Mali’s capital, Bamako, has been without fuel imports since September. Surrounding cities and communities are suffering too, as insurgents use a favorite strategy. 

“They are avoiding direct confrontation by attacking many cities. By imposing a blockade, it is another way to put high pressure on the government or security forces,” says Illia Djadi with Open Doors International. He serves as the senior analyst for freedom of religion and belief in sub-Saharan Africa.

The central Sahel countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger are some of the poorest in the world, Djadi explains. Though their governments are willing to fight, they have little capacity to oppose well-equipped insurgents. They are also the only countries where both an al-Qaeda-linked group and an Islamic State-affiliated group are active.

“That’s why this region —central Sahel — has become now the new epicenter of international jihad, or international terrorism,” Djadi says. “The Islamists are putting a lot of pressure on the countries and the population living there. It is a very fragile context. That’s why the pressure on the Christian minority is also high.”

Whether tied to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, these insurgents share the same ideology and goal: to establish a caliphate and impose Sharia law. As they gain control, they are scattering the local church. 

“Their primary target is Christians. When they first attacked Mali in 2012, they attacked and destroyed churches. They killed Christians, and many of them fled northern Mali to elsewhere, to become internally displaced, or refugees in neighboring countries,” says Djadi.

Flag of Mali (Stock photo courtesy of Aboodi Vesakaran via Pexels)

They will tell Christians, “This is the deal: convert to Islam, or be killed.” Many believers who have the choice will escape to another region, often arriving empty-handed and having witnessed terrible violence. Christians who can’t escape either lose their lives or live under heavy restrictions and taxation.

Ask God to strengthen believers in Mali with resilience and faithfulness to the end. Pray for global support for Mali’s leaders, that they may be able to fulfill their responsibility to protect their citizens.

“This is a forgotten crisis, but it’s a major crisis which has displaced millions in the Sahel and elsewhere,” says Djadi.

“Let’s continue to pray, but let’s continue also to provide support, because they are in need of support. At Open Doors, we are working closely with partner churches locally: how to provide the basics for the Christians living there, how to provide trauma care, and how to provide food for them to feel like they are not alone in these difficult circumstances.”

Header image is a stock photo courtesy of Alfred Dena via Pexels.

Helen Williams from World Missionary Press recalls the time local partners were delivering containers from Togo to Niger:

“They asked for prayer going through Burkina Faso because of the robbers and the unrest and the potential violence. They also had an army or police escort. So it is very, very dangerous there!”

Girl pushing a bicycle on a field in Burkina Faso (Photo courtesy of Murat Kahraman via Pexels)

Despite the dangers, Williams describes the workers as “terrific,” highlighting their joy and determination to bring literature to communities thirsting for the Good News and solid biblical teaching. “It’s a needy area,” she says, “but the Lord is meeting the need through His Word and His people.”

The threat of armed danger is not the only challenge these workers face. Unpredictable complications from some authorities also add to their burden. In one case, a government official failed to complete the necessary documents on time. In another, the government changed how they categorized the shipment upon arrival at the port, which altered both the paperwork and payment fees.

“It’s a difficult place right now, but all of these years, the Lord’s just always made a way, and He’s had faithful ones that are willing to stay with the work and ask for the literature,” says Williams.

Despite these challenges, local workers remain steadfast and unwavering in their call to share the Word with those in need. If anything, the obstacles only strengthen their resolve:

“They don’t give up, and they continue, and they know that it’s for souls, and they go, and they show the love of Christ and give the Word. And I believe the Lord’s going to honor that in bringing many in these nations to the Lord as a result of their faithfulness.”

Portrait of an elderly woman in Burkina Faso (Photo courtesy of Afrique Ayele-y via Pexels)

The World Missionary Press and local workers rely on prayers and practical support to continue sharing the Word. Pray that orders from global communities for Christian literature can be fulfilled. Pray also for the safety of the workers delivering the containers and for their faith to be strengthened by the abundant fruit of their labor.

Michelle adds, “I’m encouraged, and I believe that the Lord has a lot of things for World Missionary Press to do to support the work around the world, in so many places.” Visit their website here to learn more!

Header photo: Close-up of a World Map. Photo courtesy of Mart Production/Pexels.

Islamic terror groups are rampantly active in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. They’ve been wreaking havoc in the Central Sahel region since 2015.

“On one hand, this is an expression of ‘Hey, we will not tolerate this anymore. We want to be known as a region of prosperity, not a region defined by insecurity,’” Greg Kelley of Unknown Nations, formerly World Mission, says.

“It’s hard for them to move forward economically [with] constant upheaval. The other piece of it (the alliance) is their efforts to become less dependent on Western aid.”

Challenges remain, however. While recent coups have propelled military leaders to power, these takeovers also signal regional instability and a power vacuum that terrorists may exploit.

The Sahel region had more deaths from terrorism last year than South Asia and the Middle East/North Africa regions combined. Attacks have left three million people homeless in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

“You have these (terrorist) groups wandering through and causing so much turmoil, and you have [millions of] people that are being displaced. [These conditions] make it very difficult to share the Gospel,” Kelley says.

“Insecurities absolutely impact Gospel efforts among the largely unreached people groups in these countries.”

Nonetheless, believers offer help and hope in the name of Jesus. “The indigenous leaders are very well positioned because they understand the dynamics,” Kelley says.

“Indigenous leaders are ready to take the Gospel into the (unreached) places; they just need a motorcycle; they need some humanitarian aid or assistance.”

Unknown Nations provides the tools and resources necessary for outreach. Here’s how you can help. Most importantly, pray. “The Lord gave us specific instructions,” Kelley says.

“He said, ‘Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers.’”

Header image courtesy of Unknown Nations.

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“I’ve been going there for a couple of decades now, and it (persecution) seems to be getting worse and worse,” Greg Musselman with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada says.

“Yet in the middle of all that, we also see how God is working. The number of Muslims coming to Jesus is overwhelming.”

Even though political and economic challenges threaten national stability, hope remains for Nigeria.

“Fuel prices tripled in just a few months. People can’t afford fuel; they can’t afford food; there have been threats of national strikes,” Musselman says.

“When there is a lot of uncertainty, people tend to be more open to the Gospel.”

(Photo courtesy of VOM Canada)

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is on Sunday. We shared yesterday how believers in the United States are preparing, but U.S. churches aren’t the only ones involved in this annual awareness and intercession event.

“For those [reading this report] in Canada, [you can] find all the information” you need to participate on IDOP.ca, Musselman says.

“One of the countries we’re focusing on this year is Nigeria. It is the most dangerous place in the world in terms of the deaths of believers.”

Share these IDOP resources with your church family, and remember – we know the One who holds Nigeria in His hands.

“The number one thing that we can do is to pray,” Musselman says.

“As the Holy Spirit gets a hold of our hearts, we can practically help in whatever ways the Lord directs us.”

Header and story images courtesy of VOM Canada.

Gathering of ISIS militants on Mali-Niger border in 2021.
(Wikimedia Commons)

The U.S. had relied on the French army to help fight growing extremism in West Africa and the Sahel.

The Sahel region had more deaths from terrorism last year than South Asia and the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) combined.

World Mission’s Greg Kelley says, “I think France’s withdrawal is disappointing. But it doesn’t have a huge impact as far as the Gospel is concerned.”

French troops were in place at Niger’s invitation, helping to control extremism. A military coup in late July followed rising anti-French sentiment.

“If you were to ask the people inside of Niger, they would say the corruption has taken over the country. Even though it’s a democracy, it’s almost like a dictatorship,” Kelley says.

“The degree of corruption and how they rule is so alarming that the people would rather have the military in control.”

As power changes hands at the government level, church planters keep their eyes on Jesus and remember their mission.

“Less than one percent of those living in Niger have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That needs to be the focus,” Kelley says.

Send audio Bibles and empower church planters through World Mission here.

Header image is an orthographic map showing Niger’s location in West Africa. (Wikimedia Commons) 

David Durance with TeachBeyond says, “Our concern is for this next generation. How is this next generation going to be raised? And is this going to be now a long-lasting place of instability?”

Schooling across the Sahel in particular has taken a hit with widespread unrest, and it’s kids who pay the price.

(Photo courtesy of TeachBeyond)

Durance says, “The unknown part of this is just how long this would take to resume services and bring some sort of normalcy. As we’ve seen elsewhere, it can stretch from all being one week to now weeks to months, and then kids will have missed a whole year of education. And how do we pick up after that? It’s always a huge challenge.

“I think that’s the big difference between natural disasters where you can quite quickly say, ‘All right, in a month, we’re going to be able to resume.’ When you have a coup, when you have uprisings, when you have unrest, we just don’t know.”

When they’re out of school, children are susceptible to recruitment by extremist groups and traffickers.

TeachBeyond supports displaced children wherever they can across the Sahel with Gospel-based education.

“The second is looking at working with these kids that have come out of these environments and recognizing that sticking them inside a regular classroom with regular teaching is not going to be effective. We need to deal with the issues that have happened – so thinking through trauma-informed education.”

Pray for these kids to learn to love God with all their minds and hearts! And pray also for stability and wise, godly leaders in the Sahel region.

Header photo courtesy of TeachBeyond.

However, there are more than 3 billion people around the world who don’t know God. Often, they don’t even know a single Jesus follower who can tell them that God listens to their prayers.

Many of these people are concentrated across five geographic areas: the Sahel (1), the Arabian Peninsula (2), the North Caucasus (3), South Asia (4) and the Mekong (5).

By spending time in prayer for people who do not yet know God’s amazing love, we align our hearts and minds with His, and open ourselves to how He might desire to use us for His work in the world.

Here’s a bit about what OM is doing in each of these regions:

The Sahel

In the eastern region of the Sahel, Christians make up less than 4% of the population, while in the western countries, there are still very few. Like their neighbors, believers face many hardships, including food insecurity and internal displacement. Many Christians also face religious persecution. But through Jesus, the Sahel has hope, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus followers there are equipping believers to make disciples.

OM comes alongside local Jesus followers who are passionate about sharing the transforming love of Jesus with the people of their country. OM provides training, discipleship tools and, in some cases, small business consulting to help local Jesus followers earn a sustainable living while they share the gospel message throughout the country. OM also supports Jesus followers seeking to be Jesus’ hands and feet by providing physical aid and engaging in relief efforts for those in need.

The Arabian Peninsula

It’s reported than there are fewer than 1,000 Jesus followers among Arabs in the region. Not only do believers suffer government persecution, but they also struggle to find community with other Christians and places to freely worship Jesus. Nevertheless, God is working. Many young people in the country are open to hearing the good news of salvation, and Jesus followers are actively living out the love of Christ to their Muslim neighbors.

OM supports and encourages Jesus followers in the Arabian Peninsula (AP) who seek to authentically live out their faith among those who do not know Jesus. OM comes alongside those who seek to pray for and bless people living in the AP and look for opportunities to answer questions about what Christians really believe. OM fosters a movement of prayer for those who have never experienced God’s love and equips those sharing truth through a variety of social media and online channels.

The North Caucasus

The church is small in the North Caucasus, and it can be difficult for Christians to share the message of Jesus’ love with their neighbors in the face of cultural pressure and persecution. The region is particularly difficult to reach with the gospel message because of political instability, government corruption and ethnic strife. Amid these difficulties, though, believers are living out the love of Jesus that brings peace and unity.

OM comes alongside Jesus followers who move to the North Caucasus to work and share their faith and life with local people. To find more skilled professionals who will go to the region, OM is liaising with churches across Russia to encourage more businessmen and women to investigate how they, too, could serve God through their jobs among a people group who don’t know Him.

South Asia

The nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh comprise the region of South Asia and are three of the top five nations with the highest number of people who don’t know the message of Jesus. South Asia is home to more than 1.5 billion people, and the sheer number of those without easy access to the gospel is overwhelming.

Hinduism and Islam are the two most popular religions in South Asia. It’s projected that, by 2030, India will have more Muslims than any other country in the world. Communities of Jesus followers face prejudice and oppression from family and the culture at large, causing many to fear reaching out to their Muslim and Hindu neighbors. There’s also been an increase in terrorist attacks against Christians, as well as anti-blasphemy laws targeting Christ followers.

Still, the people of South Asia are hospitable and friendly, and the local church benefits from deep historical roots. Ministry throughout the region takes a holistic approach, with Christian believers sharing the truth of the Bible alongside practical service assisting refugees, contributing to education and community development, rescuing women and children from trafficking, training local Jesus followers to reach their own communities and more.

The Mekong

The vast majority of people in the Mekong have never heard of Jesus or even met a Jesus follower. Historically, the presentation of the gospel was coupled with the message of abandoning one’s culture, which caused many to view the message of Christ as a form of colonialism. For this reason, growth of Jesus followers often occurs through the work of same- and near-culture believers who can contextualize the gospel message.

OM in the Mekong is partnering with church leaders to equip committed Jesus followers to engage in meaningful social work and live out God’s love in places that lack access to the gospel. From distributing food to people who are homeless to visiting children with special needs to organizing and sponsoring educational programs for children affected by poverty, OM team members and partners seek to show God’s love in action and develop relationships with people in need.

Through these bridges, those who are interested can learn about the gospel and receive further discipleship.

Jesus followers are also using their God-given talents to establish themselves in credible positions throughout society. By living out God’s love in their workplaces, operating with integrity and acting out biblical values through business decisions, they have opportunity to shine for Jesus in a place where He is not widely known. In partnership with other organizations, OM is mobilizing more believers in Christ to pursue Kingdom-driven, sustainable business in the region’s secular environment and providing ongoing coaching to those already following God’s call to this part of the Mekong region.

Header image courtesy of Operation Mobilization. 

The West African coalition ECOWAS says it could use force against Niger if coup leaders don’t reinstate the President. Military leaders in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso back the rebellion, saying any foreign intervention is a declaration of war.

Burkina Faso and Mali are “standing up in support of the coup because they just had military coups; they don’t want the attention drawn to them,” World Mission’s Greg Kelley says.

“Meanwhile, the West is kind of fumbling, not sure how to handle it.”

Emergency evacuations of French and other European nationals began yesterday. Plus, “a lot of countries in Europe are pulling their aid,” Kelley says.

“The tragedy of that is Niger is one of the poorest countries, not just in Africa, but in the entire world.”

Analysts say Niger stood as the West’s last hope to combat extremist expansion in the Sahel. As noted earlier this month, the new global epicenter of authoritarian rule and terrorism lies in West and Central Africa.

(Photo by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay)

On July 26, presidential security forces ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, holding him captive in his home. Yesterday, military police arrested five members of Bazoum’s administration.

Today, the reality on the ground is constantly changing. “It’s a very fluid story that’s changing by the hour,” Kelley says.

“Most people living in Niger don’t even know what’s happening. They are just trying to survive the day.”

World Mission remains committed to local church partners.

“When something like this happens, it’s a real opportunity for the Body of Christ to come alongside suffering people in the name of Jesus. It gives them a platform of hope,” Kelley says.

Believers demonstrate Christ’s love by “giving them a helping hand, whether it’s food [or] water; our solar-powered audio Bibles become a real source of inspiration and blessing.”

Send help through World Mission here. Ask the Lord to sustain and strengthen Gospel workers in Niger.

In the header image, Niger’s then-Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazou speaks at a 2011 security summit, saying the Sahel has become “a powder keg” as a result of the Libya crisis. Today, Nigerien President Mohamed Bazou remains in coup leaders’ custody. (Wikimedia Commons)

Religious freedom was not on the agenda, but Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says it should’ve been.

“One of the challenges for Christians in Africa is the rise of radical Islam. There are connections between that and economic activity because if you’re running for your life, you’re not planting crops [or] looking for oil,” Nettleton says.

“Stopping terrorism and persecution has economic benefits, but it seems that often is overlooked.”

Persecution in Central Africa rose so much this year that VOM is tracking two new countries. See the countries VOM monitors here. “Mozambique is on that new map [and] the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Nettleton says.

“Islamist rebel groups in DRC are specifically kidnapping, attacking Christians, and killing pastors.”

Militant Islamist activity has been steadily rising in the continent since 2013. Violent attacks increased eightfold in the Sahel region between 2015 and 2020.

A nurse overheard Dalo praying for his persecutors when he arrived at the hospital. (Photo courtesy VOM USA)

Now that you know, what will you do? “The first thing we do is pray. God can work in Africa when we pray in America,” Nettleton says.

You can also help displaced believers through VOM USA.

“I think another thing we can do is make sure our government leaders know that we care about our Christian brothers and sisters in Africa. It’s important for us who live in a democracy to have a voice and let our government leaders know this is important to us,” Nettleton says.

“They are elected officials. In theory, they work for us; we get to set their priorities. And we need to let them know religious freedom is a priority.”

Find your representative here.

In the header image, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken delivers remarks at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Foreign Ministers Dinner at the Department of State on December 14, 2022. [State Department photo by Freddie Everett/ Public Domain] 

Sub-Saharan Africa is “the new global terrorism hotspot,” Foreign Policy claims. Terrorist attacks constantly put Nigeria in the headlines, and Islamic State affiliates tried to secure control of the Mali-Niger border at the end of May.

Jesus is working throughout Africa as well. “There’s so much the Lord is doing, and the literature is a large part of that,” Helen Williams of World Missionary Press says.

“I’ve recently met with several African leaders, and they all feel that this is Africa’s time.”

A new opportunity

Scripture booklets printed by World Missionary Press are the “fuel” a new partner needs to plant churches in 26 African countries. Islamist groups like Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and the Fulani seek to control land and people in many of these nations.

“The early Church went to every home with the Gospel. It’s a good model for the Church in the last days. Every person deserves to be given an opportunity to hear the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.” –WMP church planting partner in Lesotho
(Photo, caption courtesy of World Missionary Press)

WMP’s new church planting partner is working in “Sudan, Gambia, Chad, Mali, and Niger; some of these are hard places for the Gospel. [The ministry partner is] in the French part of Africa and the Sahel region, which is particularly difficult,” Williams says.

“The literature is a great tool to leave with people and use for training.”

By supporting WMP, you can help church planters in Africa get the tools they need for outreach and discipleship. “These opportunities keep coming, and we cannot meet them without the support of those who pray and give and hold us up before the Lord,” Williams says.

“We can’t just suddenly make it happen; we look to the Lord for the income to buy the paper, pay for the containers, etc.”

Praise God for doing great and mighty things in Africa! “This ministry has grown,” Williams says, speaking of WMP’s new partner.

“Even in difficult circumstances, in Muslim-dominated areas, they see people come to the Lord.”

Header and story images courtesy of World Missionary Press.