Story number 2 for 4 Dec 2000

Next, Nigerians are caught between the hopes of a Christian president and the rebellion of Islamic hard-liners. The resulting conflict often leads to oppression against evangelists, and growing persecution. However, The Jesus Film Project’s Daniel Atiyaya says that doesn’t stop the Gospel from going out. “For our team, it’s a move against the wilderness for evangelism. In other words, it has not been easy for them. The zeal to persecute comes from ignorance. What they are doing, they think they are doing it for God. They have [put] a lot of effort [in] to stop our Jesus Film Teams.” Atiyaya says once the Gospel penetrates, there are other needs. “The church is young in Nigeria. We need an in-depth teaching of the Word. Even though there are a lot of people that are called ‘Christians’, there are a lot of nominal Christians. They did not take Christianity for life, they take it as their religion.”