The trauma Pastor Josiah experienced, following his kidnapping by Islamic extremists, consumed him with bitterness. Without support from Open Doors, his life would have taken a path of revenge. Today, he remembers all those he loves and has lost to violence.
“The attacks of Christians are on the increase. In my own opinion, they attack us because of our religion. They kill Christians.”
Pastor Josiah believes he and his family were kidnapped because they follow Jesus. He knows the repeated assaults on his village are not isolated incidents.
“There is a [Christian] village the extremists overturned, and they’ve made the people there their slaves,” he shares. “To the point where the community is unable to eat without the extremists providing it.”
Josiah stresses an urgent need for prayer and action for the future of the Church in Sub-Saharan Africa. “We should pray for believers because of the many hardships they are facing,” he explains. “Christians are finding themselves in situations they have no choice in, and these events make believers’ faith shake. One man that was kidnapped with us was crying, saying that he’ll denounce Christ, that he would start worshipping Allah.”
Josiah understands the depth of fear that man felt. He felt it himself, but denying Jesus was never an option.
THE KIDNAPPING
Josiah and his household were wrenched out of sleep by gunfire. It was still night. His wife, Rebekah, ran into the living room to investigate the commotion. She was shot and fell, bleeding and crying.
In a quick and terrifying blur, vicious armed men entered their home, barking, shoving, tying their wrists. Josiah and three of his children were bound and led away while his wife lay too weak to rise, frightened and screaming that she was dying! She was dying!
Josiah was powerless to help.
“The kidnappers took us and we started walking to the bush,” he says. “We were walking all night and didn’t stop until 7a.m. when we got to their camp. I kept thinking about Rebekah. Did she die? Was she still alive?”
Two months and two weeks. That’s how long Josiah, his daughter, and two sons spent in captivity. Always cold. Always sick. Eating off the floor like animals. They dared not speak of God or pray aloud.
“If I just bowed my head, they would start to say, ‘He’s praying!’ They would aim their weapons at me,” Josiah explains. “We could only pray in our hearts. Even when one of the Christians died, his family asked if I could pray. But the kidnappers refused.”
Humiliated. Taunted. Insulted. Abused. The cycle went on for two months and two weeks. Then, one morning, their captors summoned both Josiah’s sons. They would be driven by motorbike to collect the ransom for their lives.
“I gave my sons my food rations that day and told them who to meet when they got home to help us. The kidnappers took them on bikes and left. That was the last time I saw them.”
Only Josiah and his daughter escaped alive. Freedom never tasted so bitter. Josiah had lost his wife, his sons, and his hope for the future.
“I felt like the world was crumbling in on me, as if I was alone with this pain. I kept thinking, ‘Why did this all happen to me?’ When I remember Rebekah and the good life we had together, I ask God, ‘Why?’”
THOSE LOST AND LEFT BEHIND
“Rowland loved singing in the church band. No matter the church he went to, he would join them and sing,” Josiah says, looking at precious family photographs. “Jonathan was never lazy, always up and doing things. He was very hardworking. Timothy was a quiet person. He was always calm and resourceful.”
He holds up another photograph.
“This is my favourite photo of my wife and I together. It was the first picture of us as a married couple.”
Pastor Josiah weeps as he remembers Rebekah and his sons. Jonathan and Timothy, the two with him in captivity, were killed by their captors that day they were taken away. Josiah doesn’t know how they died or why.
His remaining son, Rowland, escaped the first kidnapping. When extremists attacked their village again in 2025, he was caught while raising the alarm. Tragically, Rowland was killed by his captors.
“If I hadn’t come for trauma healing, bad thoughts would have occupied my head,” Josiah shares. “But after my times at the trauma centre, I feel a lot better and my heart is now at rest. Crying has become a part of me—it’s the biggest thing I’ve taken away from here, that crying helps you to release the pain.”
Without support through Open Doors’ trauma care, Pastor Josiah admits he would have been consumed by bitterness. Today he can say, “I have received freedom. I have forgiven them.”
He wants the same liberty for all those he pastors and has arranged for his village to receive trauma care through Open Doors.
“For those that have no hope in life, there is a need for trauma healing. For those who are still carrying bitterness and unforgiveness because of what has happened, they will receive help through this programme, like I received help.”
Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa just want the killing to stop. Sign our petition, and use your voice to call for justice, protection, and restoration.
