Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation

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.

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.

"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

This is a book that every church library, every missions group, every Christian family should have! Not only does it tell you how you can intelligently pray for specific countries, but it also gives you all kinds of statistics and brief historical facts on each country.

This book is packed with information covering history from a political, economic, and religious standpoint allowing you to pray in context for each country. There are specific requests. The former head of World Vision said, "Let my heart break for the things that break God's heart." I have been using this book for the last 14 years and it has helped me to see the world from His perspective and break like His heart breaks! An essential for any believer serious about world prayer! It is an incredible resource for using with your children in opening eyes to the needs of the world.