Crossing the border from Uganda to South Sudan reveals the difference between poverty and extreme poverty.

When Mitch Chapman first visited South Sudan a couple of years ago, he said God “showed me poverty that I’ve not seen anywhere else.” And as director of Texans on Mission Water Impact, Chapman has spent much time in Africa.

“Even in comparison to the places we’re working in Uganda, South Sudan is so much poorer and in so much worse shape,” he said.

In April, Texans on Mission created a nonprofit in South Sudan to address the extreme water needs. The Texas-based ministry is the primary funder, and Chapman is on the board of directors.

The nonprofit’s eight-person staff is made up of people with South Sudan roots who have worked with Texans and Ugandans on Mission. The new entity, South Sudanese on Mission, is headquartered in Nyamliell. It is basically a one-year project to determine longer term viability, Chapman said.

“Our goal this year is to try to do 35 well rehabs with four or five new wells, depending on what can be negotiated,” he said. “And that would mean 40 new Bible studies and 40 hygiene classes.”

Rehabilitation of existing but nonworking wells is a priority. In Aweil West County, Chapman said there are 684 water wells and 285 are nonoperational. Texans on Mission did not drill those wells.

Before the beginning of a civil war in 2013, “organizations went and drilled a lot of wells over there, but we found out a lot of them weren’t deep enough, and they didn’t use good quality materials,” Chapman said.

Following the model established in Uganda

South Sudanese on Mission will refit those nonfunctioning wells and start Bible studies and hygiene classes in each village, following the model established in neighboring Uganda.

Chapman and local leaders spent the first week in April on staff training and administration. “But by Week 2, we’d already started to meet [for] Bible studies at four of the rehab sites.”

The Bible studies are started “independent of how many churches there are in an area,” he said. “We start a Bible study, and the people take it upon themselves to pick the church they want to go to. We don’t dictate whether it’s a Baptist church, a Methodist church or Pentecostal.

“We just teach the word [of God], and our lessons are very much about discipleship and spiritual growth. When we determine there’s not a church in the area, then we go to local church associations and encourage them to sponsor a church around the well site.”

The South Sudanese team also includes a hygiene specialist who makes sure the people “know how to wash their hands, how to clean the wellhead, how important it is not to let the goats drink from the water spigot itself,” he said. “It’s a critical component of the holistic effort.”

The work is now in an implementation phase. “We haven’t rehabbed or drilled the first well, but we’re already at work teaching the Bible, making disciples and teaching good hygiene practices.”

The biggest challenge facing the ministry is political instability, so Chapman asked Christians to pray for the South Sudanese on Mission staff and more generally for the people of the country.

“We have no involvement with either side in the political dispute,” he said. “But the political situation does impact the lives of the people and the effectiveness of our work.

“Pray that we can help meet the water needs in South Sudan, lead people to faith in Christ, and develop believers for service to God and their neighbors.”

A Russian airstrike on Palm Sunday killed at least 34 people in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy in the deadliest attack of the conflict so far this year.

Merritt Johnston, executive director of Baptist World Alliance Women, said she received a video from a BWA Women leader showing a church service in Sumy interrupted by a bomb blast and shattering glass.

“We are heartbroken by this violence and continue to pray for just peace,” said Johnston, director of communications for BWA.

“On this Holy Week, when we turn our hearts to the peace we have through Christ’s resurrection, we grieve for those who live daily with the tyranny of violence, even in places that should be sanctuaries.

“We call upon our global Baptist family to stand in prayer with our sisters and brothers who are suffering as they continue to serve their communities with a faith that bombs cannot destroy.”

The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations issued a statement condemning the attack at the beginning of the seasons when Jews observe Passover and Christians celebrate Easter.

“Such actions demonstrate that nothing is sacred for the state that declares itself to be ‘Holy Rus.’ Basic respect for the value of human life is absent, not to mention respect for the holidays of Christianity and Judaism,” the council statement reads.

The statement notes Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christians all are observing Easter on the same day this year.

“We, heads of Ukrainian Churches and Religious Organizations, strongly condemn the terrorist attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian cities and villages and call on the world’s leading nations to take all possible measures to stop Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine and to strengthen Ukraine’s capabilities to defend itself and protect life,” the council statement reads.

“We call on all people of goodwill to pray for the victory of truth and a just peace for Ukraine.

“Our condolences go to the victims of Russian state terror and we beseech the Almighty for just retribution against the perpetrators of this and all other acts of Russian terror against the people of Ukraine.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the attack “horrifying.”

“The United States extends our deepest condolences to the victims of today’s horrifying Russian missile attack on Sumy,” a statement Rubio issued from the U.S. Department of State reads.

“This is a tragic reminder of why President Trump and his Administration are putting so much time and effort into trying to end this war and achieve a just and durable peace.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Baptist Standard also has learned about Palm Sunday airstrikes in Gaza and Myanmar. This article will be updated as more complete information is available.

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (RNS)—Pastor Allan Ngwaba has been offering daily counseling sessions, both in churches and homes, to people affected by the violent conflict in the Congo.

The professional counselor and pastor at Rivers Pentecostal Church in Goma said many civilians he has met with are experiencing severe post-traumatic stress disorder since the violence and killings in the country escalated earlier this year.

Their suffering, he said, is often a result of losing multiple loved ones, exposure to horrific images, witnessing human cruelty, the constant threat of death and a lack of basic necessities, such as food and shelter.

“You need to listen to them during counseling sessions as they express their anger and cry uncontrollably about what has happened to them,” Ngwaba said.

“Once they have been able to express themselves, you can begin discussing how to accept their situation, understand why the conflict occurred and explore the best ways to move forward and overcome their circumstances.”

About 7.3 million internally displaced people

The enduring conflict in Eastern Congo, which has devastated the region for decades, is rooted in the aftermath of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the fierce competition for control over the nation’s mineral resources. The minerals are used for manufacturing batteries that power electric vehicles and other electronics.

Starting in January, the March 23 Movement known as M23—a Tutsi armed rebel group—began a new offensive against Congo government armies. M23 has gained control of new areas, including Eastern Congo’s two largest cities, Goma and Bukavu, along with several smaller localities.

The Congolese government said the ongoing fighting has killed at least 7,000 people since January. About 7.3 million are estimated to be displaced within the country—an all-time high—and 86,000 have fled to nearby countries, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

According to the UN, M23 is supported by up to 4,000 Rwandan troops. However, Rwanda denies that claim, saying its forces are in the region to defend against threats posed by the Congolese army and hostile militias.

Providing psychosocial support

Amid the violence, Ngwaba is among many local Christian leaders who are increasing their efforts to provide psychosocial support to those affected.

“These sessions are designed to heal the emotional and social wounds caused by armed conflict,” he said. “They aim to discourage victims from succumbing to depression, contemplating suicide or losing hope,” emphasizing psychological care is closely linked with physiotherapy.

His congregation and others in the area are also holding regular gatherings to pray for peace. Hundreds of Christians come to the daily gatherings in many areas of Eastern Congo.

“Our only hope is prayer, because rebel soldiers are everywhere, and everyone is threatened by their presence,” said Grace Nsimba after leading a prayer session.

Peace through prayers

Nsimba, a 35-year-old mother of three, lost her husband and a brother during a fight between the Congolese army and M23 on Jan. 27, during the takeover of Goma.

“People are devastated and dying because of this war. What we need now is peace, and this can only be achieved through prayers,” she said.

“We are praying for our lives and for those who have lost loved ones, those suffering because of the war and those who are traumatized by the horrifying things they have witnessed. We pray for an end to the conflict, hoping that the warring parties will stop the violence and save millions from death and suffering.”

In Bukavu, residents have been gathering for interfaith services to pray for peace following the capture of the city by M23 in mid-February.

Uniting in prayer

Monsignor Floribert Bashimbe, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Bukavu, said the interfaith services, led by local religious leaders and officials, aim to unite the community.

Worshippers pray for an end to the conflict, uplift each other spiritually and address critical humanitarian needs in areas where daily struggles for basic necessities are impacting residents, although the city did not see as much heavy fighting as Goma did.

“We have come together in prayer, asking God to grant our leaders the wisdom, strength and humility to make sound decisions that will reduce loss of life and alleviate the suffering of the people, ultimately leading to security in the region,” Bashimbe said.

Bashimbe also urged young people and fighting factions to cease destroying property, including looting and burning houses, schools, government buildings and health centers. He encouraged trained counselors and religious leaders to assist those recovering from traumatic experiences and noted the importance of helping people rebuild their lives.

Seeking to negotiate peace deal

Some religious leaders also have engaged with rebels to attempt to facilitate a peace agreement.

In February, Monsignor Donatien Nshole, the secretary general of the Bishops’ Conference of the DRC, was involved in such discussions. He said M23 leaders told his delegation they were not seeking to divide the country and were not involved in the illegal exploitation of resources.

M23 has claimed its goal is to protect ethnic Tutsis in Congo, who have suffered from the long-standing tensions between Hutus and Tutsis that culminated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, during which more than 800,000 Tutsis and others were killed. The rebel group also vowed to advance to the capital of Congo, Kinshasa, to overthrow the government.

During the meeting, the religious leaders urged the rebels to reopen infrastructure, like the airport and port, to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian supplies, he said.

“We still believe that the solution to this crisis is not military,” Nshole, a Catholic priest and political figure, said after the meeting.

However, residents are growing increasingly desperate for a resolution, grappling with the daily fear and uncertainty of life as rebels continue to advance.

“The longer these leaders remain in disagreement, the more lives are lost and suffering continues,” Nsimba said. “We must amplify our prayers for these leaders to come together and reach an agreement to end the conflict, so we can finally reclaim our peace.”

KHARTOUM, Sudan (RNS)—In the Al Jazirah state of central-southeast Sudan, dozens of Christians hold secret prayer services whenever they can.

They’ve had to hide their worship services amid the civil war in the country, especially after an attack by the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary organization formerly operated by the Sudanese government, on the Sudanese Church of Christ in Al Jazirah on Dec. 30, 2024. The attack left at least 14 people, including women and children, seriously injured.

“The soldiers destroyed our church and vowed to eliminate all Christians,” a Sudanese Christian—who asked not to be identified—said by phone. “They warned us against gathering for worship, so we have been doing it in secret to prevent their agents from reporting us.”

Rival factions pose a threat

Christians face threats from both rival factions of the military government currently at war. Both have vowed to eliminate all Christians in the northeastern African country, which has a population of more than 49 million.

About 5.4 percent of the population identifies as Christian, while 91 percent are Muslim, and a small percentage follow Indigenous religions.

Attacks on Christians’ and other faiths’ places of worship, including mosques, have escalated across the country. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported in April 2024 more than 150 churches have been damaged since the war began in 2023.

These attacks have prompted condemnation from the international community, faith-based organizations, human rights groups and religious leaders.

The Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who was previously al-Burhan’s deputy, are engaged in a fierce power struggle to control the country’s valuable resources, including gold and oil.

The conflict has claimed an estimated 150,000 lives and displaced over 13 million Sudanese, with 4 million fleeing the country. Civilians face a dire lack of food, health care and hope for peace.

On Aug. 16, 2024, the United States began peace talks in Geneva. Although representatives from the Rapid Support Forces participated, the Sudanese Armed Forces boycotted the talks—a decision that raised concerns about the possibility of achieving lasting peace and stability in the region.

Rapid Support Forces fighters began withdrawing from the capital of Khartoum on March 26, The New York Times reported, as Sudanese Armed Forces gained control of the city, marking an inflection point in the war. Rapid Support Forces is likely to withdraw forces in Darfur in western Sudan as well, the report said.

Soldiers have been preventing Christians from attending church, from holding weekly fellowship meetings in their homes, from openly expressing their faith and from converting from Islam to Christianity, Peter said.

Evangelical pastor Ibrahim Okot said the war has significantly impacted the Christian community in the country. The Khartoum-based pastor said soldiers have targeted Christians who had previously been protected by the constitution before the nation descended into civil war.

“We lived together as brothers and sisters, but the war has taken on a religious aspect with soldiers now targeting Christians and places of worship,” Okot said. “They do not want anything to do with God or spirituality, which is harmful for any country.

“We are praying for an end to the war to save Christianity and the lives of millions of innocent people. It’s now hard to be a Christian in this country. You can’t carry your Bible openly, pray, gather to worship or identify yourself as a Christian.”

Attacks on places of worship

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a U.K.-based human rights organization, recently raised concerns about the daily threats faced by Christians in Sudan. Soldiers continue to attack areas where they live, posing a serious risk of violence and the potential elimination of their communities.

“The targeting of places of worship violates both domestic and international law, and, in the context of conflict, international humanitarian law,” said Mervyn Thomas, founder and president of CSW, earlier this year.

“We call on the international community, including the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, to document these attacks thoroughly with a view towards ensuring accountability.”

Pastor Philemon Hassan of Al Ezba Baptist Church in Khartoum North—whose church was attacked by a Sudanese Armed Forces airstrike that killed 11 people on Dec. 20, 2024— aid many people are dying, suffering and lacking basic humanitarian necessities for survival.

He emphasized that lasting peace between the warring factions is essential to halt the continuous attacks on Christians and their places of worship.

“Our prayer to God is for this war to end as soon as possible,” Hassan said.

Simon Umar, a church elder at a Pentecostal church in Khartoum, also said without peace, Christians will continue to suffer from attacks and will live hiding in fear. He said the Christian communities in Khartoum and other areas have tried to gather in small congregations to worship and support one another during the war.

However, these efforts have not been successful as they have faced attacks that resulted in fatalities, he said.

“We attempted to gather, but it was impossible because nowhere is safe,” he said, urging both warring parties to consider the suffering of the people in Sudan and stop the war.

“Christianity can only thrive in an environment of peace and stable government that protects everyone’s rights, including the right to worship and gather.”

Thomas also urged “the warring parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire” and “the international community to increase efforts to ensure the protection of civilians in Sudan.”

Meanwhile, a Christian in Al Jazirah emphasized his neighbors’ commitment to gathering secretly as they seek spiritual nourishment and pray for a swift resolution to the conflict.

“We cannot stop praying, as that is the key to resolving the ongoing conflict,” he said. “I urge both RSF and SAF soldiers to refrain from targeting Christians and places of worship. Our prayers are crucial for achieving lasting peace.”

Ameen Auwalii contributed to this report from Khartoum, Sudan.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (BP)—The mayor of a city in southeastern Ukraine enlisted a Christian humanitarian and evangelistic ministry to serve as spiritual first responders to traumatized or injured civilians in the war zone.

Zaporizhzhia is vulnerable to Russian attack, adjacent to cities in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast and a treasured nuclear power plant Russia captured since renewing its assault on Ukraine in February 2022.

As recently as Jan. 8, a Russian air strike killed at least 13 and injured another 113 in the industrial city of 700,000.

Mayor Rehina Vladyslavivna Kharchenko has formally recognized the strength of the church in helping emotionally and physically wounded citizens cope and recover.

On March 1, the mayor signed an official memorandum with Mission Eurasia, authorizing the ministry to provide spiritual and medical care and healing to civilians injured on the front lines of war, at the very locations of the tragedies.

Mission Eurasia President Sergey Rakhuba, who grew up in Zaporizhzhia but now leads the Tennessee-headquartered ministry, called the agreement a groundbreaking partnership demonstrating an unprecedented collaboration between the government and the church.

“When the government leaders of Zaporizhzhia asked us to help address both the medical and spiritual needs of civilians and frontline responders, we recognized immediately our profound duty as Christians,” Rakhuba said.

“This partnership clearly demonstrates that Ukraine deeply values spiritual engagement and sees the church as an essential, trusted partner during this critical time.”

The agreement distinguishes Mission Eurasia with a government seal, allowing its ministers, counselors and medical professionals to respond to communities after they are shelled or attacked.

Under the agreement, Mission Eurasia is deploying six mobile medical clinics staffed by trained Christian medical professionals and spiritual emergency responders through the ministry’s Next Generation Professional Leaders Initiative in partnership with the Christian Medical Association of Ukraine.

‘This is a life-saving ministry’

The fully equipped mobile clinics staffed by Christian medical professionals will provide both urgent care and spiritual care, augmented with a team of trauma counselors and ministry leaders who will offer the hope of Christ alongside medical treatment. Mission Eurasia will distribute Bibles, children’s Bibles and biblical literature.

All services will be offered at no charge, and Mission Eurasia will perform the ministry at no cost to the government, Rakhuba said.

“This is a life-saving ministry,” he said. “Lives are in danger.”

Government officials had seen Mission Eurasia’s work in the center of Zaporizhzhia in the Reimer Center, Rakhuba said, where thousands of Ukrainian refugees sought aid as they left their homes in the early days of the war in 2022. Mission Eurasia has several offices in the center.

“The local government cannot accommodate all (of the people),” Rakhuba said. “So, our mobile clinics, our mobile kitchens, and distribution of food, clothing, helping with housing, was very useful. It gave such a huge impact.”

But without the new memorandum, Mission Eurasia was confined to certain areas, and lacked the authority to enter war zones to treat injured civilians.

“(The government) said, ‘We see how much impact you bring with your spiritual and emotional counseling ministries, so we want your mobile clinics to be in the places where we have … continuous shelling,’” Rakhuba said of the Zaporizhzhia city leaders.

“When there is a hit and there is destruction, there is lots of chaos, of course. The city paramedics are there with firefighters and the rescue mission, but they want our unit to be staffed with volunteer medical workers, but also with pastors and spiritual counselors and trauma counselors to be like the first spiritual responders to those areas.

“And the government wanted us to sign memorandum, official memorandum,” he said. “That means, they give us green light to be there with first responders as spiritual first responders where all the tragedies happen.”

Mission Eurasia hopes to work long-term in the area, treating adults and children as they grapple with the trauma of living in a war zone, Rakhuba said. Through Mission Eurasia’s Restoration Initiative, local ministers leading congregations 5 or 10 miles away from the frontlines of war are learning to respond to the unique spiritual needs war creates.

“Healing takes time,” he said. “There is no deadline to it. It’s indefinite. It’s a spiritual ministry. This is restoring people’s lives.”

Kevin Abbott was pastor of First Baptist Church of Red Oak in 2014 when God placed a burden on his heart to partner with local indigenous pastors in South Asia, and he began praying for a partnership.

“We were supporting somebody in China. We were supporting somebody in Honduras,” said Abbott, now an area representative for Texas Baptists and director of Pastoral Health Networks.

“But I felt like God wanted us to have a personal relationship and partnership with somebody on the ground in South Asia, where some of the highest levels of persecution were starting to happen.”

Two years later, Joe Moody—Abbott’s former pastor and founder of Light the Window Ministries—invited him to have coffee. Moody told Abbott he needed to meet a church planter in South Asia whom he called “the Billy Graham of Nepal.”

“He’s the guy that’s well-respected and moving and shaking when it comes to evangelism and church planting and lots of very cutting edge, at least for Indian people in that area, cutting-edge church-planting movement and gospel-movement-type stuff,” Abbott explained.

When the South Asian church planter visited the United States, Abbott met with him. After the meeting, Abbott set up a trip with his church’s leadership team to “see the work on the ground [in South Asia] and go to villages and meet pastors.”

“We came back, and we were all convinced that God wanted us to partner with South Asia and [the church planter] … and the rest is history,” Abbott said.

Aside from a two-year gap during the COVID-19 pandemic, Abbott has traveled to South Asia every year since then—“always trying to pour into their leaders and connect resources to them and their needs,” he said.

Focus on developing pastors as leaders

Before joining the Texas Baptists staff, Abbott developed the Resilient Pastors cohorts at Union Baptist Association. The six-month learning cohort focused on the five habits of leaders who finish well.

Every time the South Asian church planter visited Houston, he participated in a Resilient Pastors cohort and “really loved what we were doing.”

“He said, ‘Man, I would love to bring this to South Asia,’” Abbott recalled. “I said: ‘Well, that’s great. Let’s talk about it,’ [and] that turned into a two-year conversation.”

When he moved to the state convention staff, Texas Baptists had launched its own similar program—Pastor Strong.

That’s when Abbott developed the idea for Pastor Strong South Asia—bringing together elements of what he had learned in Houston with what Texas Baptists developed.

On Jan. 20-25, 11 pastors across South Asia met in Nepal for a week-long training on leadership development, focusing on material from J. Robert Clinton’s The Making of a Leader. The pastors learned “how God develops a leader over a lifetime and how we can use that as a model of developing our leaders.”

Most of the pastors also serve regionally, mentoring between 5 and 15 pastors each. So, they also went through coaching skills training to get “some tools in their bag” for shepherding, Abbott said.

High level of commitment

He was encouraged by the level of commitment from the pastors to learn and be in community together.

“[I] told them up front that this is an alongside formation environment, that we are in a cohort together and really hammered home pretty strong the value of learning and community—that it wouldn’t be me lecturing, but we’re learning together, and they really took off on that,” Abbott said.

“It’s kind of a foreign concept to them, and so for them to really engage in that was pretty powerful to watch.”

Each day centered on a different theme. The first day evaluated how to finish well. Drawing from The Making of a Leader, the pastors considered the six barriers to ministry and the five habits of finishing.

The second day was a session called “Focused Living,” which helps pastors gain clarity about their “unique kingdom calling.” During the session, participants create a sticky-note timeline of their life to “gain sovereign perspective of how God has shaped them” for their purpose.

Spontaneous time of worship and praise

Abbott said at the end of the day, the pastors reflected on their timelines and were encouraged to “mine out of each chapter a couple of blessings from God or lessons.” After concluding the time with prayer, an older pastor among the group “stood up with his hands in the air and just started singing a worship song.”

“He was singing this worship song from his heart language of Nepali,” Abbott said.

His friend the South Asian church planter leaned over and told Abbott: “This is what he’s singing: I will sing your praise with thanksgiving, oh Jesus, my Lord. Your goodness to me is numerous, millions of thanks. You have given me more than my merit with your compassion.

“I have received more than I have asked for. I’m grateful to you, oh Lord. You are the true and living God. I have my trust in you, Lord; give me the gifts so I may serve you in such a way that I may get rewards from you.’”

He said every other pastor soon joined the spontaneous worship session.

“I didn’t know what to think. I was like, ‘Oh, this is powerful,’” Abbott said. “So, those are some of the beautiful things—spontaneous things—that [came] out of this with these leaders.”

Abbott said Texas Baptists pastors could learn a lot about the power of prayer and passion for the gospel from their South Asian counterparts.

“As Americans, we tend to get self-dependent… and it’s so refreshing to go into an environment like India or Nepal or countries like that… [because] these pastors, they don’t do it for the money, they do it for the love of God and the kingdom call of ministry,” Abbott said.

“Their hearts bleed the gospel and the need for people. Their passion about the gospel is real.”

He said the group closed every evening on their hotel’s rooftop patio in a glassed-in room, which they called the “Upper Room” in reference to Acts 1:12-14, sharing what they learned from the day and praying over each other.

Taking the model home

At the end of the week, the pastors were commissioned to “take this model to your leaders in your regions” to train them to utilize the same skills they learned during Pastor Strong.

Abbott said he wants the Pastor Strong South Asia cohort to be an encouragement to Texas Baptists pastors that the work being done in Jesus’ name around the world “[is] not dead.”

“I would encourage our pastors to really lean in and partner with local pastors and … church planter leaders in some of these countries, especially the 10/40 window where the most unreached people groups are, which happens to be mostly Muslim countries and Asian countries,” Abbott said.

Looking to the future of Pastor Strong Cohorts, Abbott said he desires for Pastor Strong Texas cohorts to have a “true partnership” with Pastor Strong South Asia cohorts to connect and provide tools and resources for them.

He said he would eventually like to set up a sponsorship program where Texas pastors can directly adopt a church and pastor financially.

The main priority at this time, he said, is for Texas pastors to “gain awareness of what God is doing [in South Asia].”

“I think it is a great marriage to partner what we’re doing here with pastors in Texas and what we’re doing at the same time with pastors in South Asia now,” Abbott said. “[I] really wanted there to be this type of partnership and support amongst our local pastors with what God’s doing internationally.”

Abbott said this trip “reconfirmed the power of the process” and the design of the cohorts.

“[I learned] that this type of training… works in any culture, in any language, and that leaders struggle with the same things everywhere; it just is flavored a little bit different,” Abbott said.

“I was reaffirmed in Nepal in this training, once again, the power and the need for what we’re trying to do as Pastor Strong Cohorts in Texas: that we want a different type of environment. We want an environment where you come alongside each other, and you learn together… [It was] a confirmation that what we’ve been doing is valuable.”

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS)—Continued attacks on religious minorities by Islamist militants have prompted calls for Nigeria to be restored to the Country of Particular Concern list of nations that are the worst violators of religious freedom.

In Africa’s most populous nation, a deadly cycle of violence has unfolded for several years, with Christian clergy and laypeople—as well as moderate Muslims—falling victim to murder and kidnapping.

The Christian nonprofit Open Doors recently reported about 3,100 Christians in 2024 were killed and more than 2,000 kidnapped in Nigeria.

On March 12, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, held a hearing on religious freedom violations in Nigeria.

Calls for targeted economic sanctions

The hearing included testimony from Catholic Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi, in central Nigeria, and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a former U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom commissioner.

Anagbe accused the Nigerian government and police of not acting to stop the violence, and he told the subcommittee in addition to killings, kidnapping and rape, Christians are routinely denied public office.

“We live in fear, because at any point it can be our turn to be killed,” the bishop said.

Perkins appealed to the White House during the hearing to reassert Country of Particular Concern status on Nigeria under the International Religious Freedom Act that allows the U.S. president to impose economic penalties.

“The U.S. should apply targeted economic sanctions on Nigerian officials that are complicit in religious persecution,” he said, adding that trade and security agreements should be used to pressure the government.

Perkins also called for the Trump administration to name a new ambassador for international religious freedom.

In Nigeria, John Joseph Hayab, a Baptist minister and chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in 19 Northern States, told RNS, “No one desires that their country is in the list, but putting Nigeria back there should encourage the government to act.”

Hayab said violence in Nigeria is not limited to Christians, and the designation would awaken the government to act for justice and give equal rights to all, so no sect is treated as superior to another.

“All the people who have died should not have if the government had acted. I think it would encourage the government to wake up. I hope it does so before it’s listed,” Hayab said.

The Nigerian government has rebutted the claims of targeted killing of Christians, saying while previous reports by the U.S. Congress had led to Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern, the security challenges were complex and not rooted in religious persecution.

“The ongoing security challenges stem from criminality, terrorism, and communal clashes, particularly conflict between farmers and herders, which have been exacerbated by climate change, population growth and competition over land resources,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Fulani Ethnic Militia largely responsible

Of Nigeria’s nearly 229 million people, Muslims comprise 53.5 percent, while 45.9 percent are Christians.

The violence is largely the work of two groups. The first is the extremist Islamist militant Boko Haram and its splinter factions.

The second is a range of militias or bandits linked to Fulani herders, Muslims who have waged a campaign of land grabs against Christian farmers in the fertile—and more Christian— Middle Belt of central Nigeria as the Fulanis’ grazing land has dried up over the past decades.

In August, the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa reported the little-known Fulani Ethnic Militia was carrying out most of the killings in Nigeria.

The militia, according to the Aug. 29 report, has organized along ethnic and religious lines, carrying out attacks and abductions without resistance from the Nigerian security services.

Although both Christians and Muslims are victims of the violence, Christians have endured most of the violence as attackers burned their homes and farms.

Over the last four years, the militia has killed over 55,000 people and carried out more than 21,000 abductions in the North-Central Zone and Southern Kaduna, the report said.

Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme of the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, in the northeastern corner of the country, backed relisting Nigeria as a country of concern.

“Let it be so that the world can know this is what we are going through. The naked truth is that Nigeria is on the brink of collapse,” he said in a telephone interview.

Calling Christian persecution “our daily experience,” the bishop said: “We have a government that is not functioning very well, and that is why these criminals move about terrorizing innocent citizens, including priests who are supposed to be highly respected. Let the world know. The Western world has been quiet about our experience here.”

Catholic Church leaders say 145 priests have been kidnapped in the last 10 years, 11 of whom were killed; four are still missing.

In the latest incident, a 21-year-old seminarian and a priest were kidnapped March 3 in the Diocese of Auchi, in Edo state. The priest, freed 10 days later, said the seminarian had been killed. Another Catholic priest, from the Diocese of Kafanchan, was found murdered on March 5.

ADAMAWA STATE, Nigeria (BP)—Nigerian Christian leaders are seeking clemency for a Christian farmer given the death sentence for killing a Fulani herdsman during an attack on his farm, it was widely reported.

The Nigerian Supreme Court upheld the death sentence March 7 for Sunday Jackson, a farmer in Adamawa, who was a 20-year-old student with a pregnant wife when Fulani herdsmen attacked him on the couple’s farm.

As Ardo Bawuro stabbed Jackson in the head and leg, according to Jackson’s published account, Jackson managed to wrest Bawuro’s knife from him and fatally stab the herdsman.

At the initial trial in 2021, Justice Fatima Ahmed Tafida, a Muslim, sentenced Jackson to death, interpreting the law to mean he should have fled the altercation.

Leaders of the Northern Christian Association of Nigeria, representing 19 state chapters of the multi-denominational group, expressed concern that the nation’s highest court could accept the ruling.

Evidence of discrimination

They described it as glaring evidence of discrimination against a Christian who will be hanged to death after being attacked by an armed Fulani herdsman without provocation and responding in self-defense, Christian Daily International—Morning Star News reported March 12.

Northern Christian Association of Nigeria Chairman John Hayab and Mohammed Naga, the regional group’s secretary general, described the death sentence as a “grave travesty of justice” and a misinterpretation of Section 23 of Adamawa State Penal Code Laws.

To conclude “Sunday Jackson had the option of flight when he was attacked and injured on his leg and not to fight in self-defense clearly distorted logic on its head by saying plaintiff should have run away while having admitted into evidence that he was stabbed in the leg and thus momentarily handicapped,” the Christian leaders said in a statement.

The leaders joined Jackson in asking Adamawa State Gov. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to grant him a pardon.

“Mr. Sunday Jackson has truly been subjected to the excruciating pain of waiting for death in the midst of the shadow of death by the grave travesty of the misinterpretation of Section 23 of the Adamawa State Penal Code Laws, and the unnecessary prolonged trial that lasted six and half years, which ordinarily should not have lasted such a lengthy period,” Christian Association of Nigeria said.

Jackson, now in his early 30s, was only 20 when the altercation occurred. His daughter was born shortly after his arrest, and he has never met her, he said in a statement published in the March 12 edition of Sahara Reporters. He has been imprisoned since his arrest in the mid-2010s.

Farmer claimed self-defense

According to Jackson’s statement, he was going about his day when he was “violently attacked and sustained severe injuries.”

“Despite this, I was able to overpower my attacker and defend myself whereupon my attacker died. However, in a gross miscarriage of justice, I was sentenced to death in 2021 after already being in prison for several years,” he stated.

Jackson said he initially tried to flee as the herdsman attacked him, but became too weak to continue when the herdsman stabbed him in the back of his head.

“My assailant stabbed me again on my leg, and one more move from him was going to end my life,” Jackson wrote. “I was too weak to run, so in defense of myself, I disarmed him while already in a pool of my own blood, and killed him to save my life.”

Jackson’s attorney, U.S.-based Emmanuel Ogebe, said in a press statement the original trial judge based her ruling on opinion instead of fact, CDI-Morning Star said. Tafida sentenced Jackson to death on Feb. 10, 2021, but the date of the attack was not stated in press reports.

“This is a sad day for Nigerians, as their ability to protect themselves from violent attackers has been further diminished,” Ogebe said.

Christian farmers in Nigeria suffer attacks by gangs of militant Fulani herdsmen, but Jackson’s case appeared to be a smaller attack by a group that did not have the sophisticated weaponry common to militants.

In Nigeria’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than in the Northeast and Northwest, radicalized Islamic ethnic Fulani militia increasingly attack farming communities, killing many hundreds, most of whom are Christians, Open Doors said in narrative material supplemental to its 2025 World Watch List.

Nigeria ranked 7th on the list of the 50 worst places for Christians to live, and is the most dangerous country for Christians. In the latest reporting period, 3,100 Christians were killed in Nigeria, 69 percent of the 4,476 Christians killed worldwide for the faith, Open Doors reported.

OSLO, Norway (BP)—Russia seriously violates religious freedom in the land it illegally occupies in Ukraine, Forum 18 said in a new report.

Torturing and killing pastors and priests, prosecuting residents for exercising religious freedom, banning worship and entire religious communities, closing churches, prosecuting missionaries and banning Scripture as extremist literature are among the most egregious atrocities Forum 18 cited in its March religious freedom survey of occupied Ukraine.

The survey echoes findings from the U.S. Department of State in its most recent report on international religious freedom and reports from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

It also was in line with reports from groups that monitor international religious freedom or serve Christians in Ukraine, including Mission Eurasia’s 2025 Faith Under Russian Terror report, released at the 2025 International Religious Freedom Summit in February.

 “The fundamental cause of freedom of religion or belief and other human rights violations in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory is Russia’s invasion and occupation from 2014 onwards of Ukraine,” Forum 18 wrote.

“Until Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory is ended, the freedom of religion or belief and other human rights violations seem set to continue.”

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, it illegally has annexed additional territory, now occupying a fifth of Ukraine, Forum 18 said.

The report comes as efforts to reach a peace agreement with Russia have included U.S. speculations Russia would retain the land it illegally occupies in Ukraine, although no agreement has been reached.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with dozens of missiles and drones late March 6 and into the next morning, the Associated Press reported March 7. The attacks killed at least 10 individuals, striking residences and cutting power to homes as well as weapons factories.

US suspends military aid and intelligence to Ukraine

Concurrently, the Trump administration suspended military aid and intelligence to Ukraine, including access to satellite imagery that could help Ukraine answer Russia’s fire, the AP said, citing sources at the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Peace talks are set to resume in a few days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced March 6, with Saudi Arabia hosting Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump.

Religious freedom in Ukraine and the spread of the gospel in Europe rests largely upon the resolution of the war, Baptist leaders in the region said.

“This is not only a war of Russia against Ukraine,” said Igor Bandura, vice president of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. “This is a war for Christian values, for the possibility to spread the gospel in freedom, and to fulfill the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus.”

Others have noted the loss of religious freedom in the Russian occupied territory, including Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary President Yarsolav “Slavik” Pyzh, Ukrainian journalists who visited the U.S. last year and Mission Eurasia.

Forum 18 documents numerous crimes and violations of religious freedoms in its report, beginning with Russia’s occupation in 2014.

While specific numbers were not cited, the report notes that many religious leaders were murdered, arrested, “disappeared” without information of their location or tortured for practicing their religion or refusing to register their congregations with the Russian Orthodox Church.

But Mission Eurasia, in its Faith Under Russian Terror report, tallied 47 Ukrainian religious leaders killed since Russia’s 2022 invasion, including 12 Baptists, 18 from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), eight Pentecostals, seven from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and two Adventists.

Among those Forum 18 listed as murder victims were Stepan Podolchak, a 59-year-old priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Kalanchak, a village in Russian-occupied Kherson Region, whose body was found on the street on Feb. 15, 2024; and Pentecostal deacon Anatoly Prokopchuk, 52, and his 19-year-old son Aleksandr Prokopchuk, also of Kherson, whose mutilated bodies were found in a nearby wooded area, Forum 18 said.

Many of those arrested are taken to prisons in Russia. In one of the most recent cases Forum 18 cited, in mid-February, prison authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea transferred Ukrainian Orthodox priest Kostiantyn Maksimov to a strict labor camp in Russia’s Saratov Region, placing him in quarantine for two weeks.

He was originally arrested in May 2023 without explanation and held in a secret location 10 months, Forum 18 said, before being tried under false charges of espionage for opposing the Russian Orthodox Church.

Maksimov is imprisoned more than 600 miles from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhia Region, where he served as a priest.

GULU, Uganda—Bible studies are forming in the villages of northern Uganda because of the water drilling ministry of Texans on Mission.

Now, Texans on Mission is stepping up to provide training for local church leaders.

“As the congregations increase, more and more leaders need training,” said Mitch Chapman, director of Texans on Mission Water Impact. “In February, we brought people together from the area villages to be trained in how to better lead their new and flourishing Bible studies and churches.”

Last year, the water ministry in Uganda paved the way for 12 congregations to be started, with 910 professions of faith.

Texans and Ugandans on Mission, as the ministry is known in Uganda, sponsored its first Church Leaders Conference to provide instruction to more than 90 church leaders in pastoral self-care, biblical interpretation, Bible study methods and children’s ministry.

Doug Hall, a Texans on Mission donor relations officer, attended the conference.

“Our ministry rented a bus and drove out to pick up all these people,” he said. “Most of them had never been to town before,” but they stayed the week in a Gulu hotel and attended daily training sessions at Kingdom City Church.

Chapman said: “We start Bible studies in every village, and some already have become churches. We also provide four weeks of discipleship training before a Bible study begins. But our pastors are really suffering from a lack of education about Scripture and how to apply it.

Trained leaders multiply churches

“Our goal is to educate our pastors and leaders so that we’re raising up educated churches and, hopefully, we see more leaders multiply out of those churches,” Chapman said.

Texans on Mission has provided Bibles in local languages, but still church and Bible study leaders need guidance, Chapman said.

“Anyone who is new to Christian faith and the Bible needs help in understanding and applying Scripture, and these Christian brothers and sisters are no different,” he said.

“It has been exciting to see how they gravitate to the gospel and how quickly they learn, And while we teach them certain things, they help us understand more about how the gospel is spread and remind us of the power in the Good News.”

Since the conference, Chapman has received feedback about its helpfulness. “We taught them hermeneutics and most of them didn’t even know what the word hermeneutics meant when we started,” he said.

“Now, we have a couple of the more educated pastors that are talking about teaching hermeneutics once a month at their church and inviting the pastors that are close enough to walk or to ride their bicycles to come and participate in that.

“So, we’re already starting to see the impact of the conference stretch out to other church leaders. We just feel like it’s going to be very, very vital for us to educate church leaders as we drill more wells and start more Bible studies and churches.”

Leaders of the Baptist World Alliance and the All Africa Baptist Fellowship sent messages last week to Baptists in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, expressing “deep sorrow and continued solidarity with you during this time of crisis and suffering.”

BWA General Secretary Elijah Brown and Elias Amétepah A. Apetogbo sent a letter specifically to Christians affiliated with the five Baptist groups in the eastern Congo, along with a general letter to the “Baptist Community” in the DRC.

“To all who are seeking to lead the churches of our Lord in the midst of chaos, conflict and confusion, thank you for serving as the living shepherds of Jesus Christ,” the letter to Baptists in the eastern Congo stated.

“May the protection of the Holy Spirit be with you and flow through you to the entire community.”

The letter was addressed to the Baptist Community in Central Africa, the Baptist Evangelical Convention of Congo, the Community of Baptist Churches of Eastern Congo, the Convention of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Congo, the Union of Baptist Churches of Congo and “all Baptists in the Eastern DRC.”

Violence leads to displacement and hunger

Goma in the DRC’s North Kivu Province and Bakuva South Kivu Province are controlled by the Rwanda-supported M23 rebel paramilitary group, and the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist rebel group, has targeted Christians in the region.

The violence has resulted in 7.8 million internally displaced people within the DRC, and 25.5 million people face the danger of hunger.

“This morning our BWA senior directors gathered and prayed for you and for just peace,” the letter to the Baptists in the eastern Congo stated.

BWA and All-Africa Baptist Fellowship leaders noted they specifically are “praying Deuteronomy 31:6 over you.”

The Scripture verse states: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Offering prayer and advocacy

The open letter to all Baptists in the DRC stated: “We are profoundly grieved by the ongoing violence, displacement and hardship that so many in your communities are enduring.”

The letter offered assurance to Congolese Baptists that the BWA and the All Africa Baptist Fellowship “stands with you in prayer and advocacy, lifting up your churches, leaders, and all those affected by instability and insecurity.”

“We recognize the immense challenges you face and assure you that you are not alone,” the letter continued.

“Our global Baptist family joins in fervent prayer and advocacy for peace, justice and restoration in your land. May the God of all comfort strengthen you, and may his justice prevail in the face of suffering.”

The letter noted Wissam al-Saliby, president of the 21Wilberforce human rights organization, has worked with BWA leaders to contact officials in the United States and embassy officials.

“We are requesting diplomatic efforts be prioritized to facilitate humanitarian aid and engage regional actors in negotiations to bring an immediate end to hostilities and secure a peaceful resolution,” the letter stated.

Providing emergency aid

BWAid, the humanitarian assistance agency of BWA, provided an initial emergency grant “with a commitment to additional funding” to BWA groups working in the eastern DRC, the letter noted.

The aid agency also has sought additional donations through the BWA Forum for Aid and Development to provide additional support.

“Over the upcoming weeks we will continue to seek further avenues for advocacy and aid,” BWA and the All Africa Baptist Fellowship pledged in the letter.

“As you provide refuge, comfort and spiritual guidance to those in distress, we continue to encourage all of the Baptist conventions to work together in the established consortium and to continue to keep both their AABF and BWA families engaged.

“In this time of chaos and uncertainty, we pray that the Lord will strengthen you and work through you on behalf of peace and care for those who are suffering.”

A mob attacked about 50 Christian worshippers gathered for a Sunday church service Feb. 16 in India’s Rajasthan State, an international religious freedom watchdog organization reported.

About 200 people entered the church building in Bikaner toward the end of the worship service. They began to vandalize the property and beat Christians with iron rods, leaving three worshippers severely injured and most of the others with bruises all over their bodies, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported on Feb. 20.

The pastor—whose name was withheld due to security concerns—told CSW a new member who attended the worship service was seen sending messages minutes before the attack, and he ran out of the building when the crowd entered.

Accused of ‘forced conversions’

Members of the mob—who dispersed quickly when police arrived at the scene—told officials forced conversions were occurring at the church. When police questioned victims of the beating, they were accused of forced conversions, and the pastor’s children were warned not to turn out like their father, CSW reported.

The pastor, his wife and several other Christians were taken to the Mukta Prasad police station, but they were not charged with forced conversion. Members of the church did not file a complaint out of fear of reprisal, and the police took no action against those who perpetrated the attack.

The state’s legislative assembly tabled the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill 2025 on Feb. 4. The bill would require individuals who voluntarily want to convert to apply to a district magistrate 60 days in advance. It would make forced conversion a nonbailable offense that would carry a hefty fine and a 10-year jail sentence.

If the bill becomes law, the burden of proof will shift, and those who are accused of forceful conversion will be required to prove their innocence.

Twelve of India’s 28 states have anti-conversion laws in place, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported.

Increased violence against religious minorities

Last December, more than 400 individual Christians and 30 church groups—including several Baptist conventions, councils and associations—sent a letter to Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop violent mobs who have targeted Christians and other religious minorities.

In January, a report from United Christian Forum—a New Delhi-based monitoring group that operates a helpline—said incidents of anti-Christian violence rose from 127 in 2014 to 834 in 2024.

Mervyn Thomas, founding president of CSW, expressed concern about the rising numbers of reported attacks on Christians and other religious minorities in India.

“In recent years, Christians have been increasingly subjected to assaults, humiliation and the loss of their livelihoods and belongings by far-right religious nationalists who make clearly baseless accusations of forceful conversion. Meanwhile, those who carry out these attacks enjoy complete impunity,” Thomas said.

“We urge the local authorities to be proactive and take firm and swift action against the perpetrators of such crimes.”