Introducing Operation Encourage — a two-month focus on our Nigerian team
A note before you read: out of concern for the safety of the staff and volunteers described here, only initials are used.
In a recent conversation with our Nigeria Director, it became clear that the situation around our home office in Jos has moved past anything our team has weathered before. There are now daily killings in the Jos area, where our office is located, some of which have claimed the lives of family members of our staff. Concerningly, there is also a clear pattern of coordination between Islamists and certain members of the Nigerian army. In the middle of it — our staff, their families, and the volunteers struggle to carry out the ministry they are called to.
We want to share what Peter shared with us, and then invite you into something we are calling Operation Encourage.
What our team is carrying
- Perilous Travel: Kidnapping has grown into an organized industry funding militant Islamic groups. Routes like the Zuru–Jos road are now incredibly dangerous, making even short trips a calculated risk. Even Okada (motorcycle taxi) travel—the area’s most common public transit—is highly risky, as our staff worry they may be targeted by drivers because of their ministry work.
- Exposed Volunteers: Some of our most fruitful team members are also the most vulnerable. A handful of volunteers in Kano have been so effective in helping new believers remain faithful to Jesus that local hostility toward them has reached dangerous levels.
- The “Survival Math” of Daily Life: Most people in this region, including our staff, rely on farming to survive. To cope with the threat, communities now pool funds to hire armed protection, costing households roughly ₦100,000 twice a year. This informal tax funds volunteer villagers who stand watch day and night. However, this protection rarely extends to private plots, meaning our staff must often tend their crops completely unguarded. Even with these watches, attacks continue.
- A Heavy Physical Toll: This constant crisis is taking a severe toll on the health of our team. One staff member, S., lives on the outskirts of the city where attacks strike first; he is currently managing severe high blood pressure brought on by the constant threat to his wife, mother, and five children. Another staff member, M.—a widow with young children—is fighting typhoid, malaria, and heavy bleeding simultaneously. Tragically, two of her cousins were recently killed by Fulani militia while traveling to a family funeral.
- Inverted Justice: We now understand why justice has run the wrong way. Reports indicate that when Boko Haram was partially defeated, many former fighters were integrated into the Nigerian military, and some now hold positions of authority. Community members report that these specific individuals often lead operations that seem to benefit attackers rather than defend villages—disarming vulnerable communities just before an attack, prosecuting victims who defend themselves, or abandoning their posts at critical moments.
- Layered Danger from Retaliatory Rage: Two of our staff members face a heartbreaking and unique threat. Because they are ethnically Hausa (a predominantly Muslim tribe), local Christians in the area often mistake them for Muslims. In flashes of community retaliation, they face a very real danger of being targeted by the very people they share a faith with.
A recent joint US–Nigeria military operation against Boko Haram regroupings in the northeast brought a brief, temporary lull to the Plateau killings. But no one on the ground believes this calm will hold. The deeper, unrelenting pattern remains.
Introducing Operation Encourage
For the next two months, we are launching Operation Encourage — a focused season of prayer and care for our Nigerian staff.
Here is how it will work:
- Each week, we will send a short email highlighting a few members of the Nigeria team — their roles, their stories, and the specific ways they have asked us to pray.
- A landing page will go live alongside the first email, where you can submit a note of encouragement, a scripture, a written prayer, a poem, a word of appreciation — whatever the Lord puts on your heart. One line or many. As you are led.
- We will gather what comes in and pass it directly to the staff being lifted up that week, translated where helpful.
- We will keep you updated on how God is moving in response — answered prayers, encouragements received, ground gained.
Peter has expressed his hope and support for this project; he said that this will remind the staff that they are appreciated, cared for, and not alone, that people an ocean away are with them in Spirit even while they weather this terrible storm (which would tax anyone to the limits of their endurance.)
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2
Watch your inbox for the first Operation Encourage email and the link to the landing page! If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter yet, you may do so HERE. Thank you so much for your continued care for your brothers and sisters in Nigeria.
In His Grace
Dara Searcy-Gardner| Vice President, Firm Foundation in Christ Ministries.