Product Description

Operation World -the definitive prayer handbook for the church is now available in its 21st century edition containing 80% new material. Packed with informative and inspiring fuel for prayer about every country of the world, it is essential for anybody who wants to make a difference.

A handbook for global prayer. Over 2 Million in print worldwide! Received ECPA Gold Book Award 2002. Named Book of the Year by CBC.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17964 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 822 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781850783572
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"...an amazing publication. Virtually every nation is profiled, intended to help you focus your prayers for others worldwide." -- Metro Lutheran, Nov. 2001

"...the definitive global prayer guide..." -- Charisma Magazine, January 2002

From the Publisher
Winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award, July 2002!

Named "2002 Book of the Year" by CBC in the United Kingdom.

Awarded the Gold Book Award by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, April 2002.

From the Author
Every year there seems to be more published material that deals with demographic research on countries. In terms of say the population figures and general secular demographics, like life expectancy, annual income, - those kinds of questions - we tend to rely mostly on the United Nations' databases but also on the Encyclopedia Britannica yearbook which gives economic and social statistics of that nature and updates them ever year.

So in terms of the secular statistical data that's what we go with. With regard to the church statistical data, we take it from a whole wide range of sources, one of the main ones would be national church handbooks, say for the UK 'The UK Christian Handbook' and the national equivalent for many other countries.

Also original source material from the headquarters of either mission agencies or denominational agencies. So for example, the Baptist World Alliance would give the Baptist church populations for every country in which there are Baptists and in that way we would get the information on how many congregations, how many members, how many affiliates and so on and so forth and I suppose a further check on all of that information is by being in constant correspondence with our contacts who are on the ground in those specific countries.

I don't know how many thousand people we are in contact with but they tend to function as a very good tether on our information. They will question something that looks a bit spurious or they'll come up with more recent sources and so on and so forth.

Customer Reviews

Organized, Well-structured
"Operation World" is a solid educational and prayer tool for Christians concerned about world evangelism and world welfare.

Each day of the year gets a country (or portion of a country in a few cases).

Johnstone describes the land geographically, but then describes the people groups, their percentages of the whole population, political circumstances, etc. He also gives demographics regarding denominations and religions.

Important to mention is how "OW" is sure to not let one agency or denomination overwhelm it. It isn't a 'pentecostal' or 'conservative' book, but Johnstone informs the reader in a balanced way how the Conservative Baptists and the Assembly of God, and all the rest are fulfulling the Great Commission.

With the context of each country laid out, he lists matters of prayer. What mission agencies are doing what, which people groups are seeing spiritual growth (and how they could grow more), where there is in-fighting among agencies or cultures, and what can yet be done.

It sounds methodical, and it is, but Johnstone simply is helping the reader understand the complexities of each country.

Use it to prayer through a country in a prayer group, or as a teaching tool for Sunday School or CCD.

I recommend this book fully.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Get the Big Picture of the World and Evangelical Missions
This volume is a must for anyone truly concerned about World Missions. Dedicated laymen, pastors, and others will find this a valuable resource. It is written from the evangelical perspective.

Most nations are summarized in one to three pages. Summaries include a map, description of area, peoples and people groups, literacy, capital city, economy, politics, and, of great interest to Christians, religious demagraphics. Christians are separated into sub-categories as well (Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant--which is further sub-divided into evangelical and charistmatic).

Current history, special needs/situations, and current ministry approaches form yet another category. Each article provides a list of needs and prayer requests. The countries are also co-ordinated with a date atop the page for those who wish to pray for a nation a day.

As a pastor, I find this my most important missions resource. It is clearly number 1 for missions demagraphics.

A great world prayer devotional guide
I love how this prayer book is set up. Each calendar day of the year, you pray for the physical and spiritual needs of each country. The countries are listed in alphavetical order. Some of the larger countries get more than one day allocated to them for prayer because of the greater number of people and needs. The USA gets 5 days in November and Indonesia gets 7 days in June, for example.

The author has done a fantastic job at researching what the needs are in each country, and it makes prayer for the nations a more personalized experience. Before this book came out, I would just say, "God, bless America. Bless China." Well, now with this book, I can pray more precisely. I am grateful to Patrick Johnstone for putting together a wonderfully helpful guide for praying for the world.