Go and Tell them What is Happening

A message from Nigeria and Afghanistan to the global church

Nigeria

Tall, lean, and relaxed, Jeremiah (not his real name) smiles broadly as he poses with friends for pictures in front of the Fourth Lausanne Congress 2024 backdrop, dressed in the traditional attire of Nigeria. His easy manner would not lead you to suspect that he faces vicious violence every day back home.

Later, he recounts stories of friends and coworkers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for serving Jesus:

‘Leviticus was one of my companions in missionary training. After graduation, he moved with his wife and two children to a predominantly Muslim area where he taught in a Christian school. His students consistently placed first in state competitions.’

‘One day, the Fulani (an ethnic group notorious for Islamist extremism) came and shot him and his son dead in front of his family. They purposely left his wife and daughter alive “to think it over”.’

‘I have another brother who went to work in a community near the Cameroon border. He went with his wife and family and came back alone. His entire family was wiped out. I went to see him, but I was speechless. Like Job’s friends who sat with him for days, I had no word to offer.’

Isis and Boko Haram terrorists have targeted Nigerian Christians for extinction. Last year, an estimated 5,000 Christians worldwide were murdered for the cause of Christ. Four out of five were Nigerians (4,118 to be exact), although close observers believe the true number to be much higher.¹

Persecution of Christians is on the rise globally, according to World Watch List 2024, an annual report compiled by the Netherlands-based Open Doors organization. In 2023, enemies of the faith forced 280,000 Christians to flee their homes, double the number of Christians displaced in 2022. Approximately 15,000 churches and meeting places were attacked or closed in 2023, a seven-fold increase over such incidents recorded the previous year.²

An estimated 365 million Christians around the world suffer for their faith, a number larger than the entire population of the United States, the country with the largest population of confessing Christians in the world.³ Persecution comes in many forms, from the loss of employment or educational opportunity, to children kidnapped and forced to convert to another religion, to imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom.

Jeremiah and his countrymen face this grim reality every day, but it does not deter them from obeying Jesus’ command to make disciples.

‘If discipleship is our interest,’ he says, ‘it means we must share our all with the people. They are living in a place of danger, but they have no place else to go. If the government cannot save them from the clutches of these terrorists, they are doomed.’

‘The emphasis on disciple-making and multiplication as we see with Christ is life on life. There is no way we can make disciples of people with whom we are not sharing our life.’

‘I appreciate the efforts of digital disciple-making, but until there is life transference, you cannot make any disciples for Christ.’

Armed terrorists began killing Nigeria’s Christians with impunity more than a decade ago. Sometimes they stage mass shootings in churches full of Sunday worshippers. More often they invade villages, slaughter the men, women, and children, and torch the homes. Entire communities have disappeared, never to be rebuilt.

Accurate statistics on the carnage are nearly impossible to compile because government officials are quick to bury the dead in mass graves, literally to cover up the crimes. Nigeria’s officials appear more interested in ignoring the violence than in protecting the Christian population.

Despite the unrelenting pressures, the church in Nigeria continues to grow, often at a robust pace. This trend mirrors a worldwide phenomenon. ‘The statistics and stories that highlight rising persecution are sobering,’ the WWL reports, ‘but they point to a greater reality: the church is growing.’⁴

One expert says something surprising about this: ‘In all my years as a researcher, I never saw a clearer connection of a growing church with growing opposition. . . . I find it comforting that the biblical verses predicting this connection are still true.’⁵

Afghanistan

Surprisingly, Afghanistan is another country experiencing robust kingdom growth despite intense persecution. In this radical Islamist state that for much of its history contained but a handful of Christians, Jesus followers have multiplied significantly in the past 40 years, despite two wars and Taliban repression.

‘People tend to think that Afghanistan is too dangerous,’ a medical doctor attending the Fourth Lausanne Congress 2024 says. ‘But there are so many wonderful things happening, even with all the chaotic and very heartbreaking situations.’

‘There are plenty of options of getting involved in what God is doing there. I would say the first and most important thing is ongoing, intercessory prayer for the church. Also, include them in the global church events.’

Jeremiah has a similar message for the global church. ‘A friend, the proprietress of Christian schools in Kaduna state, raised money for me to come to Lausanne,’ he said. “You must go and tell them what is happening in Nigeria,” she told me. ‘And that is how I came to be here.’

Endnotes

1. https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/
2. Open Doors World Watch List 2024, p.7
3. Open Doors World Watch List 2024, p.11
4. Open Doors World Watch List 2024, p.9
5. Open Doors World Watch List 2024, p.9