Every day, twelve Christians are killed in sub-Saharan Africa because of their faith. Nine of them are from Nigeria. Pastor Josiah is one of those left behind. He lost his wife and three sons. Alongside his immense grief, he struggled with anger and a desire for revenge. Trauma care helped him to resist repaying evil with evil.
“In this grave lie 22 Christians. They were killed in the same way as my wife and children. All we want is for the killing to stop.” In a small rural village in northern Nigeria, Pastor Josiah stands at the edge of a mass grave with his daughter, Salama*. He has just led a memorial service.
The grave is marked only by stones laid out in a rectangle. In the middle, the stones are arranged in the shape of a cross. Father and daughter know from personal experience what those gathered around the grave are going through.
A steadfast faith
“This is my favourite photo of my wife and me. It was the first photo of us as a newly married couple.” Josiah stares at the photo in his hands. After a long pause, he continues. “My wife was very hospitable. No one came to our home without her taking the time to have a chat with them. I admired her deep faith. The words of her favourite song say: Whatever happens to me in this world, whatever plans the devil may have, my heart will not waver, because I find rest and protection in Your Name.”
Tears well up in Pastor Josiah’s eyes as he speaks these words. His thoughts return to the day Rebekah was killed, 28 November 2022. “I woke up because I heard gunshots outside. Before I realised what was happening, men had climbed over the fence and entered the compound. My wife ran into the living room. That was where she was shot.”
‘I’m going to die’
The attacks on Christians, which claim thousands of lives every year, are mainly carried out by radicalised fighters from the Fulani ethnic group. They seek to eradicate Christianity and establish Islam as the dominant religion. Pastor Josiah heard voices shouting in Fulani, telling him to open the door.
“When I opened the door, they grabbed me by the hands and tied me up. The attackers took me outside and laid me on the ground.” There he saw that two of his sons and his daughter, Salama, were also tied up. They were forced to walk to the Fulani camp.
As they walked away, Josiah heard his wife calling out. “She was crying, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die.’ I was helpless; there was nothing I could do.” It was the last time he heard her voice.
“If I hadn’t received this help myself, I would have given up.”
Eating like animals
Josiah and his children walked all night. Early in the morning, they arrived at the camp. They were held captive there for two months in appalling conditions. “It was extremely cold, we had very little food and we became ill. The little food we were given was scattered on the floor, so we had to eat like animals. I let my children eat first and only ate once they had finished. We were tied up the whole time.”
The mental pressure was also intense. “They insulted us. They said, ‘You follow Jesus. So where is He now?’ They told us to worship Allah,” Josiah says. “We could only pray in our hearts. As soon as I even bowed my head, they would shout that I was praying and point their weapons at me.”
Ransom
One day, his two sons were sent out to collect ransom money. He gave the boys his food and told them who they could ask for help in their village. Things turned out differently. Josiah: “The kidnappers took them away on motorbikes. It was the last time I saw them.”
Josiah and his daughter were released after being told that a ransom had been paid for them. They were left by the side of the road and made their way back to their village. On the way, they met one of Josiah’s brothers. “I asked him where my sons were, but he told me to wait until we got home before asking.”
“But God still has work for me to do. He will guide me.”
More loss
Once they arrived home, Josiah received the heartbreaking news that his sons, Jonathan and Timothy, had been killed. What Josiah did not know was that their bodies had been found at exactly the same place along the road where Josiah had asked his brother where his sons were.
The losses did not end there. While Josiah and Salama were trying to recover, Josiah’s younger brother was also killed. And in 2025, tragedy struck again: his son Rowland was abducted during an attack on the village and never returned alive.
“I felt as though the world around me was collapsing, as if I was completely alone with this pain,” Josiah says. “I kept thinking: why has all this happened to me? When I think back to Rebekah and the wonderful life we shared, I ask God: why? Fear and hatred took hold. I wanted revenge for what had been done to me.”
“My bitterness has lessened, my fear has diminished. I have found freedom.”
New found freedom
These feelings controlled his life for a long time. Eventually, Josiah found help at a trauma centre in Nigeria supported by Open Doors. He received trauma counselling to support his emotional and spiritual recovery. “My bitterness has lessened, my fear has diminished. I have found freedom. What I have learnt here has truly given me new strength and broken down all the negative intentions I had in my mind.”
Pastor Josiah now passes on what he learnt at the trauma centre to the people he was standing with around the mass grave earlier that day. Unlike before, he now tries to give people space to grieve and mourn, rather than advising villagers to simply get on with their lives.
“If I hadn’t received this help myself, I would have given up. My heart was broken; I had no hope left. I wondered whether my ministry had come to an end,” he says. “But God still has work for me to do. He will guide me.”
Nigeria ranks 7th on the World Watch List.
Please pray with us
- Thank God for the trauma care Pastor Josiah received and that he is now able to pass this support on to others who desperately need it.
- Pray for comfort for Pastor Josiah and for all the other Christians who have lost loved ones in traumatic circumstances. Ask God to bring healing to their physical and emotional wounds.
- Josiah says, “All we want is for the killing to stop.” Pray that God will bring an end to the terrible violence and killings in Nigeria.
(* Pseudonym)
