Nigeria: Christian community devastated by jihadist attacks worships God in burnt-out church on Good Friday

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Nigerian Christian farming community that was devastated in brutal attacks by Fulani militant herdsmen on the Easter weekends of both 2021 and 2022 gathered to worship God in the burnt-out roofless shell of their former church building in Nigeria’s Plateau State on Good Friday (April 7) this year, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Fulani jihadist herdsmen have murdered tens of thousands of Christians in Nigeria since 2015, and continue to slaughter and displace believers with impunity.

A member of ICC staff attended the worship service, and found some 300 people, including adults, children, and senior citizens assembled at their former church. “Most were seated on the floor, others on stones,” the ICC member reported. “The few who could afford it sat on plastic chairs they bought for themselves.”

In the 2021 attack, the Fulani herdsmen burnt the church, the pastor’s house, and more that 500 other homes in a village of 2,000 Christians, ICC reports. Those whose homes were destroyed were displaced to Jos City, at 35 km from their village, or to the main town of Miango.

The militants attacked the village again in 2022, destroying more homes as well as essential crops. “We lost everything in the community and the government refused to help because we are Christians,” the church’s pastor told ICC.

Nevertheless, during the service, the pastor preached from Mark 15, encouraging the church to forgive those who had attacked them for the sake of Christ who died for their sins, ICC reports.

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