Month: November 2025

Throughout the night and morning of March 11, 2019, Pastor Timothy Umaru and several other men stood guard at an entrance to their Nigerian village. They were watching for any sign of the Fulani Islamic militants who had attacked a neighboring village days earlier. Then, as the sun rose shortly after 6 a.m., they began to hear screams and gunfire in the village behind them. Villagers were running in every direction as the air filled with smoke from burning homes. The militants had attacked the village from another entrance, and Timothy felt helpless as he thought about his family, his church and his predominantly Christian village. “In all honesty,” he said, “even though the Bible has told us that these things would happen, the first question I asked was, ‘God, where are You?’” Timothy’s wife, Rifkatu, and their 3-year-old granddaughter, Uma, had just finished praying with their lead pastor’s family at the church parsonage when the attack occurred. Rifkatu heard the gunfire and screams when she stepped out with Uma to get some fresh air. After scooping Uma up in her arms and running back inside to alert everyone, Rifkatu and the others hurriedly left the pastor’s home, which they

She never expected to suffer persecution, but when Naomi’s town was overrun by Islamic terrorists, she was ready. Her church and the Bible had taught her well: “Persecution is God’s Word being fulfilled.” Naomi had already experienced suffering. When her husband died in 2009, her in-laws, who in Nigerian culture would be expected to help her and her five children, rejected her. With no other options, Naomi moved in with her parents in the town of Gwoza, in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state. Hoping to rebuild her life, she set about the work of providing for her family and educating her children, the youngest of whom was only 1 year old when his father died. Not long after their move to Gwoza, a violent Islamist organization began gaining power in the area, advancing its goal of “purifying” northern Nigeria for the sake of Islam. The Attack Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden” in the Hausa dialect, began waging an insurgency across northern Nigeria, targeting military installations, police stations, government buildings, churches and civilians, primarily in Borno state. By 2014, conflicts between Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces had become common as the insurgents fought for control of Borno

Ibrahim Izang Aziobo tried to rescue as many Christians as he could during an attack by local Muslims. Although he lost his eyesight as a result, he gained a clear vision of how to love his enemies. At about 4 a.m. on the morning after a local election in Jos, Nigeria, Ibrahim awoke to someone banging on his apartment door. “They have come!” his niece cried out. “They have started!” The 2008 elections had been particularly divisive. Before results were even posted, members of the city’s predominantly Muslim Hausa-Fulani majority began protesting the Christian candidate’s expected win. Ibrahim jumped out of bed. He knew his niece’s warning meant Christians were under attack in the town where he was serving as an election worker. Thankfully, his wife, Ana, was safe at home in a different city. By the time Ibrahim came out of his room, his niece had already left and he noticed that the neighboring tenants were gone, too. Hearing gunfire, he looked around and saw people running away. Ibrahim, however, ran toward the gunfire to see the attackers for himself. “What I saw was dreadful,” he said. A parade of militant Islamic Fulani armed with sticks, machetes and guns