The numbers are almost impossible to take in. Around 200 people killed. At least 300 abducted. Churches burned. Schools destroyed. The town of Ngoshe, in Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, was a Christian-majority community. On March 4, 2026, it became the site of one of the worst massacres of Christians in recent memory.

The attack was carried out by Islamist terrorists — the same networks that have been terrorising Christian communities in Nigeria's Middle Belt and north-east for years. The pattern is familiar: armed men arriving at night, killing indiscriminately, burning buildings, taking captives. The scale of this particular attack is exceptional, but the context is not. Nigeria has been experiencing a slow-motion genocide of its Christian communities for over a decade, with little sustained international attention.

Barnabas Aid is calling for urgent prayer — for the survivors, for the families of those killed, for the abducted, and for the Christian communities of Borno State who are living in fear. They are also calling for action: from the Nigerian government, which has consistently failed to protect its Christian citizens, and from the international community, which has largely looked away.

For UK churches, this is a moment to stand in solidarity. To name what is happening. To pray. And to ask why the persecution of Christians in Nigeria receives so little attention compared to other humanitarian crises. The answer to that question is uncomfortable — but it is one the Church needs to sit with.