Nigeria (MNN) — On Tuesday, radical Muslim militants attacked two villages in western Nigeria and killed at least 162 people. It is the deadliest Islamist attack Nigeria has seen in several months.
Last week Thursday, Boko Haram fighters also struck a town in northern Nigeria and killed at least 25 people.
We spoke with Unknown Nations’ Greg Kelley, who was recently in Nigeria, where the ministry supports Gospel outreach efforts.
He says, “What I heard is that a whole lot of these insurgents have scattered into neighboring countries like Chad and Niger to sort of take cover. But we can’t be misguided. They are organized. They wait for their moments. They target very vulnerable targets like schools, hospitals, [and] very remote areas as they’re doing the kidnapping and attacking, and it’s a great frustration.”
(Photo courtesy of Moses Adeyemi/Unsplash)
Ongoing terror attacks in Nigeria can fade in and out of the news cycle. But Kelley encourages the global Body of Christ to remain diligent in praying for and calling attention to these tragedies.
“We’ve just been desensitized to the atrocities that are going on there,” says Kelley. “We’re talking about a country where more people are killed for their faith in Christ than the rest of the world combined, which is a staggering statistic.”
The problem goes deeper than regional and political powers. Kelley says it’s ultimately a spiritual conflict.
Nigeria is a unique country in its religious landscape. The population is roughly split between Christians and Muslims, with most Christians living in the South, and majority Muslims in the North. “All this carnage that’s taking place is largely in the majority Muslim areas where they’re trying to eradicate Christianity.”
“There’s a vibrant, dynamic Church in the South that is largely not engaged in reaching out and taking the Gospel to the North, and that is really a massive issue in Nigeria,” Kelley says.
“We need to see the largely Christian populations — the Igbo people, the Yoruba people that live in the South — mobilizing themselves and going up to the Fulani, the Kanuri, the Hausa — which are the three dominant people groups in the North that are 99% Muslim.”
Kelley believes that, ultimately, this hesitancy from Christians in the South to reach into the North stems from complacency.
(Image courtesy of Unknown Nations)
“I think that they have been convinced that missions among themselves and planting churches in the south is a form of the Great Commission. And I wouldn’t argue that. We always want to have outreach in our communities…. But they have not gotten into their minds that the ends of the earth is the northern part, and [they need to] mobilize resources in that direction, send missionaries in that direction, [and] distribute Bibles in that direction.”
Despite the dangers, our Christian brothers and sisters in northern Nigeria are faithful witnesses for Christ.
“Those Christians are white hot for the Gospel!” Kelley says. “They understand persecution, they understand perseverance, they understand dealing with adversity, and being courageous and bold. They understand all those things. They don’t leave because they know that if they leave, who is going to bring the Gospel into the north?”
Please pray for believers in northern Nigeria to remain steadfast and protected as they follow Christ. Pray for courage and obedience among Christians in southern Nigeria to take the Gospel north. And pray for God to soften hearts among Nigeria’s unreached Muslim communities, drawing many to saving faith in Jesus.
You can learn more about Unknown Nations’ ministry in Nigeria at unknownnations.com.
Header photo: (Photo courtesy of Nnaemeka Ugochukwu/Unsplash)
