OUR WORK IN NIGERIA

Local Leadership. Strategic Reach. Multiplying Gospel Impact.

Across the 19 states of Northern Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, we are equipping indigenous believers, strengthening local churches, mobilizing missionaries, and supporting multiplying Gospel movements among underserved and unreached communities.

One mission. Three regions. A growing network of local leaders.

Explore the Regions Fulani & Kanuri Outreach

THE NIGERIA MANDATE

Strengthening the Church Across Northern Nigeria

Northern Nigeria is a vast and diverse mission field encompassing 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Our ministry works through indigenous leaders who understand the languages, cultures, opportunities, and challenges of their communities. By strengthening local leadership and organizing ministry through three strategic regions, we are creating a structure that supports evangelism, discipleship, missionary training, and locally led church multiplication.

3Ministry RegionsLOCALIndigenous LeadershipMOVEMENTSLocally Led Multiplication

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP

FROM THE COUNTRY DIRECTOR

A Mission Rooted in Local Leadership

Northern Nigeria is a vast mission field filled with both significant challenges and extraordinary opportunities for the Gospel.

We believe lasting transformation will come through indigenous believers who are spiritually grounded, properly equipped, and deeply committed to reaching their own communities.

Our responsibility is to identify these leaders, strengthen their capacity, support their work, and help create the structures they need to disciple believers and multiply locally led churches. Across our three regions, God is raising men and women with the courage and conviction to carry the Gospel into communities where faithful Christian witness is still urgently needed.

We are grateful for every church, ministry, and individual who stands with us through prayer, partnership, and generous support. Together, we can strengthen the Church and help advance the Great Commission throughout Northern Nigeria.

Benjamin W. JoshuaCountry Director, Nigeria

OUR MINISTRY FOOTPRINT

Three Regions. Nineteen States. One Mission.

Our ministry structure spans the 19 states of Northern Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, organized into three strategic regions that support leadership, training, coordination, and locally led Gospel expansion.

7 States

North West

A highly strategic mission field requiring relational evangelism, indigenous leadership, discipleship, and sustained locally rooted ministry.

Jigawa
Kaduna
Kano
Katsina
Kebbi
Sokoto
Zamfara

6 States

North East

A region of significant Gospel need and extraordinary opportunity, where local leadership, missionary training, and church multiplication remain central to the ministry’s work.

Adamawa
Bauchi
Borno
Gombe
Taraba
Yobe

6 States + FCT

North Central

A diverse and strategically positioned region supporting church strengthening, leadership development, missions mobilization, and broader Gospel expansion.

Benue
Kogi
Kwara
Nasarawa
Niger
Plateau

Federal Capital Territory — Abuja

STRATEGIC OUTREACH

Reaching the Fulani and Kanuri Peoples

The Fulani and Kanuri are among Northern Nigeria’s most influential and widely connected peoples. Their communities extend across national borders, languages, livelihoods, and cultural traditions. Our ministry seeks to serve them through respectful relationships, indigenous leadership, biblical discipleship, and locally led Gospel witness.

The demographic and religious figures displayed below are ministry-research estimates and may vary by source, location, and subgroup.

People-group profile

Fulani Peoples

The Fulani, also known as Fulbe or Fula, are one of Africa’s most widely dispersed peoples, with communities across Nigeria and much of West and Central Africa. In Nigeria, Fulani communities include pastoral, settled, rural, and urban populations, connected through various Fulfulde dialects, shared histories, and diverse local traditions.

Islam has been closely connected to Fulani identity and history for generations. Christian believers remain a very small minority, and many Fulani communities still have limited access to sustained Christian witness, Scripture-centered discipleship, and healthy churches rooted within their own cultural context.

Through long-term, relationship-based ministry, Lifting the Sinkers Global Ministries seeks to equip Fulani believers, develop indigenous leaders, encourage culturally sensitive evangelism, and support disciple-making communities that can serve their own people faithfully.

Estimated Population: Approximately 21 million
Muslim Affiliation: Approximately 99.7%
Christian Affiliation: Approximately 0.3%
Mission Status: Unreached
Primary Language: Fulfulde

These are rounded estimates based on the Nigerian Fulani people-group profile and should not be interpreted as exact census figures.

View Joshua Project Nigerian Fulani profile

People-group profile

Kanuri Peoples

Yerwa Kanuri estimates in Nigeria

The Kanuri are historically rooted in Northeastern Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad region, with significant communities in Borno, Yobe, neighboring countries, and surrounding areas. Their history is closely connected to the Kanem-Bornu civilization, which shaped regional trade, scholarship, political life, and Islamic identity for centuries.

Kanuri communities include several subgroups and dialects, including Yerwa and Manga Kanuri. Because these groups are distinct, demographic and religious estimates should not be presented as though every Kanuri community has an identical profile.

Christian believers remain a small minority among the Kanuri. The ministry’s approach is to strengthen existing believers, equip emerging leaders, encourage Bible engagement, and support locally led disciple-making communities that can communicate the Gospel within Kanuri language and culture.

Estimated Population: Approximately 8.5 million
Muslim Affiliation: Approximately 98.6%
Christian Affiliation: Approximately 1.4%
Mission Status: Unreached
Primary Language: Yerwa Kanuri

Kanuri communities include multiple subgroups. Religious and population estimates vary considerably by subgroup; for example, Manga Kanuri estimates indicate an even smaller Christian presence. The figures above refer specifically to the Yerwa Kanuri profile in Nigeria.

View Joshua Project Yerwa Kanuri profile

OUR APPROACH

Locally Led. Relational. Built to Multiply.

We believe lasting Gospel witness grows through trust, cultural understanding, patient discipleship, and indigenous leadership. Our role is not to replace local believers, but to serve, equip, and stand beside them as they share Christ, make disciples, strengthen families, and establish healthy communities of faith.

Listen and Learn

Approach communities with humility, respect, cultural understanding, and a commitment to long-term relationships.

Equip Indigenous Believers

Prepare local Christians to communicate biblical truth within the languages, traditions, and realities they understand best.

Strengthen Local Witness

Encourage believers and churches through discipleship, leadership development, prayer, and practical ministry support.

Multiply Disciples and Churches

Support locally led disciple-making communities that can reproduce faithfully across families, villages, towns, and future generations.

STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE

Why This Matters

The Fulani and Kanuri extend far beyond a single state or locality. Their family networks, languages, history, mobility, and regional influence connect communities across Northern Nigeria and the wider Sahel. A faithful, indigenous Gospel movement among either people could strengthen Christian witness far beyond one immediate location.

Sources: Joshua Project Nigerian Fulani and Yerwa Kanuri people-group profiles. Figures are estimates and may change as research is updated. Nigerian Fulani profile Yerwa Kanuri profile

OUR FOUNDATION

The Vision, Mission, and Strategy Guiding Our Work

Our work in Nigeria is shaped by a clear vision, a focused mission, and a simple, reproducible strategy designed to strengthen indigenous Gospel movements.

Our Vision

Strengthen the Church in Northern Nigeria and the Sahel to make disciples, proclaim Christ, and carry the hope of the Gospel to unreached peoples.

Our Mission

To equip and send believers to share the Gospel, make disciples, and establish reproducing house church movements across Northern Nigeria and the Sahel.

A REPRODUCIBLE PATH

Our Strategy

Identify. Equip. Send. Multiply.

Our strategy is simple, biblical, and reproducible. We raise indigenous leaders who disciple others and multiply Gospel witness within their own communities.

01
Identify
Recognize unreached communities, emerging leaders, and strategic mission opportunities.
02
Equip
Train indigenous believers in evangelism, discipleship, leadership, and reproducible house church ministry.
03
Send
Mobilize prepared believers to carry the Gospel with courage, wisdom, and compassion.
04
Multiply
Cultivate locally led disciple-making movements and reproducing house churches.

PRAYER INVITATION

Stand With Us in Prayer

Pray for open doors, wisdom, protection, spiritual hunger, and the raising of indigenous leaders who will make disciples and strengthen the Church among the Fulani and Kanuri.

Prayer priorities

Open Doors
Wisdom and Protection
Spiritual Hunger
Indigenous Leaders

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