Prayer File: Malaysia
The country first gained independence from Britain in 1957 as the Federation of Malaya and in 1963, Sabah and 
Sarawak joined to form Malaysia, a federation of 13 states with a constitutional monarchy and Sunni Islam as the official religion.
A rich multicultural and multi-religious country with a vision of being a developed nation by the year 2020, Malaysia is very diverse in terms of its peoples :
Indigenous people – 57.7% (Malays – 49.5%, Tribal peoples – 8.2%),
- Chinese – 25.4%,
- Indians – 7.2%,
- Others – 9.7%.
The four major religions in the land are :
- Islam – 58.00%,
- Chinese religions – 21.6%,
- Christianity – 9.2% and
- Hinduism – 5.00%.
There are over 130 different spoken languages and dialects.
Prayer Points:
- Government and leaders – that they be given good health and wisdom to rule the country with righteousness and the fear of God.
- Peace and stability – the recent resurgence of extreme religious groups like the Kumpulan Militan Malaysia (KMM) (Militant Group of Malaysia) with its involvement in terrorism and its links to international terrorist groups is cause for concern. Pray for the government to handle the situation wisely and that all plots of evil and destruction will find no success whatsoever.
- Religious freedom – that religious freedom provided for all peoples in Malaysia under the Federal Constitution will continue to be upheld and that churches and Christian leaders be given much wisdom and prophetic insights to respond to the whole process of Islamization in the land.
- Globalisation – Malaysia, as a fast developing country, is right at the line of ‘globalising forces’ impacting our world with the attendant perils and promises of democratization of technology, finance and information, free market capitalism and the homogenizing of cultures. Pray for the government to be given much foresight in formulating policies for the country and for churches and Christian leaders to be able to both critique and capitalize on ‘globalising forces’ for both gospel and missions advance.
- Christian workers – while the Church continues to grow, there is a real shortage of Christian workers. Too few are responding to God’s call for full-time ministry and service. Many smaller churches have no trained pastor. In Sarawak, nearly half of the SIB congregations have no pastor. Pray for the calling and support of many more into full-time Christian ministry and service.
- Gospel advance – pray to God for more evangelists to be given to the church in Malaysia and for greater focus and synergy in evangelistic outreach by local churches, para-church organizations, and Christians in the workplace. Pray for us at MAP as we seek to make increasing contributions in preaching the gospel and equipping the saints to reach out to their friends and neighbors.