Jordan was rocked by the terror attack on Christians attending a funeral last Friday. Why did it happen and how can we respond?
“There were three radicals with a “takfir” mindset,” said our partner in Jordan, explaining that the terrorists were Muslim extremists who saw Christians as “keffir” or infidels.
“They came and attacked the funeral at St George’s church in the ancient Christian village of Hamoud on the outskirts of Karak. They killed nine people and injured 40,” he reported, saying they were on their way to Karak to minister to the believers there.
“We’re going to do some worship and prayer tomorrow, and visit the families. We’ve got notes from our youth group prayers, and prophetic words for the families,” he added.
The terrorists approached the church on Friday, October 23rd during a funeral, and shot at the gate of the church for about five minutes before escaping in a vehicle and going into hiding. However, the Jordanian security services pursued them and captured them three days later after a shootout.
“Jordan did retaliatory strikes in Southern Syria last night, killing up to 20 ISIS members that were hiding out and destroying some of their weaponry,” our partner said on Tuesday. “It was ISIS backed, or they had ISIS ideology and training,” he explained. “This is a huge thing for Jordan, because it’s the first time, I believe, in our nation’s history that a church has been shot up.”
“That’s not to say they haven’t tried in the past,” he clarified. “There was a terrorist attack in Karak by ISIS in 2016, but it was towards police, not Christians… So this was a tragic, tragic event that happened during a funeral.”
He explained that one of the men who was killed was just 23 years old and had recently graduated with his dentistry degree. “He was about to open his practice and be a dentist.”
However, even in the midst of this horrific attack God has been working, and one woman has already come to faith.
King Abdullah II responded immediately with words of comfort for the families, and emphasizing that Jordanians were one people, whatever their religion:
“The terrorist attack against Karak will be met with the harshest retaliation. Those who delude themselves into thinking that they can divide Jordanians with their bullets have no chance in the face of our unity. All Jordanians, from north to south, are partners in land and fate, and nothing stands between them. Our deepest condolences to the families of the martyrs and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured. Every Jordanian life is precious, and we will strike with an iron fist against those who dare to threaten our nation.” (King Abdullah II on X)
The attack shook the nation, but it seems that it led to a new sense of unity.
“Out of this, we saw an incredible solidarity come together,” our partner observed. “They were trying to divide the country,” he said, reflecting on the terrorist plan to cause division between Christians and Muslims.
“They were trying to shake the nation, and hoping that other retaliatory attacks would happen,” he continued, “but the nation came together in a way no one expected. Muslims stood with Christian supported Christians parade outside of churches, stood with us. I don’t think this made the news, but Muslims support and stand with us and everybody condemned this act.”
“Honestly, we were surprised by the amount of love and support that came out of the nation, to stand with Christians, saying we are one people. It was really beautiful. We felt the love and support,” he added.
Police have contacted church leaders assuring them of protection and support at this time.
“They said, ‘We’re going to protect you every service you have right now.’ So police trucks pulled out in front of our church services, across every church in the country this last weekend, and protected us, and stood at the gate so there’d be no retaliation,” our partner relayed, saying the the Prime Minister had also made a statement vowing to crack down on extremism to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.
“So there is a positive outcome of this. They’re cracking down harder on any form of radicalism,” he added, saying that police were even arresting people for comments on social media in support of the attack.
But an even greater testimony is the new life that came about after the death of those nine saints.
“A girl came to our church service and said, ‘I am appalled by what they did. It was heartbreaking. I’ve never been able to come to a church before, but I’m so against what happened that I wanted to attend a service.'”
Our friend preached that weekend on the topic, “How should the church respond in this hour?” saying that Christians are called to be a light on a hill, the salt of the earth, and to shine. Especially as the nation is watching the response of the church.
“I preached that message, and this girl gave her life to Jesus. She said, ‘I want to be the follower of Jesus. I want to be a Christian.’ And so we led her to the Lord, and that was really wonderful,” he said.
“I think we’re going to see that more and more.”
“Yesterday was the big funeral. The king and queen went to the hospital hours after the incident to visit with the victims,” he explained. “The queen was at the funeral home crying with all the girls, holding them, weeping with them, and really saying, ‘We stand with our Christian brothers, and we’re gonna make sure this doesn’t happen again.'”
HOW TO PRAY
Here are some prayer points we can bring before the Lord:
▫️Pray for this new believer as she takes her first steps in her new faith — for protection, courage, and joy… and for many more to come.
▫️Pray for the grieving families, for God’s help and comfort, for them to be surrounded by love.
▫️Praise God for the way the nation of Jordan has embraced its Christian population in this new way. Pray that it leads to the growth of the gospel and strengthened relationships.
▫️Pray for the believers who are ministering to the grieving families at this time — for guidance, wisdom and for the Holy Spirit to work powerfully through them.
October 2026