Mission Moments: NIGERIA
‘I am Nigerian’
There was outrage: More than 1 million people walked the streets as a sign of solidarity against the attacks of Islamic terrorists. Forty world leaders joined the rally. The news was reported globally.
“Je suis Charlie.” I am Charlie. The slogan was adopted by supporters of freedom in the wake of the murder of 12 journalists at the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris on Jan. 7.
There was no slogan, no rally, no outcry, and very little reported internationally when Boko Haram – one of the ultimate Islamic terrorist groups in the world today – attacked the town of Baga (again) and other villages in northeastern Nigeria. Reports vary on the death toll: from 150 to 2,000 feared dead.
“Hundreds of bodies still litter the bush in Baga – mostly children and elderly victims too slow to outrun Boko Haram fighters,” multiple media outlets have claimed.
Amnesty International called this attack the deadliest massacre in Boko Haram’s ugly history. It came only days after a 10-year-old girl with explosives strapped to her blew up 19 people in a market. Other young girls have been used as suicide bombers in recent weeks. Scores of schoolgirls have been kidnapped and sold in the past year as Boko Haram’s drive to capture parts of Nigeria and now Cameroon and Chad to establish strict Sharia Law has intensified.
When news was released of a church burning, a pastor’s home being burned, and 10 people left for dead in a village in another part of this, the world’s 10th-most persecuted nation, a Voice of the Martyrs spokesman said: “Sadly, it’s just another day in Nigeria.”
Boko Haram has killed more people this year than West Africa’s much-publicized Ebola epidemic.
What can we do? For starters, we can PRAY. We also can GIVE to the work C4C is doing in the Koma Hills in northeastern Nigeria – not far from the chaos Boko Haram is causing. A primitive people living in the Atlantika Mountains along the Cameroon border need to hear and learn more about the love of Jesus.
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Chief Moses in the Atlantika Mountains during Mission: Nigeria 2011.
Pastor Chris Joseph, a C4C member in Nigeria since 2009, is scheduled to go to the Koma Hills soon on our behalf for what he has dubbed, “One night with the King” – a crusade to share the Gospel and pray for the sick, the blind, and the demon-stricken. “Much prayer is solicited both for me and the success of the program,” Chris said.
This visit was postponed in December when we received news that some of the Koma people were fleeing the area because of Boko Haram. But our friend Chief Moses told Chris that some who fled “started coming back.” We can financially support this effort.
As we were reflecting on the madness going on in Nigeria and praying for the Koma people in particular, we again heard Matthew West’s song, “Do Something.” The song is a great reminder about how we are God’s hands and feet.
While not all are called to GO to Nigeria, some of us are. Some will be (or should be) convicted to say, “Here am I. Send me!” If you are one of those, please email us at info@ClimbingForChrist.org.
“I wanna be the one who stands up and says,
I'm gonna do something.” – Matthew West
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