Nigeria: under siege

(Images courtesy Christian Aid Mission)

Nigeria (CAM/MNN) ― Nigeria is under siege.

The Islamist militant group called Boko Haram has made a mission out of reshaping the country into a Muslim nation under Sharia law. Most of the shaping comes in the form of violence against those regarded as enemies: law enforcement, government, religious minorities, i.e. Christians.

Last year, insurgents targeted churches on a weekly basis in Niger State, Borno State, Plateau State, and Yobe State. One report from Shoebat.com quoted a priest from Maiduguri (Borno State) who estimated that Boko Haram has destroyed 50 out of 52 churches in that area alone.

According to Human Rights Watch (a global human rights monitoring group), militants have claimed 3,000 lives since the campaign began in 2009. To put that into perspective, in the first 10 months of 2012, more than 900 people died in suspected attacks by the group. Little seems to have a deterrent effect on the Boko Haram.

In the first quarter of 2013, terrorism and death have been the hallmark of Boko Haram with over a dozen attacks and hundreds of deaths. Christian Aid Mission Africa Director Brittany Tedesco says the situation has hit too close to home for a ministry they support in Nigeria. "They actually attacked a prison in an area right near one of the mission fields where Christian Aid supports missionaries."

Gabriel Barau, ministry leader of Missionary Crusaders Ministries in Nigeria, noted in a recent report, "30 gunmen walked into the town, destroyed the police station...and killed 64 persons instantly. That is the tension we have in the northeast every day. We sincerely need your prayers to raise the funds needed to move our headquarters office to a safe location."

Another concern, Tedesco added: "They (Boko Haram) released over 100 prisoners. The citizens are just constantly living in fear of what might happen next."

For more than 20 years, Barau has rented an office headquarters in Adamawa State, the site of this most recent deadly attack. Tedesco says the endless barrage of attacks has complicated things, forcing the MCM ministry team to work out of the leaders' home. "It's just too dangerous to be able to utilize that office. That place was also the place where they had a discipleship and mission's training school. That's kind of been put ‘on hold' for now."

For 28 years, Barau has worked to share the gospel with unreached tribes in Nigeria, training native missionaries and sending them out to live among the people they are reaching. "Every day we live with the threat of death for ourselves, our children, and the staff who live here with us," Barau reports.

That statement, says Tedesco, means that all 183 workers are still moving forward, planting churches and discipling converts. Many of their mission fields are located in the country's Muslim northern region, where the majority of Boko Haram attacks have occurred. "They have identified another unreached people group that they are committed to reaching. So far, they are reaching about 17 unreached people groups."

Christian Aid Mission assists the work of these missionaries through monthly sponsorships. They have also provided funds for MCM to construct a new headquarters in a safer, more centralized location. Tedesco remarks that they are looking for people to come alongside in two ways: "The two big prayer needs that I see for this ministry are protection and funds."

Terror spreads to Central Nigeria

Nigeria (MNN) ― There's been yet another attack on churches in Nigeria.

According to police, gunmen fired on a Bible study at Deeper Life Church in central Nigeria Monday, killing at least 19 people--including the pastor--and wounding others. Hours later, bombers struck a primary school in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi state. There's also been an unconfirmed media report of another bomb discovered at the Revival Church in the same area.

The attacks represent a move into the central region of the country. Although no one has claimed it, the attack fits the style of Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect.

Boko Haram, whose name in Hausa means "Western education is sacrilege," is responsible for more than 660 killings this year alone in Nigeria, many of them at churches.

In preparation for this story, Christian Aid Mission Africa Director Rae Burnett spoke with the head of the mission agency they support to ask about the latest incident. While not dismissive of the tragedy, he indicated that there's more violence than what occasionally gets reported in the media. "'If we told you every time an attack occurs, or every time that shots are fired or bombs are thrown, cars are hijacked or people are just killed, I would do nothing but sit at my computer.'"

The tension levels are reaching critical mass. "Everybody is fearful--" explains Burnett, "Christians and non-Christians because you can be at the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not just churches that are being attacked."

Boko Haram has a singular focus: to re-create Nigeria as an Islamic state, instill Sharia law, and eradicate the Christian population. Despite U.S. sanctions imposed on three leaders of the group, they appear unfazed. In fact, says Burnett, "Just this past week they threatened the president and said that he has to convert to Islam and rule under Sharia."

The conundrum: the attacks open doors for the Gospel, but also have been problematic. This particular ministry partner also indicated that because they're using resources to assist the attack victims in multiple areas, they can't maintain the work goals they wanted to achieve. 

Even so, Burnett says, "These missionaries are even more committed to expending every ounce of their own lives for the Gospel of the Lord, so they're not at all intimidated."

The work of this ministry partner has now expanded geographically to cover most of the Islamic north of Nigeria. With 100 missionaries to oversee, there's a lot at stake. Burnett explains: "The headquarters is in extreme danger because people do know what it is. Tthey hardly even go to their office, but he needs to have a headquarters in which to operate."   

Christian Aid Mission helped buy land for a new building, but then funds ran dry. The partner reports that more than 50 pastors and missionary leaders have so far died at the hands of Boko Haram.Burnett says, "This is really a crucial thing for them. They're in extreme danger where they are now. It has nothing to do with the missionary leaving the field. It's not the field. It's the headquarters of the ministry. None of the missionaries have left the field and their places of ministry."

Boko Haram issues yet another grim warning in Nigeria

File footage of June's attacks (Courtesy Compass Direct News)

Nigeria (MNN) ― Nigeria's Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for weekend attacks in Jos, Plateau state. It was the latest outbreak of anger in a violent cycle of aggression and reprisals.

In a press release by a Boko Haram leader, the sect said, "We thank God for our success in the attack on Christians at Barikin Ladi and Riyom, whereby security agents, Christians, and two state and national assembly members were killed."

This is what makes the recent attacks noteworthy. Todd Nettleton, Communications Manager for the Voice of the Martyrs USA, says the extremists are bent on removing Christian presence in the north. In this latest press release, Boko Haram also essentially told Christians that they must either convert to Islam or "they will not know peace again."

It is a jihad, a religious war against Christians for refusing to embrace Islam. Nettleton explains, "In other words, 'We're going to keep up these attacks; we're going to keep up this violence until every single Christian in northern Nigeria has either converted to Islam, left the area, or been killed.'"

Attacks occurred during  a Saturday mass funeral of 63 Birom church members. Birom reprisals raised the weekend death toll to 200. Word of talks between the government and the sect were not independently confirmed. Because the government has not had an effective security response, people in the north and central Nigeria are feeling vulnerable. 

    

There were reports that some churches were beginning to go empty on Sundays in Kaduna, Bauchi, and Kano States.

However, in Jos, Nettleton says, "I spoke with a Nigerian Christian recently who said the people were taking machetes with them when they went to church because they knew that in just the act of going to church, they could become a target. They wanted to some type of way of defending themselves if there was an attack while they were at church."

The face that believers have not been intimidated away from their churches in Plateau State is interesting. It's part of the "paradox of persecution," explains Nettleton. "It changes your entire mindset if going to church means 'I could be killed.' 

That really does raise the significant issue of how important is it to gather with other believers for worship, Bible study, and for other things when it literally means you could give your life."

The scale of persecution of Christians by Muslims has accelerated and is expected to continue. It has caused the death of thousands--including pastors, and the destruction of hundreds--even thousands, of churches. More than 2,000 people have been killed since the Boko Haram insurgency began in late 2009.

On the up side, says Nettleton, the threat does two things: "Nominal Christians become more serious about their faith and make it much more personal. The other thing: Gospel activity can produce fruit because in times of upheaval, people are thinking about eternity."

The ministry has an active presence in Nigeria. VOM Medical helps victims of persecution, and they partner with a school to help orphans whose parents were martyred for their faith. "The other thing that we're involved in is Bible distribution and providing Gospel material, children's Bibles, full Bibles, New Testaments, and other Gospel presentations for the churches there."

Pray for wisdom and guidance for Nigeria's Christian president, Goodluck Jonathan, and for all those who serve with him as leaders of this nation. Pray that Christians will not retaliate but will demonstrate Christ's love and peace.

The Voice of the Martyrs can always use help. Check our Featured Links Section for details.

Christians repond to Muslim offer of protection in Garissa, Kenya

(Photos courtesy of Christian Aid Mission)

Kenya (MNN) ― Garissa has long had a perilous reputation in Kenya. A small outpost down near the Somalia border, the area has been filled with dangerous people for over a decade.

Africa Director for Christian Aid Mission Rae Burnett notes that was even before the Islamic terrorist group al-Shabaab came into prominence.

Al-Shabaab is the Somalia-based cell of al-Qaeda hunting down Christians in both Somalia and now, in Kenya. The group has been getting bolder and more organized. Burnett explains, "There's been a huge, huge influx of Somalis that have overrun the country, I mean even into Nairobi. They stick together, and they are told by their government that now that there's so many of them there, they really need to take over the country and establish Sharia."

It seems that the Kenyan town of Garissa, right on the border with Somalia, was getting less and less friendly to non-Muslims. "This is a town, that when I hear the name, I know there's danger there," says Burnett. She adds that in the 15 years she's been aware of the changing conditions there, Gospel inroads have been made. "Missionaries have been putting churches there, trying to bring people to Christ for years. They have now become a target of the Muslim extremists."

However, that didn't always sit well with the local population. "When doing any kind of evangelical work, the Muslims have sent their children to stone them." An indigenous ministry leader helped by Christian Aid told Burnett that the most recent attack was more evidence of the hostilities in the region toward Christians. "He said that plans to burn the churches were executed inside the mosque. Their thinking is that this is just totally for the outside world to hear."

Seventeen people were killed July 1 in Garissa as terrorists threw grenades into two churches and opened fire. It appears to be an effort to deepen rifts between Muslims and Christians in Kenya. These same people are also blamed for attacks on secular entertainment venues as well as the kidnapping and murder of aid workers.

Communication with indigenous ministries (supported by Christian Aid Mission) indicates increasing alarm among believers and disruption to Gospel work.

In the wake of the latest incident, one leader wrote:

This is big blow to our ministry vision, and our outreaches among the Muslims in the northern frontiers of Kenya. We are so much concerned at the trend of constant attacks on the churches in Kenya by al Shabaab terror group. I was planning another outreach in that area. So many of them have never been reached with the Gospel.

We are praying and planning to evacuate the wife and her children for some time till the situation improves. Please pray for our security. Any help extended to this family will be appreciated as we move in to assist.

Another sent this message:

Most of our churches in Northern Kenya have closed down due to attacks by the al Shabaab terrorists. The most affected areas are Wajir, Modogashe, Liboi, Garbatulla, Merti, Turbi, parts of Marsabit and some parts of Isiolo where you have spent so much time with the Samburu believers. Most Christians had to evacuate to safer areas. Missionaries and pastors who have been serving there had to relocate.

Now, there's word that Muslim leaders are offering to protect Christians following the attacks. But, says Burnett, Christians are incredulous. "Even if Muslims did offer something like that, no one would accept it because they would believe it to be a threat based on their experience with them in the past, particularly in an area like that where everyone (the Muslim community) is so close knit."

Burnett notes that Christian workers explained why they're so distrustful. "As these churches were being attacked, the Garissa women...(I'm reading directly here) 'after the attacks in Garissa, young men and women were celebrating in the streets.'"

Additionally, reprisal violence could be the spark that sets the tinder box aflame. "The nominal Christians are often the ones that cause so much of the problem. Those who really know the Lord, they understand the risk, and they're willing to bring people to Christ and to risk their lives for that."  

Gospel work continues, but believers are going to have to tread carefully. Burnett says prayer is the best defense. "Everyone, as a believer, needs wisdom and protection. We're always in such danger, whether we know it or not. These men and women and children who are on the forefront of this violence really need to know the Lord's will and that Christ will be seen."

Check our Featured Links section for ways you can help.

Mission base in Nigeria under terrorist attack

Nigeria (MNN) ― "Just as I am writing this evening, a whole village in southern Kaduna is fighting."

Those are the words of a missionary leader in Nigeria affiliated with Christian Aid Mission.

The leader goes on to say, "We have five missionaries there now whose work among local unreached Muslim tribes has been very successful. They are helping to comfort and shelter unprepared villagers who fled in terror as heavily-armed Muslim militants invaded without warning. No police or soldiers have come, and it is doubtful they will."

Due to the influx in violence by terror group Boko Haram, the team wants to move missionaries out of the dangerous area. But there are no funds to do so.

Missionaries in nearby fighting areas have been moved already. They are planning to return soon, but for now they are struggling in a new place with their children and Muslim converts that left with them.

"When the killing began in the main city, Muslims in the small town started intimidating our people," the missionary leader adds. "They told them to leave or be blamed for the killing because we are making their people Christians. The village chief has welcomed and accepted our people, but he was afraid of the militants, so we temporarily retreated the missionaries."

At the same time, there is good news. Many Muslims have come to Christ and are now safe from harm in a discipleship center. But there are unmet needs there, also. The new believers are in need of mosquito nets, school supplies, and medical supplies.

"We are so grateful for the many years of loving prayer and financial support from Christian Aid," the missionary continues. "We are just reeling with unbelief at the horrors our country is experiencing at the hands of these terrorist murderers. We know our Lord will use it all for good." 

Pray for the peace in Nigeria. To help bring missionaries out of harm's way and to provide for the basic needs of new believers, click here, or call 800-977-5650. Click here to learn more about Christian Aid's work around the globe.

Nigeria imposes curfew to stem religious violence

Ministry to Fulani in Nigeria (File footage by Christian Aid Mission)

Nigeria (CAM/MNN) ― Two cities in Northern Nigeria remained under curfew Wednesday after rioting and reprisal killings followed deadly church bombings on Sunday.  

Kaduna and Damaturu were under lock down 24-hours-a-day, while soldiers patrolled the nearly deserted streets.

The Sunday bombings struck three churches in Kaduna State, killing at least 21, presumably all of them Christians. 

Boko Haram claimed the attacks, saying they're fighting for an Islamic state under Sharia law. The extremist group does not recognize the Nigerian government or the constitution. The group is also well-funded and organized. According to Christian Aid Mission, the government is ignoring the threat.

The church bombings are a serious threat to the stability of Nigeria due to the current religious divisions. The danger is that this week's retaliatory attacks will continue, spiraling out of control.

Rae Burnett, Africa director for Christian Aid Mission, says the good news is that missionaries of the indigenous Nigerian ministries they help have not been directly targeted by Boko Haram. However, several supporters have been murdered, and random terrorist shootings have come close, too. Burnett goes on to note that these missionaries have not involved themselves at all in politics, only the Gospel, and they have kept a low profile until now.

Burnett shares a dispatch she just received from a *ministry leaderwho has been her friend since 1996.

Terrorists have struck again. This time we had to evacuate our missionaries from Kandawa fields as Muslim militants discovered the work and threatened them. Right now, we need your prayers as Chris (the overseer of all ministry work in the northern Islamic area) is still trapped in the fields with several missionaries, some with infants.

On Sunday, three churches were bombed in Kaduna and Zaria, killing several people. This led to reprisals and killings all over the place. Yet the government is doing nothing.

More than 65 people are already confirmed dead. A 24 hour curfew has been declared, and we do not know how to reach the converts in the war zone.

Before today, Boko Haram had not done so much damage to us in this part of the country. We are appealing for funds to buy mattresses, blankets, mosquito nets, and food for our converts that are about to move out.

This is urgent. We have dispatched three other staff, but there is no access to the area. Fighting and fighting. Please we need your prayers for Nigeria. I am writing this in the midnight asking for all our friends to pray and help. You can also send support to them. Our staff for the first time are affected in this kind of killing. Help and ask believers to pray and support. We need your support and we need your prayers.

The converts too need prayers. We do hope you will pray for Nigeria now.

We need to relocate quickly. I am currently in Abuja (the capital city) and will go to Kebbi state to rescue our staff as soon as possible, but no going in or out of the area for now. We want to be ready immediately when they can escape with their converts.

We are so grateful for the property Christian Aid enabled us to buy, but we must have resources to build our simple headquarters and a place to help these victims of terrorism.

Thanks for your prayers for Nigeria and others around us.

This indigenous Nigerian ministry has experienced tremendous open doors for the Gospel in Islamic strongholds that have never before been evangelized. However, because of Boko Haram, they have to move their headquarters from an Islamic state where they have been in peace for more than 25 years, to a centralized and neutral place better suited to direct the work.

Christian Aid has provided the land, but $35,000 is needed to provide a simple headquarters building where the leader and staff would also live.

After so many years, the work is well-known and could be targeted at any time. Please pray for these heroes of the faith as they continue to press forward with the Gospel in this time of extraordinary danger.

*The ministry name is not mentioned for security.

Nigerian worshippers attacked

Mission Network News: "Nigeria (MNN) ― Coordinated attacks on Sunday left at least 19 dead in areas where Christian Aid Mission is working.

In both attacks, Christians were targeted while they were attending worship services in Kano and Maiduguri, the capital of Northeast Borno state."

Read more...

Bomber targets Christians in Jos, Nigeria

Mission Network News: "Nigeria (MNN) -- Bombers struck again in Jos, Nigeria last Tuesday.

One person was killed and nine others were injured after suspected Islamic extremists attacked a TV viewing center in a Christian area of Jos where a crowd had gathered to watch a soccer game."

Read more...

Islamic sect violence growing in Nigeria

Photo: Compass Direct News

Nigeria (MNN) ― A shootout in northeast Nigeria Sunday claimed six lives, three of them members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, suspected of cultivating links with Al Qaeda.

Boko Haram's war against the government now includes an ominous new front: a war against schools. On Friday, extremists planted a bomb at a local primary school, although no one was injured in that attack, but at least eight schools have been firebombed in recent weeks. 

Embattled President Goodluck Jonathon tried to pursue diplomatic means of settling differences, but following the breakdown in talks, Boko Haram threatened to intensify its bombing campaign. Voice of the Martyrs Canada spokesman Greg Musselman says, "Obviously, they want to enter talks because the military/the resources they have to control the Boko Haram is difficult. I guess they have to be open to the option of it. In reality, it's just a collision of ideology."

Musselman also observes that it's no longer just Christians in the cross hairs. "It's becoming more and more dangerous, not only for those doing work like the Voice of the Martyrs and other organizations like ours that work with persecuted Christians, but those working in the oil field or on the outside, and also for the Nigerian citizens themselves."

  

The insurgent violence stalking northern Nigeria now includes a long list of official targets: police and army officers, elected officials, high-ranking civil servants, United Nations workers, and other perceived supporters of the Nigerian government.  

More and more governments are taking notice. The 2012 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended that Nigeria should be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC). Over 14,000 Nigerians had been killed in religiously-related violence between Muslims and Christians since 1999. That is expected to intensify, says Musselman. "They [Boko Haram] have given basically an edict to the Christians to get out or they will be killed--or they'll burn down their churches, businesses, those kinds of things."

The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. Federal Government commission with principal responsibilities to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.

Nigeria--which had been on USCIRF's Watch List since 2002--was first recommended for CPC status in 2009. Presently, 10 countries--Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan--are designated as CPCs by the State Department.

The question now is: what kind of impact does the threat of violence have on evangelism? Musselman says, "If [Christians] are meeting, they're going to meet where you've got security and they can at least be somewhat aware of what's happening around them and try to prevent these suicide bombings and attacks on the churches."  

The other effect has been unity. "The church's desire to focus on Christ is strong, and their desire for evangelism has increased. In fact, one of the things that many of the leaders told us is that the reason the attacks have intensified against them is because they are doing evangelism and people are coming to Jesus Christ."

Pray for a peace that surpasses all understanding for those living amidst the ensuing violence. Pray that God will give Nigerian Christians the patience to entrust true justice into the hands of God. Musselman adds, "We need to be praying certainly for the church in Nigeria: 'Thank you for not forgetting about us' I think was one of the messages that was clearly said. But we also need to be praying that the Lord will give the Nigerian church wisdom on security and protection."

Deadly religious strife in Nigeria continues

Nigeria (MNN) ― At least 14 people died in Jos, Nigeria, in a flare up of Christian and Muslim violence. Reprisal clashes heightened fears of larger-scale attacks in the cycle of violence.

Voice of the Martyrs Canada reports that among the dead was a Christian family of eight, two adults, and six children. Spokesman Greg Musselman explains, "You have these radicalized Muslim youth. It was the end of Ramadan, they were celebrating, and again, violence flared up. They were looking for trouble, and they went after some Christian families.


In the escalating violence, two churches were burnt down. Christian and Muslim religious leaders have appealed for peace. Bombs were placed in front of houses of worship.

In 1999, Sharia law was implemented in 12 northern and central states. The question is: why does Plateau State seemingly crack under tensions more than other states. Again, Mussleman says, "Jos straddles the middle ground in Nigeria between the largely Muslim North and the Christian South. So the city and the nation is divided along religious, tribal and political lines."

Due to violence like this, many Christians have been displaced from Muslim areas, initially in the north, where Sharia -- strict Islamic law -- has been imposed. "There are the Islamic militant groups that have really emboldened since the 9/11 attacks, so even though you have a majority Christian population in Jos, you have the Islamists who want to turn that into a Muslim state."

According to a Reuters timeline of the unrest in the same area, there have been nine major flare-ups of rioting and violence between Christians and Muslims since 2000. In each of these incidents, hundreds lost their lives, churches were burned, and many more injured. "Anything that happens politically or any kind of little flare up is used by these Islamic groups to go after the Christians", explains Musselman. He adds, "That's why so many of them are killed. As much as we pray that it would stop, the current climate shows no sign of that slowing down."

Pray that Christians in Nigeria will demonstrate the love of Christ, in spite of the opposition they face. "This is an ongoing situation. It just seems to pop up every few weeks, and lately it's just becoming more intense," Musselman says.
Lately, however, more churches are throwing off the cloak of silence. "They realize that we really need to share the message, and they crossed the line in the sense of: 'Hey, if I get killed, I get killed, but I'm going to preach Christ.' So the message of the Gospel is going powerfully forward, and many of these Islamists are coming to know Christ."

Voice of the Martyrs Canada teams continue to remain active through their medical work, the aid they give to stranded families persecuted for their faith, and in many ways supportive through the prayer networks around the world.