Stories from the Field: Nigeria

Stories from the Field: Nigeria

My name is Emily and I am a staff member at Open Doors USA. This past September, I had the opportunity to go to Nigeria to meet with some of our persecuted brothers and sisters. Nigeria is ranked as the 13th most difficult place to be a Christian on the Open Doors World Watch List and last year, more than 800 Christians died as a result of persecution.

In the months leading up to this trip, God began to place the Christians of Nigeria on my heart. It seemed like almost every weekend, I had read about another attack on a Nigerian church in the news. I remember reading one story in particular.

"Two victims died in the most recent church attack in Nigeria," I said to my husband.

Comparatively, that really was amazing (especially since many of the other attacks had taken the lives of up to 60 people in a single incident). There were more than 600 people in attendance that day and a suicide bomber had driven up to the front of the church to set off a bomb in his car. I was truly amazed that there were not more causalities and was thankful that so many had survived, despite being saddened by the loss of two lives.

Little did I know that less than two months later, I would actually meet some of the survivors of this very attack and others like it.

Below are the stories of Hannatu, Usman and Grace, three Christians I met while I was in Nigeria. Would you take a moment to read each of their stories, to learn more about persecution in Nigeria and how you can be praying for our suffering brothers and sisters there?

Thank you for being One With Them,
Emily

Hannatu's Story

Usman's Story

Grace's Story