Finland

Finland has freedom in religion, but Evangelical Lutheran and Finnish (Greek) Orthodox Churches are recognized as national churches. The Lutheran Church has a stronger evangelical tradition than most others state churches, but does still experience the same challenges; such as liberalism. 

The Free Churches are relatively small, but spiritually vigorous; charismatic renewal has had a marked impact. The churches are not growing, but are enjoying a greater unity than in the years past. Pray for this to continue and for a greater cooperation in evangelism and missions.

In the society humanism, secularism and materialism have strangleholds on most Finns, and spirituality has more or less become privatized. Only 8% of Finns attend any kind of religious service monthly or more, and only 3% of Lutherans attend weekly. Pray for a spiritual breakthrough that will make people seek God. Pray especially that the younger generation will be reached trough the different ministries. 

Finland has a strong tradition in sending out missionaries, but this tradition is now under threat. The mission sending has manly been trough parachurch agencies or independent movements within the larger Lutheran framework. The mission vision has to come more into the churches, so the churches get more involved in the sending process, rather than only relying on agencies. Pray for a greater mission culture in the different churches, and pray that there will be more workers and supporters. 

Pray for:

• Thank God for the strong evangelical tradition in Lutheran Church of Finland and pray that there will be even greater commitment to biblical faith and practice. 
• Give God thanks for the viragoes churches and the strong mission sending tradition. Pray that the tradition will keep on being strong and that the churches will be more involved in sending out missionaries. 
• Pray that faith in God no longer will be privatized. Pray for boldness to the Christians to share openly about their faith, the gospel and that wave of evangelism will come over Finland. 
• Pray for all the different ministries for youth and their leaders, so that the good follow-up and discipleship will keep on. 

---