Nigeria Update: Church Bombed on Sunday
Church of Christ in the Nations Headquarters in Jos Bombed, at least 4 Casualties
By Ann Buwalda, Executive Director Jubilee Campaign
27 February 2012
Dear Friends,
At 5 am yesterday we got a call from one of our guides during Jubilee Campaign's just-concluded trip to Nigeria. The message was short but chilling. On Sunday morning February 26, the headquarters of Church of Christ in the Nations (COCIN) in Jos, Nigeria was bombed. In what has become one of Boko Haram's signature tactics, they loaded a vehicle with explosives and drove straight through the church's security gate, hoping to crash their car into the sanctuary full of people before detonating.
By the grace of God, the car's tire blew, it hit a motorcycle and was stopped roughly three yards from the church building before detonating. Reports are unclear at this time, but it appears that 3 or 4 people were killed in the blast, two more would later die in the hospital, and upwards of 50 people were wounded. Yet if the attackers had succeeded in crashing into the church building, the casualties would have been much higher.
This attack hits home for the Jubilee team because we visited the COCIN headquarters during our recent situation assessment trip to Nigeria on Feb 13, two weeks ago today. For much of yesterday we wondered if the people we met were amongst the victims.
Considering how recently we were there greeting Christian brothers, it is eerie to see the aftermath of this bombing. These pictures were taken yesterday.
In a particularly heartbreaking twist, one of the casualties was an IDP (Internally Displaced Person) from Yobe State who had fled house-to-house killings targeting Christians in her home state. She fled to Jos hoping to find safety in one of the more notable Christian enclaves in Nigeria's Middle Belt but the tide of Muslim extremism sweeping across Nigeria found her even here. We are yet to confirm if she is one of those we interviewed during our trip but her name is the same as one of the ladies we met.
Credit: Jubilee Campaign
Emmanuel from the Justice for Jos Project with a lady who fled from anti-Christian violence in Yobe.
A director of a local Christian School who we met during our trip sent out these prayer requests. We hope that these will be helpful to you all as you keep Nigeria in your prayers.
*Praise the Lord that He intervened and thwarted the plans of the bombers. This is one of many such and we are grateful to our God that He sees well into the dark chambers where these evil is planned.
*Praise the Lord for the courage of the church leaders to express love to the perpetrators. They do not know what they are doing.
*Please pray for us as we seek to encourage fellow believers to trust in the Lord. The attacks are against the Lord and His name, not against us. Pray that the Lord will reach these people with His truth and that they will repent.
*Pray for our pastors that they will not be scared and that their families will have peace, knowing that they are safe.
*Pray that we will enjoy God's peace in our hearts and that God will turn this sad situation for His glory.
*Pray that there will be no reprisals from the youth who are more difficult to control in these situations.
in HIS Grace
Ann Buwalda
Executive Director
Jubilee Campaign
Copyright 2012 Jubilee Campaign