Remembering the persecuted

On Oct. 26, Alice Loksha Ngaddah’s more than six years in captivity came to an end. Boko Haram insurgents abducted Ngaddah, a mother of two, in March 2018, when she was working as a midwife in Rann, northeast Borno state in Nigeria. The extremists also abducted a nurse and another midwife.

The Para-Mallam Peace Foundation, which confirmed Ngaddah’s freedom in a statement, said she is still undergoing security documentation with authorities. “Her husband and sister are in touch with her,” the statement said.

Ngaddah is one of more than 4,000 Christians held captive for their faith, according to the Open Doors World Watch List. The annual tracker reports that more than globally 365 million Christians face high levels of persecution. On Nov. 3, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, thousands of Christians around the world joined in to pray and advocate for better protection for their fellow believers. Some groups will observe the day of prayer on Nov. 10.

The Religious Liberty Commission with the World Evangelical Alliance launched the annual day of prayer in 1996. The group took inspiration from the 1994 Day of Prayer for Iran after the disappearance of an Assemblies of God bishop and other cases of persecution. Advocacy and nonprofit groups such as Release International and Christian Solidarity Worldwide now create resources for a month of prayers and activities.

Tom Hardie, a spokesman with the U.K.-based Release International, said that about 1,500 people joined the group’s live event on Sunday to pray for persecuted Christians and as many as 60 churches downloaded prayer materials from their website. This year the focus is on Egypt, where Christian converts particularly face persecution from family and community members, and on northern and central Nigeria, which Hardie called “the most dangerous place for Christians at the moment.”

Nigeria ranks sixth on the World Watch List for countries with the highest levels of persecution. An August report by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa documented more than 16,000 Christian killings between 2020 and 2023.

Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, said the actions of groups like Boko Haram and armed Fulani militants amount to a “stealth jihad.”

On Wednesday, attackers kidnapped more than 50 people from Nigeria’s northwest Zamfara state as many of them worked on their farms. Meanwhile, security officials in southeast Imo state are still searching for a Roman Catholic priest who was abducted on Tuesday night.

King said the ongoing displacements and attacks are fueling a “powder keg” that could go off at any point.

International Christian Concern has also highlighted ongoing persecution in North Korea and Iran. King said team members, including himself, are visiting U.S. churches this month and handling speaking engagements with one goal: “To wake the Church up and say, ‘Get involved.’”