This Sunday, November 2, is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, and this year the spotlight is rightly on the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Religious freedom is under brutal attack in parts of Africa where Islamist militants and lawless militias treat human life as expendable and Christian faith as a death sentence. The Voice of the Martyrs and other ministries are urging Americans to stand in prayer and solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters.
The scale of bloodshed in Nigeria is staggering and cannot be dismissed as mere “tribal violence” or a local problem to be handled quietly. A watchdog report documented more than 7,000 Christians killed in the first part of 2025 alone, a figure that should jolt every American conscience and demand action from our leaders. These are not anonymous statistics; these are families, churches, and communities being wiped out while too many in the West look away.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, eastern provinces are being terrorized by groups such as the Allied Democratic Forces, who raid villages, abduct believers, and destroy churches in a campaign to silence Christianity. The Voice of the Martyrs has released powerful material showing how faithful Christians like Daniel and Aline continue to minister amid kidnappings and mass displacement, reminding us that prayer is literally the first request made by the persecuted. If prayer is their plea, it must be our priority — but it must not be our only response.
Let’s be blunt: Western elites and international institutions have failed these Christians by treating religious persecution as a sidebar instead of a crisis. Churches and human-rights groups report thousands more abducted and displaced, and yet policymakers trot out the same bureaucratic phrases while families bury their dead. Americans who love freedom should be furious that governments with power to act hide behind diplomacy while churches burn.
Prayer is powerful, and VOM’s Todd Nettleton is right that persecuted believers ask for it first — but prayer that isn’t followed by rescue, sanctuary, targeted sanctions, and pressure on regimes enabling the violence is charity only in name. We should insist our government fund refugee resettlement and humanitarian aid for Christian survivors, impose sanctions on identified militant leaders, and use intelligence and military cooperation to deny terrorists safe havens. Standing idly by while Christians are slaughtered is a stain on any nation that calls itself free.
To every patriotic American who reads this: pray on November 2, yes, but also give, lobby, and show up for the survivors. Support trusted ministries that are on the ground, pressure your representatives to act, and make sure this crisis stays in the headlines until concrete help arrives. Our brothers and sisters in Nigeria and the DRC are calling on the global church — let us answer with prayer, with policy, and with the fierce compassion of a nation that still values life and liberty.
