Nicaragua
Note: The information below is from the book Operation World by Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, an essential read for all missions minded Christians.
GEOGRAPHY
Area 127,849 sq.km. (about the size of Mississippi), the largest of the Central American Republics. Poor communications with the sparsely populated eastern half of the country (Nicaragua is in fact the least densely populated country in Central America). The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and by Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of the country, while the Caribbean Sea lies to the east. Falling within the tropics, Nicaragua sits 11 degrees north of the Equator, in the Northern Hemisphere.
Population 5,603,000 (about the size of Maryland, the 19th most populous state). Most live on the Pacific coast and adjacent highlands.
Central America’s most sparsely populated state. The capital and largest city is Managua (population: 1,050,000). Nicaragua is 54 percent urban, 46 percent rural.
PEOPLES
Spanish-speaking 86.7% (Nicaragua’s official language)
English-speaking 8.3% (mostly on the Caribbean coast)
Literacy 66.0%
ECONOMY
HDI (Human Development Index) 0.616; 121 out of 174
Unemployment 10-40%
Public Debt 252% of GNP
Income/person $410/year (1.3% of USA)
Many minerals, fertile soil and low population make the country potentially wealthy. However, Nicaragua remains the poorest Central American country (the second poorest in the Wester Hemisphere) because of nearly two centuries of dictatorships, civil wars, and natural calamities. Sandinista Marxist economic policies and confrontation with the USA in the 1980s led to hyper-inflation and economic collapse. Democratic government in the 1990s has been unable to reduce levels of mismanagement, corruption, and exploitation. Recovery is painfully slow and public debt massive. Hurricane Mitch (1998) further impoverished the country. Hurricane Felix (2007) was equally devastating to the Miskitu Indians of the Caribbean coast.
POLITICS
Independent republic since 1838. The brutal and corrupt Somoza dictatorship ended in 1979 after a bitter civil war. The Sandinista government then imposed Marxist ideology and economic principles despite much internal resistance and US-supported subversion by the “Contras” from surrounding lands. The economic failures, human rights abuses, and arrogance of the Sandinistas and leader Daniel Ortega, caused them to lose national elections in 1990, 1996, and 2001. But the democrats lost much respect and credibility in their failure to grapple with the many national problems. Daniel Oretega and the Sandinistas returned to the presidency with 37.99 percent of the vote in the November 2006 election. This percentage was enough to win the presidency outright, due to a change in electoral law which lowered the percentage requiring a runoff election from 35 percent to 45 percent (with a 5 percent margin of victory).
RELIGION
Catholic 69.0%
Evangelical 16.9%
Non-Religious/Other 14.1%
Secular state with some abuses of religious freedom under the Sandinista government. Complete religious freedom since 1990.
ANSWERS TO PRAYER
Evangelicals grew from 1.8 percent (28,000 people in 320 churches) in 1960 to 13.7 percent (500,000 people in 4,100 churches) in 1990. In 2000, estimates were 21.4 percent, with one million people in over 7,000 churches.
CHALLENGES FOR PRAYER
1. Nicaragua remains a deeply divided nation. The traumatic events of 1979-1998 have divided politicians (Sandinista, Contra, and democrats), communities (the Hispanic-Mestizo west and Creole-Amerindian east), trade unions churches, and families. Pray the government would gain the authority and respect of all communities to institute the needed structural, sociological, and economic changes.
2. Recent hurricanes have traumatized the nation with massive destruction of roads, housing, and farmland. Over 9,000 perished and 2 million were made homeless by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. One hundred and thirty people were reported dead in the aftermath of Hurricane Felix in 2007. But the true extent of the death and devastation of the storm is unknown since the area of impact (the east coast) is remote. Pray for emotional healing, wise, long-term economic aid, and spiritual fruit. Many national, denominational, and interdenominational economic uplift programs have been launched. Pray also for spiritual needs to be met and churches to multiply.
3. Rapid growth of Evangelicals in an impoverished and dysfunctional society has exposed weaknesses and problems. Pray for resolution to:
- The deep trauma suffered by so many who are coming to the churches – bereavement, family break-ups, material losses, etc. About 70 percent of church members are jobless.
- The divisions among churches – on Liberation Theology, the work of the Holy Spirit, and interpersonal conflicts.
- Involvement in politics. Evangelicals are now one fifth of the population, but do not agree on how to be effective and prophetic — inside the present corrupt political system, or outside of it?
4. Ministry challenges for the Church – Young people have grown up in a country ravaged by war and distorted by Marxism. Few healthy two-parent families exist. Not many churches are equipped and committed to effectively meeting their spiritual needs.
5. Missions vision is in its early stages of development. Poverty and disasters have slowed progress.
6. The expatriate missionary force was greatly reduced in the 1980s. Numbers increased in the 1990s. Pray that attitudes of the past may be rectified and that they might be used of God to strengthen the maturing church. The major task for missionaries is in the Bible teaching and leadership training as well as in helping to alleviate the enormous material and social needs.
