Global Christian Relief Red List 2025

Analysis 

​Faltering States and Growing Churches: Underneath the Rising Violence Springs Healing and Hope
"If you want to make the biggest difference for religious freedom in the world today," said former Congressman and Human Rights giant Frank Wolf to a group of GCR donors in Washington, D.C., "pick the NGO with the best ground game, because violence and conflict has risen so much that governments can't help, or won't help, and it's up to the churches to bring relief like never before."
 
The last t w o years have seen violence and conflict rise exponentially, in some cases drawing the world's attention, as in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine, but in other cases going all but ignored, in places like Sudan, Mvanmar and Yemen. Amid the spiralling violence, the church is suffering even more while taking these new opportunities to assist, relieve, and offer peace and hope. As a preacher in Lagos had put it after returning from a visit to Sudan, "The church in the world is at a crossroads - where once it was pushed out of welfare provision by the state, now it is needed as never before as nation states accept that they are overmatched."
 
Violent Islamic extremist groups gain strength across Africa, driving the mass killing of Christians
While the world's attention is held fast by the wars involving Ukraine and Israel, violent jihadist groups are gaining ground across Africa. The collapse or overthrow of some national governments and the expulsion of Western security forces in some areas have weakened resistance to the jihadists, leaving defenceless communities especially believers as well as moderate Muslims expose to increasingly powerful Islamist groups. In some countries, such as Mozambique, the arrival of violent extremists has upended once peaceful relations between Muslim and Christian communities. Above all, the countries of Africa have the youngest average age in the world, with literally hundreds of millions of youths un- educated and unemployed. They often join jihadis, more to obtain a job and have a family than for religious reasons.
 
The fragile states that comprise the semi- arid Sahel belt that runs from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean contain no fewer than twenty well-funded Islamic insurgencies, of which the best known are Boko Haram in northern Nigeria and Al Shabab in Somalia, as well as Al Qaeda and ISIS running affiliates in many countries, especially Francophone Africa. It is the level of killing that draws the headlines. Nigeria remains an outlier with nearly 10,000 Christians dying in the period from November 2022 to November 2024, according to the latest data from the Violent Incidents Database funded by Global Christian Relief and conducted by the International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF).
 
No other country reached even 1,000 Christian killings in the same time span. But of the 10 worst nations for Christian killings, half of the countries are from this region. These numbers focus on well attested deaths, but reports indicate the actual numbers are likely far higher. And abductions in Nigeria are astonishingly high, too, nearing 10,000 Christians kidnapped.
 
The 2025 Global Christian Relief Red List. Washington, D.C.