Many of you donated to our Christmas appeal for the persecuted church in Nigeria at the end of last year. Today we want to share with you a little of what this meant for people.
For those of you who are unaware of the situation in Nigeria, a short recap. Nigeria is a massive county in West Africa, and the religious line separating the continent into a predominantly Muslim and predominantly Christian half, runs right through it. About half of Nigeria’s population is Muslim and they live mostly in the North. About half is Christian and they live mostly in the South. Several Islamist terrorist groups, like Boko Haram and ISWAP have set up camp in the Northern jungles. They terrorize everyone whom they decide is not Islamic enough to their liking, but specifically attack Christian villages, churches and schools, often abducting large groups of people.
These ISIS-related terror groups also arm a herdsmen tribe, called the Fulani, and have been radicalizing them. The Fulani are Muslim and their territory borders that of the Christian farmers in the south. Historic struggles over grazing rights and land ownership have now turned into a bloody religious persecution, where Fulani sweep into Christian villages, torch the place, kill whoever they can find, chase away the rest and take the land for themselves.
These attacks are frequent, gruesome and deeply traumatizing for the Christian population in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where most of these attacks take place. It means that Nigeria is the country with the highest number of Christians murdered anywhere in the world, by far. Many Christians feel deeply unsafe and abandoned by their government, who does very little to protect them. Many have seen family members slaughtered before their eyes, have lost their homes and livelihoods and have become destitute. As a result, they struggle with feelings of hate and rage, which sometimes can spill over into more violence.
Because so many of these attacks concentrate around important Christian feasts like Christmas and Easter, we had a goal to bless as many of these believers as we could with two things they often lack: food and safety. Because of the generous donations we received, we could distribute food aid to thousands of believers through our contacts with Nigerian pastors.
In a safe location, some of our partners were able to minister to different groups of people who bear the scars of the violence against Christians. Widows of pastors who were killed in the violence, pastors and leaders who are facing persecution, others who have survived violent attacks, and even recovering addicts, who turned to addictive substances to deal with the deep anguish.
Over a thousand people were served in this location. They were listened to, hugged, prayed for and received teaching around anger and reconciliation. In a following article some of their testimonies will be shared. We thank you for making it possible to relieve the suffering of these brothers and sisters a little, help them towards healing and show them they are not forgotten.
