New Caledonia Factbook
New
Caledonia is strongly Christian in name. However, far fewer are Christian in practice.
New Caledonia consists of a
larger island and several smaller islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies northeast of Australia and north of New Zealand. The climate is tropical.
Slightly more than 200,000 people live in
New Caledonia. They are a mixture of several different ethnic groups.
New
Caledonia is blessed with a large reserve of
nickel ore. Mining is the largest source
of income for the economy and has made New
Caledonia far wealthier than many of its neighbors in
the South Pacific.
After being settled by Britain and France,
New Caledonia
became a French
colony
in the mid 1800's. The French used it as
a penal colony for several decades.
It is now classified as an overseas territory of France. There is freedom of religion.
New
Caledonia has been well evangelized. Over 80% are classified as Christian. Nearly 8% are evangelical. Unfortunately, many believers are
nominal,
and liberal theology has taken hold in many churches. Pray for the churches
which stand on Biblical principles and for a positive change in others.
There are still some groups that are less
evangelized. Pray for efforts to reach them. Some of the native languages are being
rediscovered in New Caledonia. Bible translations are still needed in
several of these languages.
Pray for efforts to make the Word available to the people in
their
native languages.
Copyright 2006 by Brad Garrison
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