This article is part of a serial release of information from the report "Faltering States and Growing Churches" published by the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF).
“If you want to make the biggest difference for religious freedom in the world today,” said former Congressman and Human Rights giant Frank Wolf to a group of Global Christian Relief (GCR) donors in Washington DC, “pick the NGO with the best ground game, because violence and conflict has risen so much that governments can’t help, or won’t help, and it’s up to the churches to bring relief like never before.”
The last two years have seen violence and conflict rise exponentially.
The last two years have seen violence and conflict rise exponentially, in some cases drawing the world’s attention, as in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine, but in other cases going all but ignored—in Sudan, Myanmar and Yemen, for example.
Amid the spiraling violence, the Church is suffering even more while making the most of new opportunities these present to assist, relieve, and offer peace and hope. As a preacher in Lagos put it after returning from a visit to Sudan, “the Church in the world is at a crossroads—where once it was pushed out of welfare provision by the State, now it is needed as never before as nation States accept that they are over-matched.”
While the world’s attention is held fast by the wars in Ukraine and Israel, violent jihadist groups are gaining ground across Africa. The collapse or overthrow of some national governments and the expulsion of Western security forces in some areas has weakened resistance to the jihadists, leaving defenseless communities, especially Christians and moderate Muslims, exposed to increasingly powerful Islamist groups. In some countries, such as Mozambique, the arrival of violent extremists has upended once peaceful relations between Muslim and Christian communities.
The countries of Africa have the youngest average age in the world.
Problematically, the countries of Africa have the youngest average age in the world, with literally hundreds of millions of youths uneducated and unemployed, and joining jihadis more to get a job and have a family than for religious reasons.
The fragile states that comprise the semi-arid Sahel belt that runs from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean, contain no fewer than twenty well-funded Islamic insurgencies, the best known of which are Boko Haram in northern Nigeria, Al Shabab in Somalia, and Al Qaeda and ISIS running affiliates in many countries, especially Francophone Africa.
Their growth is resulting in a level of killing that creates headlines. Nigeria remains a tragic outlier with no less than 9,776 Christians dying in the period November 2022 to November 2024 according to the latest data from the Violent Incidents Database (VID) which is funded by GCR and conducted by IIRF.
No other country reached 1000, but half of the countries in the top ten killings list were from this region, with the Democratic Republic of Congo placing second at 390, Mozambique third with 262 deaths, Ethiopia fourth with 181, before Russia breaks the African monopoly at number five. But Burkina Faso returns at number six, with 113 killings.
Abductions in Nigeria are also astonishingly high.
These numbers focus on well attested deaths, but reports indictate the actual numbers are likely far higher. Abductions in Nigeria are also astonishingly high, with 9,305 Christians abducted. The Global Terrorism Index of 2024, which seeks to measure the impact of terrorism more broadly on society, placed Burkina Faso at number one, Mali at three, Somalia at six, Nigeria at seven, Niger at eight, and Cameroon at ten.
A north-south divide characterizes many of these countries—desert in the north results in a smaller population and more vulnerable villagers, while the south tends to be more temperate and populous. The desert landscape provides a helpful cloak for Islamic extremists, who then drive populations south and into cities which tend to be safer zones. This causes huge needs for emergency relief in urban areas.
Eritrea, Ethiopia and Mozambique have been caught up in the violence too. Mozambique is a secular state with a robust constitution that guarantees freedom of worship, and relations between Christians and Muslims were largely peaceful until the arrival of the ISIS affiliated Islamist group, al-Sunnah wa Jema’ah (ASJ), also known as ISIS-Mozambique (ISM), in 2017.
These groups lost no time in mounting vicious attacks on Christians (as well as Muslims) particularly in the Cabo Delgado province at the Northeast corner of the country. Fresh violence broke out in January and February of 2024, under the slogan “Kill them Wherever you Find Them.” Entire villages were razed, people beheaded, women raped.
Mozambique is third on the number of Christians killed list in the Nov 22–Nov 24 period, with 262 confirmed deaths, and third on the list of Christian churches and properties attacked, with 1,711 incidents recorded. It also comes in at number three in terms of the number of Christians displaced, with 15,925 forced to flee their homes.
Africa will continue to spring unpleasant surprises.
Africa will continue to spring unpleasant surprises as so many of its governments appear incapable of maintaining order and sharing prosperity. Rwanda is surprising because it is outwardly stable and relatively prosperous, but in global terms no other country closed more churches than Rwanda! No less than 7,700 churches were shut down, with the government insisting on upgrades to building codes, safety standards, and even imposing new theological certification requirements on clergy. It is hard to determine whether this is an excuse constituting a serious violation of religious liberty or not, but many local pastors mutter that it is so.
The next region to feature in this series is Middle East and North Africa.
Previously published by International Institute for Religious Freedom. Republished with permission.
This commentary draws upon data available in the International Institute for Religious Freedom's Violent Incidents Database, which can be freely accessed at: https://iirf.global/vid/.
Dr. Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, serves as Chief of Research and Global Strategy at Global Christian Relief. He also is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Religious Freedom and a Research Associate at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. In addition, Ronald is Adjunct Professor of Practical Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary focusing on understanding and learning from the suffering church as well as visiting Professor of Practical Theology and Spiritual Formation at Lahore College of Theology in Pakistan.
