Some events are hard to read about. Others feel almost impossible to believe. Some numbers are simply too large to look away from.
According to figures from the Nigerian human-rights organization Intersociety, more than 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria during the first 220 days of 2025. That works out to roughly 35 deaths every day. The figures remain disputed, but even allowing for disagreements over methodology, the scale of the violence is impossible to dismiss.
One of the worst attacks happened in Yelewata, where armed militants descended on a community sheltering families who had already fled earlier violence. Families had gathered there because they believed it was safe. Many had already fled violence somewhere else. Then the attackers came with guns and machetes. They set buildings on fire and killed men, women and children. Open Doors reported that around 200 people were killed in that one attack, making it one of the deadliest assaults on a Christian community in Nigeria in recent years.
And the violence did not stop there. The first half of 2026 began with 177 worshipers kidnapped from churches in Kaduna State. In March, militants attacked a Christian wedding celebration, killing 13 people and abducting another 28.
Intersociety, a Nigerian human-rights organization, reports that 2,550 Christians were killed and 2,800 abducted during the first six months of 2026. It also reports that 300 churches were destroyed and hundreds of people were forced to convert to Islam.
Nigeria’s crisis is complicated. Muslims have also been killed by jihadists, criminal gangs and armed bandits. Not every Fulani person is a militant, and not every attack can be explained by religion alone. Still, Christian communities are being attacked, and believers are being driven from their homes. Pastors are burying members of their congregations, while families continue holding on to their faith under pressure most of us can barely imagine.
Many are asking believers around the world to pray that Christians in Nigeria would remain strong, that their broken hearts would be healed and that peace would return to their villages.
