In memory of Pastor George Ojih, a martyr whose life and tragic death led people to Christ

Our Nigerian partner school, Jos ECWA Theological Seminary (JETSN), mourns the loss of graduate student and Pastor George Ojih.

Violence in northern Nigerian cities this past July by an extremist group left churches destroyed and over 700 dead, estimates say. Pastor Ojih was captured by armed assailants near his home in the city of Maiduguri. He had moved his family a day earlier to a safer area and returned to the then-compromised area because of his concern that a widow may have been stranded in her home there.

Following his capture, he was detained in a hostile camp. The possibility of freedom for a Christian came by renouncing one’s faith. Instead, Pastor Ojih was heard praying, singing and preaching. He insisted that it was better to die for Christ than to yield to spiritual compromise. Eventually, his activities brought him forcibly before the “warlord,” where his bold message to repent from evil fell upon hardened ears, and he was killed. Just before, fellow captives who later escaped said he whispered, “Tell my family that I died well.”

A memorial service was held for Pastor Ojih and others who were killed during the four-day violence. Attendees praised the Lord for the pastor’s service to many and his willingness to die for Christ. Pastor Ojih led an effective pastoral ministry for 10 years in his local church. He came to JETSN for formal theological education and was motivated to “learn more of God,…to develop more skill [for ministry],…and to boost my horizon and capability in the work of the ministry.”

Please pray for the families of those killed, including Pastor Ojih’s widow, Veronica, who has resumed living in Maiduguri with their two young children as she awaits the birth of their third child. Please pray for religious freedom and the Church in Nigeria as it faces persecution.

“Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”   Revelation 2:10b


If you would like to support the training of future ministry leaders around the world like Pastor Ojih, please click here.