜相輔相成，再次成為超過一半寮國人的宗教信仰。基督教是政府批准的四種宗教之一，但開放的教會受到嚴格審查。嚴重的迫害和限制仍然存在，主要發生在地方層級。儘管面臨這些壓力，寮國教會透過本土寮國基督徒的福音傳播，取得了令人鼓舞的成長。

Prayer Points

Pray for house church leaders who are singled out as targets of persecution to persevere with grace.Pray for Lao seekers to toss aside the social pressure to practice Buddhism and place their hope in the one true God.Pray for believers to unashamedly proclaim the Gospel to their neighbors despite close government monitoring.

禱告要點
為那些被挑出來作為迫害目標的家庭教會領袖禱告，讓他們能夠帶著恩典堅持下去。
為寮國的求道者禱告，讓他們拋開修行佛教的社會壓力，將希望寄託在唯一的真神身上。
祈禱信徒們能夠在政府嚴密監視下，勇敢地向鄰居宣揚福音。