'All we want is for the killings in Nigeria to stop'

“Here in this grave are 22 people who were killed. All of them were Christians. Just like how my wife and children were killed. All we want is for the killings of Christians in Nigeria and Africa to stop.”

In a small rural northern Nigerian village, Pastor Josiah stands alongside his daughter Salama* at the edge of a mass grave, where he has just led the village in a time of remembrance for all those they have lost. The mass grave is simple, in fields on the edge of the village, marked by rocks laid in the shape of a cross at the center.

This father and daughter know what this community is feeling.They have lost many members of their own family to the same violence—the extremism currently besieging parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

The martyrs

“Rowland loved singing in the church band. No matter the church he went to, he would join them and sing,” Josiah says, talking about one of his sons as he looks through precious family photographs

“Jonathan was never lazy, always up and doing things. He was very hardworking.

“Timothy was a quiet person. He was always calm and resourceful.

“This is my favorite photo of my wife and I together, it was the first picture of us as a married couple.” Josiah stops, gazing down at the picture. After a long pause, he continues, “My wife was an industrious woman. She was hospitable—no one came to the house without her attending to them. She was considerate, to the point that she allowed me to shine in the public eye whilst she looked after our home. Her spiritual life made me proud. Her favorite song said, ‘Oh Jesus, well of peace and rest. Your name is comfort to me. Whatever suffering I face in the world, whatever evil the enemy plans, my heart will not be disturbed. Because I find rest and safety in your name.’”

Pastor Josiah pauses, beginning to weep, remembering his wife, Rebekah, and their three sons.

‘Did she die?’

“On November 28, 2022, I woke up to the sound of gunfire surrounding the house. Before I realized, they’d scaled the fence and entered our compound. When my wife heard the shots, she ran out into the living room. That’s where she was shot.”

Pastor Josiah recounts the terrifying events of an attack on his rural farming village in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna State. The attack is part of the relentless violence being waged across the country by radicalized members of the Fulani ethnic tribe. Every year, thousands are killed in this insurgency; kidnapping is also increasingly common. Christians, specifically, religious leaders like Pastor Josiah, are often vulnerable targets.

Pastor Josiah continues, “I kept hearing voices in the Fulani language saying, ‘Open the door.’ As I did so, they grabbed my hands, tied me up, took me outside and laid me on the ground. My two sons were already there with their hands tied too. My eldest daughter, Salama, was also taken with us.

“As we were taken out of our compound, I could hear Rebekah crying, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die!’ But I was powerless; I couldn’t do anything at that point.

“The kidnappers took us, and we started walking to the bush. We were walking all night and didn’t stop until 7:00 am when we got to their camp. I kept thinking about Rebekah. Did she die? Was she still alive?”

‘You follow Jesus. Where is He now?’

“The leader came out as we arrived and told them not to beat me, the pastor. I told them I wouldn’t run away, seeing as they’d taken my children too,” Josiah says, remembering the details of the day that forever changed his life “Whilst we’d been walking, I’d already decided that whatever was to come, I’d take it.

The family spent two months and two weeks in captivity where they faced significant challenges: “It was extremely cold, we had little food, and we contracted illnesses. In the morning, we were given bean cakes inside a water bottle and that was it, until about 8:00 pm when they gave us maize with soup. They scattered it on the floor like we were animals. I let my children eat and when they were done, I had what was left. All the men were tied up, even when we slept.

“At one point, some of those in captivity convinced my two sons to try to escape.” When the captors discovered their plan, they tied them up again so tightly that they cut off the circulation of blood to their hands. “After three hours, one of my son’s hands was so swollen that he couldn’t eat. I had to feed and bathe him as he couldn’t do anything for himself.

It wasn’t just physical abuse and mistreatment that Josiah and his family experienced in their captors’ hands.“The kidnappers mocked us,” Josiah remembers. “They said, ‘You follow Jesus. Where is He now?’ They said we should join them and serve Allah.

“Each day, they gathered the girls to teach them the Quran. There was a time they told us we would all have to learn it, but I decided I would refuse—in my mind, I thought that when it reached my turn [to learn it], there might be trouble. But God is so kind, they didn’t touch us.”

It was clear that the extremists were hostile to the Christian faith. Even the semblance of prayer could mean death.

“In captivity, there were also some Muslims among us. When it was time for prayers, they were untied to go and pray, but as Christians, we were never allowed,” Pastor Josiah says. “Because the kidnappers knew I was a pastor, if I just bowed my head, they would start to say, ‘He’s praying!’ They would aim their weapons at me. We could only pray in our hearts. Even when one of the Christians died, his family asked if I could pray. But the kidnappers refused.”

‘Crying has become a part of me’

In January, the kidnappers told Pastor Josiah they were sending out his two sons to get a ransom payment for their lives.

“I gave my sons my food rations that day and told them who to meet when they got home to help us. The kidnappers took them on bikes and left. That was the last time I saw [my sons].

“The day my daughter and I were set free, I was told that our ransom had been paid along with a motorcycle the kidnappers had demanded. They left us at the roadside and from there, my daughter and I walked back towards the village. My brother saw us coming, dumped the things he was transporting on his bike and carried us back.

“I asked him where my sons were, but he told me I should wait until we got home.” He was told that his boys, Jonathan and Timothy, had been killed by the kidnappers during their journey to get a ransom. Pastor Josiah later found out that the spot where he had asked about his sons was the exact place their bodies had been found.

Pastor Josiah and Salama were taken to the city of Kaduna to recover. But while they were there, they received news that Josiah’s younger brother had been killed.

Grief compounded as one loss after another descended—in July 2025, tragedy struck the family again. Another of Josiah’s sons, Rowland, was kidnapped and killed while raising the alarm of yet another attack in their village.

Josiah laments, “I felt like the world was crumbling in on me, as if I was alone with this pain. I kept thinking, ‘Why did this all happen to me?’ When I remember Rebekah and the good life we had together, I ask God, ‘Why?’”

Josiah is wise. As a church leader, he knows that his questions are part of the grieving process. “It is natural for someone to think a lot when something like this happens,” he explains. “And to question God, even as a preacher, as to why He has let it happen.”

Thankfully, Open Doors partners are walking with him and his daughter. Through your prayers and support, they are able to access care at a trauma center in Nigeria supported by Open Doors. Pastor Josiah receives one-on-one trauma debriefings with Philip,* a volunteer trauma caregiver. Each year at the center, trauma caregivers like Philip provide work with thousands of Christians who have suffered violent persecution because of their faith, helping them begin to heal emotionally and spiritually.

“After I escaped, I was living life with anger and hatred,” Pastor Josiah says. “I wanted to fight the kidnappers and avenge what was done to me. I was traumatized.”

Anything can be a trigger point. “Sometimes my heart still skips a beat when I hear a loud sound,” he says.

But despite the trauma, despite the grief, counseling has helped Pastor Josiah begin the healing process.

“If I hadn’t come for trauma healing, bad thoughts would have occupied my head,” Josiah shares, “but after my times at the trauma center, I feel a lot better, and my heart is now at rest. Crying has become a part of me—it’s the biggest thing I’ve taken away from here—that crying helps you to release the pain.

“When I came here, the anger reduced, my bitterness reduced, and I have received freedom. The teachings on forgiveness have really strengthened me and broken all the negative intentions I had in my mind. I realized that forgiveness is almost impossible without God—if not for the love of God and the Holy Spirit ministering to you, you cannot forgive.

“But forgiveness has helped me to heal a lot from the bitterness and hatred, and I have forgiven them. I can now interact with regular Fulani in my village because it is not all of them who are involved in this. And now, when I see militant Fulanis, I pray that God should forgive them, to help open their eyes, because the way the devil is controlling them, they don’t know what they do. I am praying that God will draw them to Himself and make them become people who preach the gospel.”

What Pastor Josiah has learned at the trauma center, he’s now passing on to others who are also in pain. “Coming here has felt like training for my work. It has helped me to focus on my work with boldness—it has strengthened and encouraged me,” he explains. “If I hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have the strong will to continue. I would have given up because I was heartbroken, without hope. I was thinking, ‘Is this how my ministry ends, in trouble?’

“But sitting with Pastor Philip has helped me envision the future. I’ve used the teachings on forgiveness in situations with my church members and in preaching, and now I encourage my church members that when someone is going through pain, they should be left to grieve rather than stopped, and if someone is crying, they should be allowed to so they can heal from the hurt they are feeling. God still has things for me to do, and if I can overcome this trouble, God will take me where He is leading. But we need to remain prepared because attacks might happen again. Even if they come and take me now, I’ll either go with them or they will do their worst—I have decided this in my heart.”

‘They kill Christians’

Sadly, Pastor Josiah’s resolve isn’t a pessimistic view, but the reality he and thousands of other Christians face in northern Nigeria and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The targeted violence is shaking the foundations of whole communities and threatening the future of the church in these regions. In 2025, 4,491 Christians were killed for their faith in sub-Saharan Africa—an average of 12 believers a day, nine of which were in Nigeria.

Pastor Josiah shares his perspective and experience: “The attacks of Christians are on the increase. In my own opinion, they attack us because of our religion. They kill Christians. When I was taken, it was clear from the questions the kidnappers asked that they had come specifically for me. They mentioned an informant told them to attack me and before it happened, I’d heard rumors. Someone had come to me and said, ‘This other pastor has been killed; now you’re the only one left to be killed.’ And another lady came to me and told me to leave—twice. But I wouldn’t run—there were still children and elderly ones in the community.”

He believes he and his family were taken for ransom money and because of their religion.“I feel that way because they take money from you, force their religion on you and stop you from praying,” he explains. “The kidnappers had said to me, ‘We will get ₦50 million [$36,000 USD] from your hands.’ But I told them I don’t have that kind of money.

“When they take a pastor, their mentality is that the church will pay for your release. They want us to stay poor. There is a [Christian] village the militants overturned, and they’ve made the people there their slaves. To the point where the community is unable to eat without the militants providing it.”

Echoing thousands of church leaders in sub-Saharan Africa, Pastor Josiah stresses the urgency to pray and act for the future of the church: “We should pray for believers because of the many hardships they are facing,” he says. “Christians are finding themselves in situations that they have no choice in, and these events make believers faith shake. One man that was kidnapped with us was crying, saying that he’ll denounce Christ, that he would start worshiping Allah.

“Some end up being killed, while others are put through suffering. I know many churches where they don’t worship there any longer, because the church buildings have been destroyed. Those whose houses are destroyed in attacks have to go and try to start life afresh somewhere again. Because of this, some of our children have gone to the cities and are losing their way. Because of what’s happening, some have entered poverty, and their wives have left them. Some are losing their faith. And some are despairing when suffering comes—they feel like life has finished, that there is no hope at all.”

‘Believers’ prayers brought me out’

But God continues to work in Nigeria, especially through the gifts and prayers of Open Doors supporters.

Pastor Josiah says this support is making a difference in the lives of believers and shares his gratitude: “My brethren in Christ, I want to say thank you for the relief you have given to help those going through persecutions and hardships. We are saying thank you very much. We are seeing your messages, we are seeing changes and the power of God in the form of your prayers and help in many ways. I’m happy because of what you are doing.”

He has a special message for all who have prayed and continue to pray for sub-Saharan Africa: “Those who are praying, don’t think your prayers are not being felt—they are. Through them, I have understood the love of believers. Prayers reach anywhere. Because through prayer, I was able to escape from the bush. I saw the devil eye to eye, but the believers’ prayers brought me out. There is power in prayer. So, I am pleading and praying that you keep on supporting through your prayers and help.”

And the need for practical support, including the trauma care he and his daughter received, continues. “There are still many people who have faced these situations that need help,” Josiah says. “For some, they need food, or shelter. For some, it’s school fees for their children. And some people need to be called and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

“For those that have no hope in life, there is a need for trauma healing. For those who are still carrying bitterness and unforgiveness because of what has happened, they will receive help through this program, like I received help.”

Multiplied impact

Pastor Josiah has an idea to help make this happen in his community. He has asked his trauma care worker, Philip, to visit his village to help him find ways to deliver trauma care to the many in his congregation who are also traumatized by violence and insecurity. In this way, the care that Pastor Josiah is receiving will be multiplied in his community to help bring healing to many more in need of support.

But Pastor Josiah understands that this kind of multiplication will not come easy. He knows that as long as he’s leading a church, he remains a target. He asks for our prayers: “In the bush, I had already felt like it was over for me, so when I came out of captivity, I felt like God was not yet done with me. By the grace of God, I am still alive. Charms won’t protect me, implements of war will not save me. It is God who protects me.

“Because I am a pastor, it is possible to fall victim again, as the village in which I pastor now is also facing attacks. Pray that God will give me the might to complete the promises I have made, for the work of the gospel. I have held on to the Word of God since I came out of the kidnapping and made an oath to continue preaching the Word of God. But I need prayers so I want to fulfill the call of God on my life. Please pray that my family will stand by me and that I finish in victory.”

Please pray for Pastor Josiah and the church in sub-Saharan Africa

Pastor Josiah shares a prayer and asks us to join him in it:

“Our Father and our Lord, the one who reigns overall. We are quiet before you, signifying our hearts are heavy. Everything happening in the world is not unknown to you. God in heaven, God who reigns over all, our plea and our hope is that you comfort us all. In these attacks, many have lost their wives, they have lost their children, they have lost their siblings, and some their neighbors. Jesus, our Savior, you are the great comforter, you indeed are our well of peace.

“Whatever pain we face in this world, we have peace and a resting place in heaven. The death of a Christian is gain. Eternal life awaits them forever, and we are grateful. With all these happenings around us, please be our encourager. Be ever close to us and help us. Amen.”

Please also pray for:

1. Pray for protection from further attacks for Pastor Josiah, his family and his church.
2. Pray they will sense God’s comfort and closeness as they continue to grieve and heal. Pray that they will remember God’s promise—that He is “near to the broken-hearted”— on special days like birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.
3. Pray for wisdom for Pastor Josiah as he brings what he has learned in trauma care to his church and others who are traumatized by violence.
4. Pray for Philip, Pastor Josiah’s trauma care worker, as he travels to Josiah’s village. Ask God to keep Philip safe and give him glimpses of how He will use Philip to bring healing and multiply His Kingdom.
5. Pray for all trauma care workers in the Shalom centre. Pray for their well-being and perseverance as they hear difficult stories like Pastor Josiah’s and respond with compassion.
6. Pray for Christians in sub-Saharan Africa who risk so much to follow Jesus. Pray that many more people can get trauma care like Pastor Josiah did.
7. Pray that the world will continue to wake up, care about and take action against this ongoing violence and injustice.
8. Pray that as the Body of Christ, we will heed Pastor Josiah’s call to pray for our brothers and sisters who follow Jesus no matter what.

*Names changed for security reasons