The other day while we were in Linz we were given some background information on the country of Austria. The man that gave us this information was our first Evangelical Christian Austrian we had met. His name is Martin. Anyways, I thought this information would be useful in understanding the sort of challenges my team will come up against during these 16 months.
Austria Today
-Austria has about 8.2 million people and is smaller than the state of Tennesee.
-71% of the people are Roman Catholic (20 years ago it was over 90%)
-The 2nd largest religion is Islam with about 350,00 people
-There has been major growth in cults and esoteric groups
-Nearly 50% of all marriages end in divorce
-They are considered "World Champions" in alcholism and suicide
-4th richest country in Euroupe. 7th or 8th in the world
Evangelical Churches in Austria
-Today there are around 200 evangelical churches
-0.3%-0.4% of the population are evangelical, roughly 30,000 (twice as many as 20 years ago)
-The average church has around 30 members
-It is very rare to find Austrians in full-time Christian service
-In some rural areas evangelicals are still seen as a cult
Please continue to be praying for the people of Austria. Pray that they would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and find all of their hope in the everlasing God! Pray that my team would be a light in a dark place as we spread the fragrance of Christ everywhere we go.
Austria Today
-Austria has about 8.2 million people and is smaller than the state of Tennesee.
-71% of the people are Roman Catholic (20 years ago it was over 90%)
-The 2nd largest religion is Islam with about 350,00 people
-There has been major growth in cults and esoteric groups
-Nearly 50% of all marriages end in divorce
-They are considered "World Champions" in alcholism and suicide
-4th richest country in Euroupe. 7th or 8th in the world
Evangelical Churches in Austria
-Today there are around 200 evangelical churches
-0.3%-0.4% of the population are evangelical, roughly 30,000 (twice as many as 20 years ago)
-The average church has around 30 members
-It is very rare to find Austrians in full-time Christian service
-In some rural areas evangelicals are still seen as a cult
Please continue to be praying for the people of Austria. Pray that they would come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and find all of their hope in the everlasing God! Pray that my team would be a light in a dark place as we spread the fragrance of Christ everywhere we go.
1 comment:
I'm not sure I should be....but I think...yup... I'm jealous. It sounds as though you are really enjoying yourself and not only that, serving God in the process. Interesting facts about Austria as well. Too bad they don't know what is about to hit them. Lindy Beamesderfer passionate about Jesus, they're in trouble.
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