Day 6 – Nigeria

If you talk to Christians in northeastern Nigeria, they will tell you that Sundays feel different—not like a peaceful day of rest, but more like a deep breath before stepping into danger. You wake up, you get dressed, and you already know the risks. Church is not just a service; it is an act of courage.

In this part of Nigeria, groups like Boko Haram have spent years trying to crush Christian communities—burning churches, kidnapping believers, and tearing through villages. Their goal is fear. They want worship to stop. But Nigerian believers refuse to disappear. In places like Borno and Yobe, people still walk miles to church, fully aware of what could happen. Some tuck their Bibles inside their clothes. Others meet in half-burned buildings because that is all they have left. And every time a church is destroyed, another story follows—believers gathering the next morning to sweep the ashes and begin rebuilding.

One pastor even said, “We rebuilt our church before we rebuilt our homes, because the church is our life.” That kind of story stays with you. You can burn a building, but you cannot burn out a faith rooted in Jesus. Boko Haram has left scars everywhere—grieving families, emptied towns, traumatized communities. Yet in the middle of all that pain, something stronger keeps rising: courage, endurance, and hope in Jesus.

And Jesus’ words hold true here: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” That is Nigeria—shaken on the outside, but unshakable where it matters most.

So will you pray with me for the people of Nigeria?