Civilians and a local militia group fought back against the coordinated attack but were overrun. Reports indicate most of those killed were civilians, including some women and children.

Attacks by JNIM are part of the Muslim extremist push to exert control in Burkina Faso and West Africa. With growing instability in the region, jihadists have been siphoning into Burkina Faso from both the north and east.

Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach (CWO) says, “It’s al Qaeda groups that are coming in and…trying to take over the country…. They keep attacking these villages and targeting even churches. I was just told at one church, they brought 26 men out and killed them; tied them up and killed them right there at the church.”

CWO runs an educational ministry called the Village of Opportunity (VOO) for girls in Burkina Faso. Yoder says, “Some of our girls that come to the Village of Opportunity are from the area that’s being attacked right now, and some of the teachers as well and family of people that that we know.

“Some of the girls are coming back to school early. It’s a boarding school, so they’re leaving their villages to get away from the situation.”

Students at the Village of Opportunity (VOO) with CWO in Burkina Faso. (Photo courtesy of CWO)

One challenge is that the Village of Opportunity classes weren’t supposed to start until next month.

“All of a sudden, now we have costs that we weren’t planning on as far as having the girls there to feed them and house them earlier than expected,” says Yoder.

“But these girls are resilient [and] they’re brave. Their heart is to make a difference somehow because they love the Lord, and they are looking for a better future for themselves and their villages and for Burkina as a whole.”

Pray for believers in Burkina Faso, for their faith and witness to others. Yoder shares, “Our leader there just even expressed that to me this morning – that they’re walking by faith.

“So pray, and if you feel led, give financially. We’re going to be needing to send some relief funds for food for people and people that are being displaced.”

Click here to donate to CWO’s Gospel-centered ministry.

Learn more about CWO in Burkina Faso.

Header photo of Burkina Faso self-defense forces in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Henry Wilkins/VOA – https://www.voaafrique.com/a/au-faso-des-groupes-d-auto-défense-pour-faire-face-à-l-insécurité/6253665.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113757080)

On Christmas Eve, Muslim extremists went on a killing spree that lasted into the following Christmas Day — largely targeting believers, pastors, and their families.

At least 160 people were killed; mostly women, children, and elderly.  Greg Kelley, CEO of Unknown Nations (formerly World Mission), says the death toll could be closer to 300.

However, from both the Nigerian government and the international community, there has been very little outcry.

Kelley says in Nigeria, “There’s been one administration elected after another who these atrocities are falling on deaf ears, and the frustration that is mounting within the Christian community is almost indescribable because these terrorists are attacking ruthlessly these communities.

“I mean, they’re not just killing people. They’re torturing people. They’re taking children from their parents. They’re killing the elderly. They’re taking people’s homes and possessions and just occupying them. It is living hell for these people.”

Nigerian children. (Photo courtesy of Victor Nnakwe/Unsplash)

In 2021, the Biden Administration in the United States removed Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, despite the strong recommendation by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and ongoing bipartisan appeals.

The Biden Administration’s failure to reconsider Nigeria as a CPC means less international pressure on these human rights violations and attacks on Nigerian Christians.

“One of the ways you can put pressure is you put them on these terrorist lists and call it out,” says Kelley. “That affects foreign funding, that affects aid that’s coming in, that affects these meetings that Secretary of State levels are having. In the absence of that, it allows the perpetrators to run scot-free.”

Unknown Nations works with over 150 local missionaries in this area of Nigeria. Kelley says, “We’re constantly having to relocate them when the attacks happen. They’re running for their lives as well along with all the other civilians. So we’re constantly having to move missionaries from place to place.

The astounding thing is, “They’re trying to save their lives and that of their families, but they are as bold and courageous as anyone we’ve ever met. So they will go back in there and they’re happy to share the Gospel in these areas, but it’s the constant disruption. It makes it very difficult for Gospel activity.”

These disciples of Christ are passionately sharing God’s Word in North Eastern Nigeria.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Unknown Nations)

Unknown Nations is currently in touch with Nigerian Christians affected by the Christmas massacre, and offering tangible biblical support.

“There is a ton of trauma that we are dealing with right now for the missionaries and the survivors. So we are really mobilizing into having trauma healing training for those survivors to help them navigate this and to go through a journey in a biblical way.”

Pray for justice, comfort, and deep healing from the trauma. Pray also for the attackers to have profound encounters with Jesus Christ, that they would know God’s forgiveness and grace, and take the Gospel to their own communities.

Pray for the Church and the world to wake up to what is happening to our Nigerian Christian brothers and sisters.

Header photo courtesy of Tope A Asokere/Unsplash.

However, the attacks in these two countries are both so frequent and so deadly, hardly anyone is paying attention anymore.

Greg Kelley with World Mission says, “It reminds me actually of the original missionaries in Africa [and] where the [Muslim] Fulani people group came. Hundreds of years ago they came through the influence of the Middle East. As they launched their attacks as jihadists across Africa, they took one region after another and just conquered these minority groups which…a lot of them were Christian at the time.

Treasure audio Bible distribution in DRC. (Photo courtesy of World Mission)

“Now you have a presence of the Fulani scattered across 15 countries from the far corners of West Africa all the way over into the eastern parts of Nigeria and Niger…. They’re kind of resurrecting some of these issues that happened hundreds of years ago. It’s traumatic to see but it’s radical Islam at the end of the day.”

During the days leading up to Easter, nearly 100 Christians were killed in northern Nigeria by Muslim extremists. In one attack on a Palm Sunday service, the pastor and several worshippers were kidnapped.

In the eastern DRC, at least 69 Christians were killed in three separate attacks last month.

“How do you go on offense? We send the Word of God in there,” says Kelley. “The Bible societies have translated the languages we’re talking about in the Democratic Republic of Congo [and] all throughout Nigeria; all those languages have Bibles. The Body of Christ needs to deploy those! The Word of God is what is going to set the captives free.”

World Mission is distributing their solar-powered audio Bibles called Treasures in both countries. You can support this ministry here.

Meanwhile, two things to pray for: A soft heart for the persecuted Church and changed hearts for the persecutors.

Header photo courtesy of James Wiseman via Unsplash.

The Islamic State in Nigeria previously executed 11 believers on Christmas Day and released the footage worldwide. The gruesome act was to avenge the killing of their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by a US raid in Syria.

The crisis of Christian persecution in Nigeria has crippled the northern part of the country. Boko Haram and Fulani militants ravage the countryside, striking villages and targeting Christians where possible.

A VOM worker recently met with Philip. (Photo, caption courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)

Last year, Muslim extremists killed more than 1,000 Nigerian believers. A worker with Voice of the Martyrs recently met an 8-year-old Christian boy named Philip who lost an eye in a violent Fulani attack on his family. Only Philip and his older sister Grace survived.

These are the stories of our persecuted Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ.

Helen Williams with World Missionary Press says, “It’s a story that must be told and we must keep in our minds because it’s easy for us to read it, feel badly, and go on to the next thing. I think we need to make sure our hearts are touched and are sensitive to this continuing need. It’s not just in Nigeria; but particularly right now in Nigeria, the Church is paying the price there.”

Craving God’s Word

Williams says one of their ministry contacts in Nigeria recently sent an email about the status of displaced believers.

“He said the Church in northern Nigeria is wounded. It’s just been so devastated by the attacks of the militants killing two million homeless, burning churches. They’ve had to escape to refugee camps or IDP camps within their own country.

“He went to one unofficial camp where 40 unassisted families were living in an abandoned market. Thirty-five of the families were headed by widows whose husbands had been killed.”

(Photo courtesy of Pixabay)

These displaced families have many needs like food, shelter, and clothing. But one thing persecuted Nigerian believers can’t get enough of is God’s Word.

WMP’s Nigerian contact says thousands of former Muslims are coming to Christ. Between the flood of new believers and the loss of many Christian leaders at the hands of extremists, there is a great need for biblical discipleship.

That is why WMP recently sent a container to Nigeria with nearly two million Scripture booklets and materials. The shipment will arrive in February, and with such high demand, Williams predicts the literature will be distributed quickly.

“What they want to do is get into there, take our material, and disciple these people. We have not just the Scripture booklets which are…good teaching material, but we also have some Bible studies in some of these languages,” Williams says.

“Getting material into the hands of the believers in southern as well as northern Nigeria is another sign that the Body of Christ worldwide is behind them. In other words, they’ve not been abandoned because it’s difficult.”

Stand With Them

All the biblical literature WMP ships is free to the recipients, but it does carry a price tag for the ministry. That’s where you come in.

“People can contribute!” Williams says. “We’re a ministry. We don’t charge anything…. We rely on the Lord to supply through His people whose hearts are touched to share in the burden that we have to give out the Word.”

Click here to donate to WMP. You can even designate your gift to Nigeria.

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)

Finally, Williams asks believers around the world to stand with them in prayer.

“We pray over our container as it is loaded here…that God will prepare hearts, that there will be a harvest of souls, that the Word will be effective, [and] the Spirit will have the liberty to use the Word.”

Also, she says, “We must support [Nigerian Christians] particularly in prayer — that God would give them strength, give them boldness, but give them peace.”

Header image courtesy of Pixabay.

Reserve soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Earlier this week, a separate group of extremist rebel fighters tried to attack a government outpost, then retreated and holed up in a public elementary school. They took 31 villagers as hostages, including 12 children. After a day of fighting with the government troops that had pursued them, the militants freed the hostages on Wednesday and fled the school.

The Philippines has started working with Indonesia and Malaysia to prevent funds and weapons destined for extremist groups from crossing their borders. The trio of countries has also launched naval patrols to stem any influx of radical Muslim groups. While these Asian nations have a history of ignoring the threat of Muslim extremists whose aim is to establish a caliphate, the recent violence has grabbed international attention and threatened national stability.

Christian Aid Mission’s Steve Van Valkenburg reflects, “I think too that it’s [getting] the government of the Philippines to think more clearly about what they’re facing and what they need to be doing and what’s going to be involved with dealing with the more radical elements within Islam.”

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)

Ministry partners in the Philippines with Christian Aid Mission have been impacted by the violence. They will often send Filipino Christians as evangelists into Muslim-majority communities. But with the extremist attacks taking place, these local Christians now face extra scrutiny and could even become targets. Some of the workers have left; others are laying low or being protected by Muslim neighbors.

Van Valkenburg says it’s also affected their ministry partners’ ability to travel. “There are supposed to be some 12 people coming in to become new [evangelism] workers with Muslims, but because they have to go through that area [of Marawi] and in that area, they’re stranded now and they can’t get out to go to the training.”

According to local news outlets, nearly 200,000 people have been displaced due to the ongoing chaos in Mindanao. Van Valkenburg says they have Filipino ministry partners on the ground giving aid to the displaced families – many of whom are Muslim.

“One interesting timing aspect [is that] this is Ramadan, and they basically are trying to help people come off Ramadan fasting and often it’s like just apples…and clothing, rice, soap, those kinds of things, meeting medical needs. But it’s not really convenient for these people fasting for Ramadan and then having this happen.”

Some of the internally displaced people (IDPs) have family elsewhere in the Philippines they can go and stay with. Often, they’ll divide the household space with a curtain to provide privacy. But with several families in one house, it’s close quarters and they can’t always afford the extra mouths to food. Many families hosting IDP relatives have run out of money.

Wading through flooded farmland in the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of World Mission)

That’s where the local churches are coming in as the hands and feet of Christ with this aid. And now they’re seeing that Christians and churches even from farther regions of the Philippines have been sending support to help these churches around Mindanao in their outreach.

“Their long-term goal would be that when things settle down again, that the people of Marawi City know there are Christians there who they care for them and have shared with them the Gospel, and that they would have a new foothold within the city once things settle down.”

One thing is for sure: this societal upset isn’t going away anytime soon, which is why your prayers are vitally important.

“Pray for the Christians there to know how best to help…these people so they can emotionally deal with what they’re facing and then help them to come around to asking eternal questions.”

Christian Aid also needs your help to provide ongoing support. Van Valkenburg shares, “We sent funds when we first heard about it, but obviously, those funds have been used up and they can always use more funds for that.”

To give through Christian Aid, click here and find the donation option for the Philippines at the bottom of their web page.

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Some of the attacks targeted other Muslims in the community, as explosions detonated in and around the local mosques. David Taylor with Christian Aid Mission says this isn’t surprising, considering Boko Haram’s extremist ideology.

“Boko Haram doesn’t spare anybody. They’ve been attacking both Christians and Muslims, and now that Christians have been driven out of the area, their attack is primarily affecting Muslim people…. They view their version of Islam as being the ‘pure Islam’, so any group that is not conforming with their standards is subject to attack. It’s a way to impose their viewpoint on everybody else.”

A Worldview Devoid of the Gospel

Taylor postures the timing of the attack during Ramadan is also likely not a coincidence. “During Ramadan, it’s a time where Muslims are particularly devoted to their faith…. This is a time when Muslims are thinking about how they can please God — and for many Muslims, that means going on jihad; that means doing things that are, in our eyes, completely evil.”

He says the extremist Islamic worldview and the resulting jihad reveals how Muslims — and all of mankind — are in desperate need of the Gospel.

“For Muslims doing this, they’re doing it because they’re coming from an ideology where they have no assurance of salvation, and the only assurance that Islam gives them is if they die in jihad, they can be right with God. So it’s an amazing contrast between the Gospel and between something that is the complete opposite. And I really think it’s a way for us to understand…how important the Gospel is — that without the Gospel, this is the darkness that results from not having Jesus Christ.”

Adapting Attacks

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has said several times he considers the threat of Boko Haram to be contained. And while it’s true that the Nigerian government has made significant advances to push back Boko Haram militants and reclaim territory, the Muslim extremist group continues to commit heinous crimes in their goal to establish an Islamic caliphate in the nation.

Map of Nigeria.

“The people we’re working with on the ground are telling us that what Boko Haram has done is they’ve kind of adapted to the new situation. Their main places, their main bases of operation have been destroyed, but what they’re doing now is they’re operating from more remote areas in a more guerilla warfare style. So they’re going in and doing surprise attacks like what we saw just recently, and then they retreat back into the forest and into remote areas. So it’s difficult to predict when they will strike and it’s difficult to pursue them because they do it in a very quick way.”

Christian Aid has even witnessed Boko Haram’s effect on their ministry partner’s outreach. “The ministry partner we have been working with, they have been operating in this northeast part of Nigeria for about 20 years, and they had about five mission bases in the area. They’ve had to close down four of them.”

Christ in the IDP Camps

“But it’s also a time of harvest among these people,” assures Taylor. “There are about two million people who have been displaced — one million of them are living in IDP (internally displaced person) camps — and because they’re from many different places, many different villages, many different tribes, [our ministry partner has] been able to continue their work in those IDP camps. They’ve seen more people come to Christ in those camps than in all the previous years in the northeastern part of Nigeria.”

Ministry partners with Christian Aid are helping women rebuild their homes, get farms and livelihoods started, assist in community resettlement, and fold believers into the local Body of Christ.

Taylor says they’ve even see God do the miraculous. “One of the great thing that’s happened is there have actually been people who have come to Christ in these camps who are from Boko Haram. When they’ve seen the love of Christ shared in very practical ways in these camps from Christians, it’s really moved their hearts.”

Loving Nigeria’s Affected Children

Currently, one of the biggest initiatives Taylor says could use your support and prayers is the ongoing ministry to Nigerian children who have been traumatized.

“Boko Haram, their very name literally means ‘Western education is bad, is evil’, so they very specifically target education. They take over schools, they use them as bases of operation, so kids are afraid. They’re afraid to go to school, they’re afraid they could be attacked at any time. Imagine growing up in this environment.

“The ministry partners we work with are very specifically helping kids work through trauma and helping them get into education programs that are safe for them and safe environments. But this is going to leave a whole generation of young people scarred from what they’ve seen. God can use that though. God can use the contrast with the love of His people reaching out.”

Click here if you’d like to give to Christian Aid where most needed as they support ministry initiatives in Nigeria.

And please be in prayer for the children and families who have been devastated by Boko Haram’s attacks. Pray that God would draw near to them and that they would find comfort in the arms of their Heavenly Father.

Pray also for the eyes of Boko Haram fighters to be opened to their need for God’s grace and forgiveness.

Reserve soldiers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Although the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday the city would be freed in three days, now officials are saying it could be longer. The extremist militants have stockpiled enough supplies in the city to last a couple months or more.

Nearly 1,500 civilians have escaped Marawi so far, but it’s estimated another 2,000 remain trapped in areas held by the Muslim extremists. A report from Reuters says citizens fleeing Marawi were often stopped and asked if there were any Christians among them. Many of these civilians covered for their Christian neighbors to help them escape with groups leaving the city.

Even though the Philippines population is mostly Catholic Christian, Frontiers USA’s President Bob Blincoe says the radical Muslim population in the south is getting more and more attention.

“This part of the Philippines in the south has always been a Muslim population, [it] never became Christian or Catholic as did the majority of the Philippines. So here it is rising in the news, but it always has been a place where radicals have found refuge and have stirred the population for the purposes [and] the cause of militant Islam in the world.

(Photo courtesy of World Mission)

“We shouldn’t be surprised [at this situation], but I tell you, I’ve asked the Lord to make it hurt every time for me, because I don’t want to be desensitized to these terrible things that are happening out there. They must hurt the Lord very much. I want them to hurt the Church and me as well.”

Frontiers USA works to bring the Gospel to Muslims and share the love of Christ. They have 21 sending bases outside the U.S., and one is in the Philippines. Blincoe says true peace can only come as the Gospel message is allowed to spread and freely be shared.

“The best thing you can do is to send missionaries and to bring about the purposes of the Lord…. When you have seen peace achieved in the world, it is in the places where the Gospel has come.

“The way to repair the world, the way to reconciliation, the way the walls will fall down is the way of Jesus Christ. His teachings of the Sermon on the Mount is what the world needs now. So if you want to bring about peace, you want to know what Christians should do — we should be sending, we should be sacrificially giving, and yes, we should be praying.”

So how can you pray for the Philippines today? Blincoe suggests, “Let us pray for the Christians in the Philippines. They are being tested in a way that we have never been tested in our country — for the very soul of their country. Let us be praying that their faith would faileth not and that they might have what it takes from the Lord to bring about a witness of the Gospel, the Gospel of peace, in the Southern Philippines.”

Now on Saturday, the extreme Islamic faction attacked another village just 12 miles (20 kilometers) away from Chibok, rubbing salt in an old wound. They looted and burned the village, and abducted 13 more women and children.

Snapshot of video released by Boko Haram last week featuring Chibok girls.

Boko Haram also released footage of several of the Chibok schoolgirls still alive earlier last week. The masked spokesman in the video demands the Nigerian government release imprisoned Boko Haram insurgents, implying a trade.

Voice of the Martyrs, USA’s Todd Nettleton explains, “There is also, behind the scenes apparently, a power struggle going on within Boko Haram…. Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to ISIS, [and] ISIS apparently has recognized a new leader of Boko Haram, a man named Abu Musab al-Barnawi. So this video may be part of that power play as Shekau, the previous leader of Boko Haram, tries to reassert, ‘Wait a minute, I’m still in charge. I’m the guy who has these hostages, these girls. I’m the guy you need to deal with, Nigerian government, if you want to negotiate.’

“So there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, and it’s hard to know exactly what the agenda is in releasing this video at this particular time. But it does show that these girls, at least many of them, are still alive. They are still held by Boko Haram. They claim that 40 of them have been married off to their fighters, but that some of them are still single, still releasable.”

Boko Haram in the Hausa language means “Western education is forbidden”. They began military operations in 2009, targeting Christian villages, churches, and moderate Muslims. Thousands have died at the hands of this Muslim extremist branch.

“Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim. The Christians there are the minority. They know they’re at risk, they know they’re in danger. Going to church is something they don’t take for granted because they know sometimes churches are targeted, sometimes Christians go to church and they don’t come home,” Nettleton shares.

Since joining the Islamic State, Boko Haram considers itself the “West African province” of ISIS. The Nigerian forces have made significant advances to contain Boko Haram and recapture territory, but it’s not enough.

(Photo courtesy of Tim Green via Flickr under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic: https://goo.gl/Fyvy4b)

While the world’s eyes are trained on ISIS in the Middle East, the events of last week remind the us that Nigeria’s Boko Haram fighters are still at-large.

When considering the world’s general inattention to the Boko Haram crisis, Nettleton reflects, “I’ve often wondered why that is, if it’s [because] Africa is farther away, if there’s an element of even sort of racial prejudice that plays into the lack of coverage of suffering in Africa. But these pop up in the news occasionally, [that] by the way, those girls are still taken captive. But this has been more than two years now since they were taken hostage.

“There have been negotiations with the Nigerian government, there has been talk of some kind of military rescue. Boko Haram says if you try that, they will all die. So it is an ongoing story that just seems like it will never go away, and when you think about these girls who are held captive, this is a tragedy for them. If we think about what they are likely going through as Christian captives of Islamic terrorists, it really is horrendous.”

If Nigerian Christians know their spiritual brothers and sisters around the world have not forgotten them and are currently lifting them up in prayer, that alone would be an immense encouragement, says Nettleton.

“The most important thing we can do is to pray for them. That would be their request. Pray that God will protect them, but pray that they’ll stay encouraged and stay bold in their witness.”

Additionally, Nettleton offers a rather unconventional, yet necessary prayer request.

“We also want to pray for the persecutors. We want to pray that Boko Haram fighters will encounter Christians and hear the Gospel message, perhaps even supernaturally through dreams and visions, that they will meet Jesus Christ in a personal way. We never want to forget that as we’re praying for those who are persecuted, the Bible also calls us to pray for the persecutors as well.”

It may be surprising, but it is already happening, and Muslim persecutors are indeed coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Nettleton has even met a few of them.

“Several years ago, I was in Nigeria and met some former Muslims who has come to Jesus Christ, some of whom who had persecuted Christians. They were the persecutor, they were the Saul and now they’re the Paul, they’re the people who are following Jesus Christ.

“I’ll never forget one of them because he said his favorite thing to do in the world is to sit down with a Mullah (an Islamic leader) and a new Testament and talk to him one-on-one. Now, he said if you sit down with a group of Mullahs, they’ll never admit that you have a point. They’ll never admit any curiosity about Christianity or Jesus. But if you sit down one-on-one, they have a ton of questions they want to ask. They’ll talk about where Jesus is referred to in the Koran and they’ll say, ‘Hey, what does this mean? Why does it say this?’

“So he’s able to take out a New Testament, and as a former, very strong, well-trained Muslim, he knows their way of thinking. He’s able to take out a New Testament and say, ‘Let me share this story. Let me show you what this says about Jesus Christ.’ And he says it’s his very favorite thing to do in the world is to sit down in a conversation like that one-on-one. So God is at work. Muslims are being reached with the Gospel message. Their hearts are being changed, and really that’s an answer to our prayers.”

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

If you’d like to come alongside Voice of the Martyrs’ ministry to the persecuted Church, Nettleton says they are collecting Bibles to give to Christians in hostile and restricted nations.

Last year, Voice of the Martyrs distributed over 1.2 million copies of God’s Word. Just $6 pays for one Bible. Click here if you’d like to give!

June marked the third year since protests removed President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power. Religious tolerance, however, has not improved since then.

It was also in June this year that an angry Muslim mob looted and burned 80 Christian homes.

Several news sources, including Ahram Online News, shares terrifying incidents that have taken place since May. One story details an angry mob dragging a 70-year-old Christian women naked through the streets. Rumors that her son, also a Christian, was having a relationship with a Muslim woman sparked the uproar.

SAT-7, a Christian satellite television ministry to the Middle East and North Africa, has also taken notice of the increased violence. We spoke with SAT-7’s Rex Rogers to learn more.

Coptic Christians living in fear

Rogers describes the events as situations spiraling out of control and causing fear among Christians: “Mobs attacking people, mobs attacking churches. There’s record of Christian women who are greatly concerned about kidnapping and rape,” he says.

Many of these women have been so afraid of their religious affiliation attracting violence that they’ve changed their Christian names to fit in better.

Christians in Egypt have difficulty, not only with building new churches, but even remodeling the ones they have.

It’s extremely difficult to rebuild in cases where churches have been burned down. Christians will wait in long lines to get permissions to build their church, and will often be ignored.

Persecution: a cry for attention

Rogers explains that in the past, Coptic Christians were generally left alone because they don’t usually proselytize. But with the rise of Islamic extremism, this is no longer true. He says these extremists attack to gain attention for themselves.

“It’s still extremists who hate Christians and Christianity, who hate Christ, who hate the Church, and who see attacks on them as a means of shoring up their status and stature within their group. And they religiously believe this is a great thing to do.”

Our support

Though we may feel helpless from across the world, there are many things we can do to help our Christian brothers and sisters.

We can start with prayer, Rogers says, and let ministries working in these areas know we are praying. This is especially helpful for SAT-7 as a television broadcast.

“You can get on air and speak to 20 million people in the Middle East and North Africa, it’ll be accessible to 500 million, and we can say to all those people, ‘Western Christians are aware, they are praying for you. They are part of the Body of Christ, they know you’re part of the Body of Christ.”

You can also give to SAT-7 or other ministries working in the area. Rogers says very little money is coming from Western civilization to reach the Middle East. And yet, so many people there are looking for hope only be found in the Gospel.

SAT-7 reaches out to viewers with the Gospel, with discussions on relevant topics, and other resources including shows for children.

To support SAT-7 financially, click here.

The Muslim extremists then rounded up cafe patrons and staff, forcing them to recite Koran verses. Those who passed were separated from the others and given food and water. The rest were tortured and killed — mostly foreigners. They included citizens from the US, India, Japan, and Italy.

View of Dhaka, Baghdad (Photo courtesy of Marufish via Flickr)

The gunmen let some hijab-dressed women leave the cafe. One Bangladeshi young man was with two young women dressed in western clothing. When the gunmen told the young man he could leave as well, he refused and chose to stay with his companions. He was also among those found dead at the scene.

After a nine hour standoff, Bangladeshi special forces were able to fight their way into the cafe. Most of the gunmen were killed in the offensive; one was arrested.

Since the attack on Friday, ISIS has taken credit for it. But Bruce Allen of Forgotten Missionaries International (FMI) says the Bangladesh government would rather blame someone else.

“Islamic State claims responsibility for Friday’s attack, but the Bangladeshi government continues to deny that Islamic State even operates within the country. Instead they insist that the attack was the work of local terrorists.”

Allen was just in Bangladesh last week. He says, “I’ve been traveling across Asia in the world’s three largest Muslim-dominant countries during these past few weeks of Ramadan. About 30 hours before the hostage situation occurred in Dhaka which resulted in the deaths of 21 people at a restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital, I was walking with members of FMI’s indigenous leadership team here near the area where the attack would later occur. We were discussing the state of ministry in the country.

“Following our completion of assessments of several pastors’ ministries during field visits in rural western Bangladesh, we had returned to the capital. Our national director for Bangladesh told me, ‘There are many threats against the Christian community and other minorities here. The biggest threat is terrorism.’ And his words proved right within a matter of hours.”

The attack in Bangladesh preceded another assault by ISIS in Baghdad, Iraq on Saturday. A suicide truck bomber detonated in a crowded shopping mall. That death toll has risen to 200 over the last few days and has made the Baghdad bombing Iraq’s single deadliest attack.

While there are threats to minorities in Muslim-majority countries like Bangladesh and Iraq, Christians are still advancing the Gospel to their Muslim neighbors, planting churches and baptizing new believers.

(Map courtesy of Asian Access)

Allen says, “There are serious risks here in Bangladesh, which church planters need to identify and manage. But they are prepared to not shrink back from the opportunities that await them as the Lord continues to draw Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists in this country to Himself.”

FMI works with Christian partners in Bangladesh specifically to advance the cause of Christ in that nation.

“Across the country, we’re providing our church-planting partners with cartons of Scripture for use among their church members and discipleship and also for evangelism in their communities…. We want to help the local congregations understand that ministry is not just the pastor’s job, but that Jesus calls all His followers to be salt and light and ambassadors of the Gospel,” Allen shares.

In Bangladesh, 89 percent of the population is Muslim, 10 percent are Hindus, and the last one percent includes Buddhists and Christians. The Open Doors World Watch List ranks the level of Christian persecution in Bangladesh at a moderate level. Christians and minorities experience most of their challenges in the country from Muslim extremist groups and family members.

Despite all this, Allen says they are seeing the number of Christians growing in Bangladesh.

“We had the privilege of watching as new followers of Jesus Christ, some of whom had come out of minority Hindu families, get baptized. Then we sat in the homes of their extended families and shared the Gospel with them.”

“Our team from the US also delivered the gift of a much-needed motorcycle, provided by Mission Network News listeners, to one pastor who has planted churches in three different remote villages, and he spends his time divided among them. But with this gift of the motorcycle he can spend less time hiking from place to place and more time in actual ministry. He says he’s going to start outreach in a fourth village!”

Please lift these prayer requests before God:

1. Pray for Christians in Bangladesh to have a hopeful and compassionate posture towards their persecutors, and that other minorities and foreigners would take notice.
2. Pray for the Christian witness to lead many others in Bangladesh and Iraq to know Jesus Christ.
3. Pray that Muslims in Bangladesh would know the truth of God’s salvation message.
4. Ask God to send encouragement and healing among the families who lost loved ones in the Bangladesh and Iraq attacks.
5. Pray for those currently fighting for ISIS, that they would experience miraculous conviction of the Holy Spirit and find redemption in Jesus Christ — just as the Apostle Paul himself persecuted the early Church before God turned his life around.

You can sign up for FMI’s quarterly prayer letter, or set up a partnership between your family or church and one of these courageous national church planters advancing the Good News of Christ.