Seventy Christians were found bound and beheaded inside a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern Lubero Territory of North Kivu in mid-February.

Local sources attributed the attack to the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist rebel group. Militants reportedly rounded up the Christians and took them to the church in Kasanga, where they were decapitated by machete.

Most news agencies and Open Doors, an international Christian organization focused on religious persecution, referred to the church simply as Protestant.

In an email to media, Léon Lapamabila, a Baptist minister in Kinshasa, capital of the DRC, identified the church as affiliated with the Communauté Baptiste au Center de l’Afrique—the Community of Baptist Churches in Central Africa.

Lapamabila, the secretary general of the Baptist conventions in the DRC, the Communauté Baptiste des Fidèles en Afrique, reported those who were killed included women, children and the elderly.

Wissam al-Saliby, president of the 21Wilberforce human rights organization, noted the timing of the attack in Kasanga.

“Mid-February, we were commemorating the martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christian men who refused to convert, and as a result, were brutally beheaded on a Mediterranean beach by Islamist groups in Libya in February 2015. We are appalled that, during the same period, the Islamist group ADF committed a horrific massacre of more than 70 men and women in a Baptist church in Eastern Congo,” he said.

“Was this a deliberate message by Islamists to say that their evil is still present 10 years after the martyrdom of the 21 men? The transnational and persisting phenomena of such groups is a condemnation for a decade of the international community’s effort to suppress ISIS and its affiliated groups.”

M23 rebels occupy east-central Congo

In addition to violence perpetrated by ADF militant jihadists, the M23 rebel paramilitary group recently seized control of Goma in North Kivu Province and Bukavu in South Kivu Province.

“Christian leaders have told us harrowing stories about killings, rapes, and forced labor,” al-Saliby said.

The United Nations, the United States, the DRC and Human Rights Watch all point to evidence Rwanda backs the M23 group, but the Rwandan government issued repeated denials.

DRC Prime Minister Judith Tuluka Suminwa told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva about 7,000 people have been killed in the eastern part of her country since January, and 450,000 people have been displaced.

“We mourn with our Congolese brothers and sisters the lives lost. We are also greatly worried at the sudden halt of U.S. government foreign aid that has compounded the vulnerabilities of the civilian population and increased the risks for famine and the spread of diseases,” al-Saliby said.

21Wilberforce is coming alongside churches to support their advocacy. He said team members are regularly in conversation with Baptist church leaders from the DRC, and visited with the Goma Baptist leaders as recently as July of last year.

Over the past week, they have been in touch daily with Baptist leaders in the DRC.

“Together with the Baptist World Alliance, we are engaging with various governments appealing for an immediate ceasefire in the DRC, for humanitarian access to the areas under the control of armed groups, and for governments to significantly increase funding for humanitarian aid and crises,” said al-Saliby.

The Baptist World Alliance called on Baptists worldwide to pray specifically for the “dire” situation in Goma.

“An estimated 3,000 persons have died during the recent conflict, and many more are displaced. Please join us in praying for just peace within the region and for the resources to provide humanitarian aid to those in need,” BWA stated in its weekly “Baptists One in Prayer” update on Feb. 23.

“Your prayers will uplift the Baptist leaders ministering to their communities during these difficult times.”

This article originally appeared at The Baptist Standard and has been reprinted with permission. 

Ken Camp, based in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex, is the managing editor of The Baptist Standard.