The church in Nigeria faces numerous challenges that threaten its very survival. This paper identifies and discusses these challenges, including corruption, insecurity, and religious intolerance among others. It also explores the coping strategies employed by the church to address these challenges. Historically, external challenges the early church faced weaken not the church but internal challenges such as discrimination as in Acts 6:1-7 and disunity as seen in 1Corinthians 3:1-23. This research aimed at evaluating and examining the challenges to the church in Nigeria, to identify the challenges and analyze the coping strategies, thereby providing understanding to the challenges of the church in Nigeria, as well as proffering solutions to the problem. Through systematic review of related literature and the use of “Systems Theory” and “Resilience Theory”, this study identifies the key challenges that the church must overcome and provides insights into effective coping strategies. The findings reveal that the church must address issues such as proliferation of churches, the survival of the church in the mist of ‘Islamic’ threats; secularism; declining membership, financial challenges, the changing cultural landscape and many others. Peacebuilding strategies include community outreach, innovative fundraising, and adapting to the needs of a diverse congregation. This study contributes to the understanding of the challenges facing the church and offers practical recommendations to help the church thrive in the face of these challenges. These are spiritual revival, social engagement, and interfaith dialogue among others.
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