CRC Seeks Prayer for Kidnapped Schoolgirls

Christian Reformed Church leaders are calling on congregations to pray for the release of the more than 250 secondary schoolgirls who were kidnapped in Nigeria last month by the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.

The students were abducted on the evening of April 15 from the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School near Maiduguri, a remote community in northern Nigeria in which the CRC has worked with the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN), says Peter Vander Meulen, director of the CRC’s Office of Social Justice (OSJ.)

“The EYN is a thriving, growing church known for its peaceful, simple, and productive approach to life,”  says VanderMeulen, who has written a reflection on the mass kidnapping with Ron Geerlings, West Africa director for Christian Reformed World Missions, on OSJ’s Do Justice blog site.

“The Christian Reformed Church has partnered and invested in this church and in this remote spot in Nigeria. We supported effective, Nigerian-led programs in agriculture and HIV-AIDS,” they write.

VanderMeulen and Geerlings also comment on some of the long-term, systemic problems that have afflicted the people of  Nigeria, a country that is among the wealthiest and best-educated in Africa.

“Nigeria has 170 million people, hundreds of ethnic groups, borders drawn by colonial powers and nearly a 50-50 mix of Christians and Muslims,” they write.

“Oil accounts for 95 percent of Nigeria's exports and the money generated flows down through federal, state, and local governments. The competition to control the money at each level can be fierce and charges of corruption and unfair distribution are common.”

These are entrenched problems that existed before Boko Haram arrived on the scene and will likely remain once Boko Haram is no longer active, they say.

On its website, the EYN says Boko Haram is a sect violently seeking a “pure” Islamic state. It wants to wipe out all institutions, such as the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School, that support western values.

Many of the kidnapped schoolgirls are members of the EYN.

The kidnapping, says EYN, is the latest in a long line of violent acts, ranging from bombings to executions, undertaken by Boko Haram.

Government authorities say that Boko Haram fled with the girls into a dense forest. Attempts are being made seeking their release.

In a press release, EYN says: “It is high time that our sisters be brought home from captivity and that all of our Nigerian brothers and sisters experience some measure of peace in their land.

“We must lift up our voices and remember that each of us are members of one body, brought together by Christ.”