Updates on the persecuted Church – 3 October 2023

Armenian Christians flee Nagorno-Karabakh; Suspected Islamists kill six in Christian-majority area of Kaduna State, Nigeria; Twenty-five church members abducted in Ondo State, Nigeria

• Almost the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh – which is 120,000 people – have fled from the Armenian Christian region following an invasion by Azerbaijani soldiers on 19 September. An estimated 30,000 Christian children are among the refugees who have sought safety in Armenia itself from what church leaders have described as “a scene of war crimes”. Karabakh has been an Armenian land for more than 2,000 years. Ask the Lord to comfort his traumatised people who have lost their homes and land. Pray that He will provide for those forced to leave everything behind.

Can you help our brothers and sister survive? Please see our appeal for Nagorno-Karabakh refugees in Armenia.

• Suspected Fulani Islamists killed six residents from two families in the Takanai Gora community in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, Kaduna State, Nigeria, on 26 September. The community is part of the Christian-majority Atyap Chiefdom. Those killed were named as Sarah Adamu, Rejoice Adamu, Enoch Adamu, Juan Aminu, Salomi Aminu and Meshak Aminu. Six others were injured. The gunmen dispersed when the military eventually arrived on the scene. Pray for those bereaved to receive the Lord’s comfort in their loss, and ask that security measures in Nigeria’s Middle Belt will be tightened to protect Christians against such attacks.

• Twenty-five members of a church were abducted by gunmen in Ondo State, Nigeria, on 29 September while on their way to a funeral. The gunmen stopped the bus in which they were travelling and forced them into the forest. Within 24 hours, however, eight of the victims – seven women and a man – escaped their captors and were rescued by police unhurt. Give thanks for the escape of the eight church members and pray that the remaining 17 will be released swiftly and unharmed.