{"id":26146,"date":"2013-06-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-01T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/prayer\/church-leaders-under-pressure-470\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T20:56:34","slug":"church-leaders-under-pressure-470","status":"publish","type":"prayer","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/prayer\/church-leaders-under-pressure-470\/","title":{"rendered":"Church leaders under pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Leading a church is never easy. But when members of your congregation are risking their lives every time they come to church \u2013 that&#8217;s a whole new challenge.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reverend Yunusa Nmadu works for CSW Nigeria and is the pastor of a church in one of the most dangerous places to be a Christian \u2013 northern Nigeria. In this region, churches and Christian communities are regularly attacked by gunmen or suicide bombers from Islamist extremist groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Weekends are now a terror,&#8221; he told us after one Sunday when three suicide bomb attacks took place on three churches in the same area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;As a leader, you not only have to carry your own burden, but also have to summon the resolve to comfort and lead your congregation.&#8221; He has asked us to pray for church leaders like him who face this double burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">This week please:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li>Thank God for the courage of people like Reverend Yunusa;<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Ask God to shield Yunusa&#8217;s congregation from danger;<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Ask God to give Yunusa wisdom when he makes practical decisions about the protection of his congregation;<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Pray that Yunusa would be given the right words to say to comfort people who have lost friends and family in religiously-motivated attacks;<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Ask God to bless Yunusa every day, giving him new spiritual insight;<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Ask God to give strength to the families of church leaders like Yunusa, so that they can be a support;<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Pray for church leaders in other countries you&#8217;ve heard about where Christians are attacked.<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Print this page to help your small group to pray for church leaders under pressure.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leading a church is never easy. But when members of your congregation are risking their lives every time they come to church that&#8217;s a whole new challenge.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","regions":[156,152],"class_list":["post-26146","prayer","type-prayer","status-publish","hentry","regions-nigeria","regions-sub-saharan-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/prayer"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40816,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/prayer\/26146\/revisions\/40816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=26146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}