Rating: 
Summary: Organized, Well-structured
Review: "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
Rating:
Summary: Organized, Well-structured
Review: "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
Rating:
Summary: responding to sara's criticism
Review: As far as I understand, the cateogorization of the term Christian refers to people's definition of themselves. The statistical tables of different "Christian" denominations, including JW and LDS, is not a value judgement on their theology, but simply recording how they view their own faith. This is clearly explained in both the introduction and the glossary.
If you are looking for a more qualitative statement about Christian religious groups, then the trans-bloc group EVANGELICAL would be more along the appropriate lines. Even more information is available in the CD; readers can see the authors' estimate on how evangelical each denomination in each country is.
sara's concerns about the sanctity of biblical Christian faith are well founded, but more careful perusal of Operation World would have easily assuaged her fears.
Such decisions as made by the authors were certainly not done to sell more copies. If they wanted to that, they would churn out low-grade fiction and wed it to poor theology about the end times...
Rating:
Summary: Become a World Christian!
Review: Assuming you are a Christian... You ar either a worldly Christian or a World Christian. This book will majorly help you to become the later.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Source for Praying and Learning About the World
Review: I enjoy reading and praying for the countries of the world. This is an excellent source of that. Also useful in incorporating in devotional life. Why? Because it gets one to think about OTHERS!
Rating: 
Summary: Nice concept, old information
Review: I like the premise on which this book is based, but at the speed in which our world changes it needs to be updated to stay relevent. Last printed in 1993, even a difference of only 8 years has made a lot of the information inaccurate or irrelevent. Even some of the countries have changed, let alone the statistical information for all of the countries included. Note, this review was written in May before the 2001 release.
Rating:
Summary: A great world prayer devotional guide
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring and Heart Breaking.
Review: If you are serious about reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ this book will help you know how to pray more effective. It will inspire you to pray and go, and it will break your heart for the Billions that have yet to hear.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring and Heart Breaking.
Review: If you are serious about reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ this book will help you know how to pray more effective. It will inspire you to pray and go, and it will break your heart for the Billions that have yet to hear.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive Work
Review: Johnston continues to serve millions of people who long to earnestly pray for the world. He painstakingly catalogues relevant information about every country in the world. It is organized in a way that helps a person really understand the demographics, trends, and prayer concerns for countries big and small. Hats off to Johnston and his team! Sorry to see that there are some sour-pusses that obviously have an anti-Christian bias who have tried to discredit such a fine work. Johnston's work flows from a love for Christ and a love for people all over the world. What might happen if we would all pray more earnestly for the down-trodden?
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