In Nigeria, anti-Christian violence on rise

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Recent attacks against churches in Nigeria have brought Christians around the world to their knees, praying for stability and peace in the troubled West African nation.
In Maiduguri, a city in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north, gunmen opened fire at a Church of Christ chapel in Nigeria, killing five people, including a pastor preparing for communion. The attack is similar to ones carried out by a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.
Two months earlier, in the city of Jos, a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives outside the headquarters of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, killing at least three people.
Both churches are part of a denomination, often abbreviated COCIN, with no ties to Churches of Christ associated with the Restoration Movement.
Churches of Christ have congregations in Jos and Maidurguri. In 2008, the Wulari-Jerusalem Church of Christ in Maiduguri hosted a food preservation workshop, attended by Muslims and Christians.
The next year, during a wave of anti-Christian violence, local Muslims protected the church.

• Feedback
  I am thrived to see this article published as I work at Voice of the Martyrs and our mission to be the “voice” of our persecuted brothers and sisters. I so appreciate the Christian Chronicle in being the “voice” as well. Thank you.

  Brenda Matlock

  Adams Blvd Church of Christ

  Bartlesville, OK
  USA

  May, 8 2012