Basque Country Prayer Points for January 2025
Prayer Points and verse for the month:
Prayers points:
- The religious diversity in Gipuzkoa has changed quite a bit over the last 10 years. The number of places for worship for the minority religions, those that are not catholic, increased 40% for a total of ~70 new places of worship being added. Gipuzkoa has ~200 catholic churches, 40 evangelical churches, 30 mosques, 12 Jehovah witness kingdom halls, 5 Budist temples and 5 orthodox churches. They stated that most of the growth in the minority religions is from foreigners. They broke down each region and it was interesting to see the size of the population that had no belief at all.
- Pray for the spiritually lost and for those who are working in the region to reach them
- In the year 2024 ~74% of a young person’s salary (18-34) was dedicated to paying for a place to live, which was a ~10% increase from 2023. The data is also showing that the situation is much worse for women as they are dedicating ~80% of their salary to rent.
- Pray for the Basque Government, businesses, young people, and their families as they work on solutions to address the cost of housing.
- It has been 20 years since the Gender Violence laws were put into place in Spain. During that time they have seen ~30% drop in such violence. Almost all of the political parties support this law being in effect. Conversations are now being had to determine what additions or updates should be made to ensure it continues to protect against new and other types of gender violence that is occurring or has occurred.
- Pray for political leaders as the look to determine changes needed in the Gender Violence law, those affected by gender violence, the aggressors of such violence and the support system
- The economy in the Gipuzkoa province of Basque Country saw a GDP increase in 2024 of 1.9%, while the projection for 2025 is 2.1%. Concerns exist with this forecast given that the reliance of exports in the Basque Country to France, Germany, United Kingdom and Italy who are facing a variety of difficulties. They are also concerned about exports to the United States as Trump takes office and are unsure of what changes will be implemented. Other areas of concern that may impact the GDP for 2025 are the price of electricity, gas, groceries and interest rates.
- Pray for the Basque economy as it looks to continue to grow at a reasonable rate and political and business leaders as they look to ensure stable prices are maintained for the year ahead
- Recently about 12,000 people gathered to voice a desire to release prisoners who are serving a sentence for their involvement with ETA. About 15 have completed more time than necessary given a law change. Another ~50 have completed enough time that they should be at a different level in the system, though they have moved to the next part of their sentence. Overall ~140 people who were involved with ETA and found guilty of a crime are still in jail.
- Pray for the ETA prisoners who are still in jail, for the judicial system and the families that are impacted.
The verse for the month:
If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
Mark 3:25 (NIV)