Persecuted Christians in Burkina Faso: The stories behind the number

We’re not strangers to such pain, and many families in sub-Saharan Africa are enduring it today. In 2025, an average of 12 Christians were killed every day because of their faith in parts of the region.

In countries like Burkina Faso, much blood has been spilt on its arid soil. In remote villages like Binadéni in eastern Burkina Faso, generations have come and gone. The natural order of life has been disrupted, forcing residents like Pastor Bandiba* to adjust when the violence plaguing parts of the region hit their village.

He carries the grief of loss alongside the families who lost their loved ones. His church community’s story is one of the many stories behind the violence in sub-Saharan Africa.

Pastor Bandiba moved to the village in 2002, hoping to serve the small local church. “When I arrived, the church had 47 members,” he reflects. “The village was very difficult to access [for the Gospel] because it was rooted in ancestral traditions.”

Despite initial resistance, locals who once trusted in idols began, one by one, to trust in Jesus. “Despite the difficulties, we persevered in prayer,” Pastor Bandiba says.
The congregation eventually grew from 47 to 700, with Pastor Bandiba mentoring young pastors and watching parents become believers whose children, growing up in Christian homes, also chose Jesus. Fully rooted in their faith, these young people didn’t hesitate to leave their homes and communities to take the Good News to unreached regions.

It was a joyful time. But fighting between extremists and villages was increasing, and the insecurity that began in 2016 had spread deeper into the nation and eventually reached Pastor Bandiba’s village.

A time to be born and a time to die

It was 20 May 2025, a Tuesday, when jihadists attacked Binadéni. Hamadou and Jeremiah were inside the church for an all-day prayer session.
Pastor Bandiba had watched these two young men grow in faith over the years. Hamadou led the youth group, served as a deacon, and travelled to neighbouring villages to share the Gospel. Together, the two young men brought energy, fervour and hope to the church.

“I had known them since their childhood, and I had seen how they gave themselves to the Lord until the day of their death,” Pastor Bandiba says.

Pastor Bandiba had joined them briefly on that fateful day, then left for the nearby village of Fada to lead another prayer meeting. Just 10 minutes after he left, the extremists struck.

On his way to Fada, his motorcycle broke down, and he stopped to repair it. That’s when he saw people from his village on motorbikes fleeing and warning others to flee. Stranded, he did the only thing he could do. He found shelter in a local church and prayed, unaware that back in Binadéni the jihadists were specifically asking for “the pastor”. One group attacked the church. Another burned down his house. In the church, Hamadou and Jeremiah were fatally shot.

When Pastor Bandiba finally made it back to Binadéni, he was unprepared for what he found. “I saw bodies in the church covered by curtains,” he shares. When he removed the curtains, he saw Hamadou and Jeremiah.

“I lay down next to them to be with them,” he says. “I didn’t control myself. I wished for death because at that moment, my life was useless. I had to be pulled out of there.”

A time to mourn and a time to heal

Pastor Bandiba and his wife joined the villagers who had fled to a nearby town as his house was no longer livable. There he saw and consoled Hamadou’s widow, Pogniagou, who was “crying with all her might”. He went to console Hamadou’s mother, but to his surprise, “she, who had lost her only child, wasn’t crying but was instead asking for help for me,” he remembers. This touched him, and he couldn’t hold back his tears.

Fellow pastors gathered to offer comfort. “My fellow pastors gave me words of comfort by saying Hamadou and Jeremiah died in the Lord. Those words helped me recover.”
Thanks to your prayers and gifts, Open Doors’ partners provided trauma care to Pastor Bandiba, his wife, and Pogniagou.

“This trauma healing training has helped me on two levels,” says Pastor Bandiba. “I had a hard time forgiving, but it’s now resolved. So, in turn, I can help others. If you aren’t healed, you can’t help anyone else. Now I’m healed, and I’m helping others. The training also helped my wife recover … We have regained a taste for life, and we help others to get back on their feet.”

Hamadou and Jeremiah are fondly remembered, and for some, these memories lead to sadness and doubt. But having dealt with these emotions personally, Pastor Bandiba is able to provide wise counsel:

“They finished their race well. May these two young people be a model of faith for us. Let us finish our race well like them … they have entered into rest.”

He hopes one day to return to Binadéni – to reignite the church, reopen the school, and see a land soaked in blood and tears become a place of worship once more.

Pray for Pastor Bandiba, his church and Burkina Faso

• Pray for Pastor Bandiba and his wife that the Lord would continue to strengthen and equip them for ministry to serve people in need of hope and healing.
• Pray for the displaced residents of Binadéni that they will find work and the means to rebuild their lives wherever they are today.
• Pray for the families of Jeremiah and Hamadou that the Lord would continue to bring comfort, care and peace as they mourn their loved ones and adjust to life without them.
• Pray that believers can return to Binadéni and re-establish their church. Pray that God would restore beauty from ashes.

Watch: Hear their stories

Hamadou’s widow, Pogniagou, Jeremiah’s father, Diataaga, and Pastor Bandiba share in their own words what happened on that devastating day in Binadéni and how God has carried them through the grief. Watch their testimonies in this 9-minute video.

*Names changed for their protection.