International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief
Guest blog by Janet Epp Buckingham, director of the World Evangelical Alliance Office to the UN in Geneva and former director of law and public policy for the EFC
August 22 is the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. While this day might easily pass unnoticed, for Christians, it is a significant occasion to remember those who have suffered and died because of their faith.
The Christian story has included persecution from its earliest days. The first Christian martyr was Stephen, whose death is recorded in Acts 7. A book published in 2025, The Martyrs of the New Millennium, documents over 1,500 in just the first 25 years of this century.
We honour those who have died for their faith. And we remember those who continue to suffer because of what they believe.
Nigeria: remembering the victims
This year, there has been significant international attention on Nigeria, where Christians continue to be among the victims of some of the world's most serious violence based on religion or belief.
The situation in Nigeria is complex. The violence has multiple causes, including terrorism, criminality, competition over land and resources, ethnic tensions and weak governance. Not every attack can be understood simply as religious persecution.
But complexity should not cause us to overlook what is clear: Christians are suffering and dying in large numbers, and some communities are being specifically targeted because of their Christian identity.
Consider just a few examples.
14-year-old Leah Sharibu was abducted from her school in northern Nigeria in 2018. Reports indicate that she was kept in captivity because she refused to renounce her Christian faith and convert to Islam. She has now been missing for more than eight years.
In 2022, Deborah Samuel, a 22-year-old university student, was brutally murdered by fellow students in northwestern Nigeria after being accused of blasphemy over a WhatsApp message. Her killing was captured on video, yet no one has been held accountable for her murder.
And on July 26 of this year, at least 30 Christians were reportedly killed in an attack in Naridon in Kaduna State's Middle Belt region. Reports described attackers going from house to house, killing men, women and children.
These are not simply statistics. These are daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, friends.
Read more.
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New Pastoral Needs Study
How many churches need pastors in Canada? What are the obstacles and opportunities to sustaining current pastors or to discerning pastoral vocations?
These questions have inspired a new research project from the EFC Centre for Research on Church and Faith in collaboration with Northwest Seminary’s Propel Lilly grant award.
The study will explore pastoral calling, training and sustaining. It will include a needs analysis of past, present and future pastoral workforce needs in EFC-affiliated congregations. The researchers will also initiate conversations with denominational, higher educational and church leaders to explore barriers to entry and retention of pastors.
Partnership formation is an important part of all the Centre’s projects, so the research team has already begun consulting with EFC affiliate leaders across the nation to discuss how this study can meet their needs and answer their questions about pastoral vitality in the 21st century.
The Centre believes this study will help key stakeholders identify the factors that shape the process of discerning a pastoral vocation and how pastors develop resilience and longevity in ministry. The research findings are also expected to provide verifiable benchmark projections of current and future pastoral needs and help stakeholders address opportunities and barriers to pastoral identification and recruitment.
In addition, the study can help stakeholders understand the relationships between denominations, churches and Christian higher education institutions. The CRCF believes the findings will help key stakeholders develop pastoral candidates to meet current and future pastoral needs in churches.
If you’re interested in this topic or have questions or perspectives that you think would be important to consider at the outset of this study, please contact the research team at research@theefc.ca.
Watch for more details at TheEFC.ca/CRCF.