“I tried calling her mobile phone but was unable to dial her phone number, as my hands were shaking and my mind unstable at the news,” he said. “We then rushed out to the scene.”

People playing soccer at the scene of the attack could not tell the pastor, his son and daughter what had happened, he said – they only looked at them. A police officer confirmed that a woman had been killed and told him to go to a police station to find out her identity. He and the two children drove to the police station, parking the car outside the station gates since they were barricaded for security reasons.

“As we were entering the premises of the police station, we saw a police pick-up van driving past us at the gate,” he said. “My daughter turned around and looked inside the pick-up truck and saw the corpse of my wife; she screamed, and this attracted my attention to the back of the truck. I saw the corpse of my wife and could not bear what I saw. I collapsed and was on the ground while my children were crying.”

A police officer took his cell phone and called two of his associate pastors to come over to the police station. They also called Pastor Elisha’s younger brother, since the pastor was too devastated to drive. Police later came to his home to get a statement from him.

Olawale had been preaching Christ on the streets for six years, following in the footsteps of her evangelist mother, the pastor said.

“I was told that my mother in-law would go ‘round streets, ringing a bell and urging passersby to receive Jesus into their lives,” he said. “Sharing the gospel with others on the street is a lifestyle to my wife’s family. Her younger sister also goes out to the streets to preach Christ. Love and compassion is the hallmark of the life of my wife.”

Olawale is a martyr whose faith has challenged many people’s lives, he said.

“This challenge is that we need to wake up to the task of sharing the gospel,” he said. “My joy in this tragedy is that my wife is resting in the bosom of the Lord. That a woman with children, not a girl, could just sacrifice her life for Christ. I am telling you if we are going to the same heaven she is in now, then we need to wake up.”

With Christians facing persecution throughout most of Nigeria, especially in the northeast, Pastor Elisha said the more persecution the church experiences, the more growth and glory to God.

“In John 16:1-2, Jesus told us that He would not leave us in ignorance – that a time is coming when people will drag us out of synagogues or churches to kill us and think that they are rendering service to God, because they don’t know Him or the Father.”

Persecution is not a punishment, but rather enduring persecution faithfully is a way of expressing Christ’s love, he said, adding that there is a need to pray for Christians in northern Nigeria and assist those in need. They need to be encouraged in prayers to respond to persecution not with violence, but with Christ’s message of peace, love and joy, he said.

“We are sheep, and He is the Shepherd,” he said. “A sheep cannot fight for itself.”