Chris Taff | Author & Musician

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The Genocide of Christians in Africa

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by

Chris Taff
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On a June night in 2025, gunmen came into the small farming town of Yelewata in Benue State, Nigeria. When the sun came up, about 200 people were dead. Some had been cut down with machetes. Others were burned alive in their homes. Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi said two of the victims were babies, three and five months old. Most of the town was Christian.

Yelewata made the news for a few days. Then the world moved on. The killing did not.

The Numbers We Don’t Hear

Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List found that 4,849 Christians were killed for their faith worldwide in its latest research year. Of those, 4,491 died in sub-Saharan Africa. That is 93 percent. On average, a Christian in that region is killed every two hours. Nigeria alone accounted for 3,490 of those deaths.

This year has been worse. The Nigerian group Intersociety counted at least 3,083 Christians killed and 3,193 abducted in jihadist attacks from January through August 2026, with 400 churches attacked. Equipping the Persecuted, a U.S. ministry that tracks the Middle Belt, documented 4,216 Christian deaths from January 1 to September 8. That is about 17 people a day. They also report more than 600 Christian communities destroyed or abandoned. They call these numbers “documented minimums.”

Look at Benue State in the Open Doors data: 1,310 Christians killed, compared with 29 Muslims. In Plateau State, 546 Christians and 48 Muslims. In Kaduna, 1,116 Christians abducted, compared with 101 Muslims. Survivors describe attackers shouting “Allahu Akbar” and “We will destroy all Christians.”

And it isn’t only Nigeria. In Burkina Faso, an al-Qaeda affiliate reportedly controls at least 40 percent of the country, and Aid to the Church in Need reports 26 men had their throats cut in the Diocese of Nouna. In Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, ISIS-linked fighters have killed more than 1,000 Christians since 2017, with beheadings and kidnappings of women and children. Sudan and Mali scored at the very top of Open Doors’ violence scale. In Congo, believers face massacres and sexual violence.

Calling It What It Is

Many news stories call this violence “farmer-herder clashes” or “land disputes.” Nigeria’s government says the terrorists attack Muslims, Christians, and everyone else alike. It’s true that Muslims die in this violence too, and every one of those lives matters to God. But when 45 Christians are killed for every Muslim in a state like Benue, and the attackers shout that they will destroy all Christians, something more than a land dispute is going on.

Bishop Anagbe said it plainly: “It is a genocide at the hands of jihadists.” Emeka Umeagbalasi of Intersociety said, “It’s a genocide, by any definition.” Christians are being hunted in their villages, their churches burned, their pastors killed, and their children carried off. The United States has named Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom. Even so, most of the world is still not paying attention.

The Scripture

“If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

1 Corinthians 12:26 (NKJV)

“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also.”

Hebrews 13:3 (NKJV)

What Paul Was Telling Us

Paul wrote to a church in Corinth that was split into groups and busy comparing themselves to one another. He reminded them they were one body. You can’t cut your hand and tell your foot it isn’t your problem. The writer of Hebrews takes it a step further. Don’t just feel sorry for those who suffer. Remember them as if you were in the chains with them. The body of Christ doesn’t stop at the edge of our town or our country.

My Reflection

I’ll be honest. It’s easy for me to read a number like 4,216 and keep scrolling. Numbers don’t bleed. But every one of those numbers was a mom, a dad, a pastor, a child who went to church on Sunday and sang the same songs we sing. They are family. If 17 members of my church were killed every day, I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else.

So what can we do from here? First, pray, and pray by name and by place: Benue, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Burkina Faso, Cabo Delgado. Second, speak up. Share the truth so this doesn’t stay hidden. Third, give to ministries that are on the ground, like Open Doors, Aid to the Church in Need, and Equipping the Persecuted. And fourth, don’t let comfort make us quiet. Our brothers and sisters are staying faithful under fire. The least we can do is refuse to forget them.

A Prayer

Father, we lift up our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Sudan, Congo, and every place where following Jesus could cost them their lives. Comfort the widows and the orphans. Bring home the ones who’ve been taken. Protect pastors and churches. Give leaders the courage to act and the world the eyes to see. Lord, we also pray for the men doing this evil. Turn their hearts the way You turned Saul on the road to Damascus. Forgive us for the times we looked away. Make us one body that feels the pain of every part. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If you’d like to send a prayer request, or if you’d like me to pray for the persecuted church with you, visit the Prayer Requests page.

How You Can Help

These ministries are on the ground helping survivors with emergency relief, medical care, food, Bibles, and care for widows and orphans:

Sources

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