In response to missile strikes against ISIS-linked targets by the United States in northwest Nigeria on Christmas Day 2025, the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) issued a statement urging restraint, diplomatic engagements, and a sustained community peace-building effort in the region.
While recognising the responsibility of governments to protect their populations from armed terror groups, the two-page statement also reminds that the birth of Christ also heralded the advent of a new kind of governance marked by wisdom, justice, and peace.
Referencing the Gospel of Luke, the statement affirms that God’s consistent response to violence and fear is never through force, but through transforming that which gives rise to conflicts through justice, compassion, and the preservation of human dignity.
The document calls upon those who exercise power to recognise that peace cannot be imposed through military means alone, that armed responses too often perpetuate cycles of violence and contribute to long-term instability.
“We therefore respectfully call upon the governments of the United States and Nigeria to ensure that military measures do not become the defining or dominant response to insecurity,” reads the UCCSA statement, which also notes that, while taking alternative peace-building paths demands patience and courage, they offer a more credible foundation for peace.
The statement also strongly condemns the extremist groups for their profound violations of human life and dignity, emphasising that such violations must be rejected unequivocally.
Click here to read the full statement.
