Bulletin on the Global Persecution
of Christians
5 May 2026
The Universal Christian Church of the New Jerusalem deplores the relentless wave of massacres, kidnappings, and assaults which mark the systematic persecution of Christians by international jihadism and religious fanaticism spanning from continent to continent. This bulletin compiles the latest reports received from Africa and Asia, with the aim of ensuring that none of these victims may be consigned to oblivion.
Nigeria
On 25 April, in Kachia County in the state of Kaduna, Fulani jihadist militiamen ambushed a truck transporting Christian students heading to high school after the Easter holidays. Nine boys were kidnapped, and a young girl named Purity Babangida was killed while attempting to flee.
In the early hours of 27 April, again in southern Kaduna, Fulani terrorists attacked the village of Tudun Marke, in Kauru County, abducting a church pastor along with his wife.
On the night of 27 April, militants affiliated with the Islamic State raided the village of Guyaku, in Adamawa State, massacring at least 29 people. On the same day, an armed group attacked an orphanage in Kogi State, kidnapping 23 children: while 15 of them were later released, for 8 of them every trace is lost.
On 3 May, Fulani militiamen killed at least five Christians in two separate coordinated attacks in Benue State. In Agatu County, four Christians were massacred in the village of Aila. Simultaneously, in Logo County, a woman was killed and three other people were reported missing.
Kenya
On 25 April, armed Somali Muslim herdsmen assaulted the Christian community in the Kwa Kamari area of Kitui County, killing seven farmers and torching their homes. Christian farmers in this region have been denied peace for weeks, forced to keep watch day and night in constant fear of armed incursions.
Afghanistan
On 16 April, in the city of Herat, Islamic extremists butchered 30 members of the Hazara ethnic minority, including 10 converts to Christianity, killed in their homes. Some of the victims had previously received explicit threats for their faith in Christ and for collaborating with international organisations. The few Christian communities in Afghanistan are forced to live into a total clandestine existence under the Taliban regime.
China
As of 1 May, Pastor Sun Cong of the Beijing Zion Church — one of China’s largest house churches — has been detained for 201 days. He was arrested in October 2025 during a coordinated crackdown targeting almost thirty pastors in various cities and is currently being held at the Beihai Detention Centre in Guangxi. He faces charges of “illegal use of computer networks”, a legal pretext frequently employed by Chinese authorities to suppress online Sunday worship and the community’s digital pastoral activities.
India
On 13 April, in the Sukma district of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, two men belonging to a traditional tribal religion attacked Pastor Motu Sodi and his family, beating them with large wooden staffs. The pastor, his wife, his sister, and his eighteen-year-old niece, Mangali Madavi were assaulted and the latter sustained facial injuries. Police authorities classified the attack as a mere “land dispute”, ignoring eyewitness testimony regarding the religious motive.
The Church raises her prayer to the Lord for all those who sacrifice their freedom and their lives for their fidelity to Christ, in every corner of the earth. In this month that Christianity consecrates to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church entrusts to the maternal mantle of the Mother of God, all the brothers and sisters worldwide persecuted. May the wounded find consolation under Her loving gaze, may the kidnapped return home, and may the martyrs of the true faith find eternal rest.
“Blessed are you when people abuse you and persecute you
and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven”.
(Mt 5: 11-12)
