The Chairman’s Report for October

In this issue of the newsletter
New: Shoes for barefoot Christian children driven from their homes
New: The Heart for the Persecuted staff in area where attacks are occurring
New: A new building for a small Christian orphanage in need
Update: Preparations in Middle East and Nigeria for Christmas programs

Clothing, Feeding, and Comforting the Fatherless in Plateau State, Nigeria

In newsletters, I often report on the relentless terror our Christian brothers and sisters endure across Nigeria’s Middle Belt. I have been in many of the displacement camps in Plateau State on numerous mission trips.

I have seen firsthand the death and destruction left behind by heavily armed Sunni Muslim Fulani herdsmen. The gruesome scenes are etched into my memory and honestly affect everything I write.

Despite the ongoing danger and bloodshed, our biblical mandate to care for the victims can never stop.

Our team in Plateau State produces monthly video reports of visits to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.

The videos show the compassionate love by our team to displaced children whose parents were martyred in jihadist raids.

Led by our ministry coordinator and a dedicated team of frontline volunteers, the latest mission traveled into several of the hardest-hit Local Government Areas of Plateau State—including Mangu, Bokkos, and Riyom—where Christian farming communities face persistent, murderous attacks.

Videos from our Nigeria team can be viewed here: religiousfreedomcoalition.org/news

The threat of violence was immediate and real. Just days before our team reached Mangu, a brutal raid claimed the lives of more than 20 innocent people. On the very day our team ministered in Riyom, another fatal attack struck nearby.

Despite the constant peril, the team pressed ahead to bring relief, restoration, and spiritual hope to hundreds of grieving, vulnerable children.

Restoring Dignity: Shoes, Clothes, Haircuts, and Food

When Fulani militants assault a village, families must run for their lives into the bush with only what they are wearing. The children arrive at informal displacement camps in threadbare rags, completely barefoot, and suffer from hunger.

During the outreach, Heart for the Persecuted Church (H4PC) delivered direct, hands-on care designed to restore both physical health and personal dignity:

• Sturdy New Shoes: The vast majority of these displaced children walk barefoot on jagged, rocky ground. The team fitted each child with brand-new, durable shoes to protect their feet from deep wounds and severe infections.

• New Clothing: We replaced torn, ragged garments with clean shirts and trousers, so these boys and girls know they are valued and loved.

• Grooming and Hygiene: A local barber accompanied the team to give the boys clean haircuts, while the youngest orphans were bathed so they could look and feel their best.

• Cash for Food Envelopes: Each child and guardian received an official H4PC envelope containing direct cash assistance. In these rural settlements, cash allows guardians to buy vital grain, maize, and basic provisions immediately from local markets to prevent starvation.

As one young boy, Namba Marges from Mangu, shared with the team: “You have been providing for us. We are telling you thank you. You did not leave us since we lost our parents.”

Two Years of Sustained Hope

Direct aid to newly orphaned children in the Mangu, Bokkos area began in January 2024. At the time we could find 15 beds open for the nearly 1,000 Christian children orphaned in Sunni Muslim attacks.

Because of the generosity of supporters Heart for the Persecuted Church has carried out vital relief operations, directly assisting over 400 orphaned and displaced children across Plateau State for two years.

These children and many more we have not been able to care for, have lost their homes and their parents. They urgently need food, clothing, and shelter—but above all, they need to know that the body of Christ stands with them. Please be in prayer for these children and for our staff who risk their lives to assist them.

Another Permanent Home for Christian Orphans

Over the years, our mission in Jos, Plateau State, has brought us alongside local Christian efforts caring for children orphaned in violent jihadist attacks. One such ministry is [redacted for orphanage’s safety].

Founded nearly twenty years ago, the home currently cares for dozens of Christian boys and girls who lost their families to Islamic jihad attacks in places like Bokkos, Bassa, and Mangu.

The small orphanage has struggled just to keep its doors open in the last few years and the Religious Freedom Coalition has stepped in repeatedly to help this valuable asset for displaced children. One at a time the Christian orphanage is changing the lives of 58 children.

For several years our Jos orphanage has provided portions of our farm crop harvests to help feed the children. When eviction from the rented facility was threatened, we paid the annual rent last year, and this year.

Paying back rent was an emergency measure. The rented facility has become severely run-down, cramped, and entirely unusable for long-term childcare. We could not allow the children to become homeless, but pouring funds into an unusable rental year after year makes no sense.

Stepping forward to finish the work: [redacted name] managed to acquire a parcel of land and began construction on a solid, free-standing concrete block building last year. But the orphanage was not able to raise all the funds needed and the work was stopped.

The unfinished shell has been left exposed to the elements and could face ruin.

We cannot leave Christian children, who lost their parents to terror, stuck in deteriorating, leased quarters where they face the constant threat of eviction.

I have transferred $10,000 needed to finish construction of the new building and to give the 58 children now cared for by KWAVF a suitable home.

Our grant to [redacted name] will put the roof on the structure, install secure windows and doors, finish the masonry, and complete the interior. This will allow these boys and girls to move out of, what I have determined, unsuitable living conditions and into a safe, permanent, Christian-centered home.

The property is currently owned by a non-profit Christian organization and will use the funds previously spent on property taxes and rent to now be used for services for the children.

This is practical stewardship in action: We are solving the crisis permanently rather than helping pay rent on a run-down property. Your prayers and financial gifts make it possible to build a lasting refuge for these young victims of terror.

Christmas in October?

Preparation has already begun for our annual Christmas for Refugees programs!

I started the Christmas for Refugees program in Jordan in 2013 the year before the Islamic State devastated northern Syria and Iraq. I started the program to bring aid and comfort to the Iraqi refugees who had fled the Sunni Muslim revolt against American occupation directed by President George W. Bush.

The Christmas for Refugees program began as events held for children that included worship and Christ-centered games and songs including a Nativity play. A hot meal was served and gifts such as boxes of food, hygiene kits or even blankets were supplied to the child’s family.

As the Islamic State terror forced tens of thousands of Christian families from Christian towns in Iraq the program, along with our Diapers for Refugees programs, grew.

At the height of the Islamic State occupation of northern Iraq, many thousands of displaced Christian children and their families were aided by the Christmas program. As many as 1,000 children attended events that helped reinforce their faith. The program themes have always centered on Jesus being there for them!

The program was expanded to Nigeria in 2017 as our ministry became involved with children orphaned there by Islamic Jihad attacks. At first the Christmas programs were held as a “Happy Birthday Jesus” event at the orphanage, but as Christian families were driven out of their homes by Sunni Muslim Fulani in Plateau State the programs were expanded.

Christmas for Refugees programs will be held this year at IDP camps in Bokkos and other areas of Plateau State. All will be Jesus centered.

The Christmas programs in the Middle East are still as active as they were at the height of the Islamic State. In Bethlehem we call them Christmas in the Holy Land.

Jesus is the center of the Bethlehem Christmas programs. A major aspect is food distribution to Christian families who have lost their livelihoods because of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel.

Since 2016, a group of very generous supporters has set up a Matching Gift Fund  to DOUBLE gifts to the Christmas program and all Religious Freedom Coalition programs. This year the Leadership Circle has a fund of over $200,000 to double gifts.

All gifts to the Religious Freedom Coalition will be doubled.

Prayer Focus: Please pray fervently for Christians under attack in Plateau and other Middle Belt States in Nigeria. Pray for the Christians in the Holy Land.