Eight children are now orphans after militants killed their father and mother in the latest bloodshed in Nigeria.

Rev. Emmanuel Saba Bileya and his wife, Juliana, who was pregnant, were gunned down while working on their farm according to Hausa Christians Foundation (HACFO) in an online post. The couple's children are between the ages of 1 and 19-years-old. 

Saba had recently graduated from a seminary in the United States and led a church with his wife in Nigeria.

”It was an attack on the pastor and his wife on their farm. While they were working on the farm, suddenly armed men came and opened fire on them leading to the death of the pastor and his wife.” a spokesperson with state police says.

"In what is being noted as systematic direct war against Christianity in Nigeria, Pastors, Christian Leaders and Seminarians are either being kidnapped or killed every week," HACFO says in the release.

Christians have faced increasing violence over the past five years in Nigeria from Boko Haram terrorists, and Fulani herdsmen attacks in disputes over land.

"Brethren, the body of Christ is suffering so much harm in the hands of these evil jihadists," the HACFO says. "The government of Nigeria seems to care less about the plights of Christians [in] Nigeria. We are at a fix at the moment to ask this pertinent question: apart from prayers and following due process, what can the church do in northern Nigeria to survive?"