February 13, 2018 – Please pray for Cote d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire, also known as Ivory Coast is officially the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, a sovereign state located in sub-Saharan West Africa. Ivory Coast’s political capital is Yamoussoukro, and its economic capital and largest city is the port city of Abidjan. Its bordering countries are Guinea and Liberia in the west, Burkina Faso and Mali in the north, and Ghana in the east. The Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean) is located south of Ivory Coast.
Around 64.8% of the land is agricultural land. Arable land (capable of growing crops) takes up 9.1%, permanent pasture 41.5%, and permanent crops occupying 14.2%. Water pollution is amongst one of the biggest issues that the country is currently facing.
Ivory Coast has, for the region, a relatively high income per capita (US$1,014.4 in 2013) and plays a key role in transit trade for neighboring, landlocked countries. The country is the largest economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The country is the world’s largest exporter of cocoa beans, and the fourth-largest exporter of goods, in general, in sub-Saharan Africa (following South Africa, Nigeria, and Angola).
The country’s population is approximately 23.7 million. French, the official language, is taught in schools and serves as a lingua franca in the country. An estimated 65 languages are spoken in Ivory Coast. One of the most common is the Dyula language, (Jula (or Dioula) is a Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali), which acts as a trade language, as well as a language commonly spoken by the Muslim population.
Religion in Ivory Coast remains very heterogeneous, with Islam (almost all Sunni Muslims, with some Ahmadi Muslims) and Christianity (mostly Roman Catholic with smaller numbers of Protestants, primarily Methodists) being the major religions. Muslims dominate the north, while Christians dominate the south. In 2009, according to U.S. Department of State estimates, Christians and Muslims each made up 35 to 40% of the population, while an estimated 25% of the population practiced traditional (animist) religions.
Ivory Coast’s capital, Yamoussoukro, is home to the largest church building in the world, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro.
Judaism is rare in the Ivory Coast currently, but Jews can still be found scattered throughout the country. The Jewish people had a larger presence in the late 20th century before a mass Jewish immigration in which Jews from the Ivory Coast and all over the world left their native countries for Israel.
The above are from en.wikipedia.org. These statements have not been fact-checked and are only used here to help us gain a better understanding of this nation.
There is not a great amount of information concerning religion other than that listed above. Côte d’Ivoire has a history of inner conflict and civil war. Therefore, we should pray for peace to prevail within this nation.
1. Pray for peace for the Ivory Coast.
2. Pray for the spiritual leaders and its national leaders and that God will direct missionaries to this nation to demonstrate the love of God and share the Gospel.
3. Pray as the Lord leads you for Côte d’Ivoire. As noted previously, the burden God places on your heart may be different than the burden He places upon my heart in prayer. He knows the need of every human in the world and seeks to have a loving relationship with each person.
