Churches, mosques & events · Nigeria

SMS for churches, mosques, conventions and events in Nigeria

Nigerian congregations are large and active, with midweek services, vigils, departmental meetings and annual conventions that draw members from many states. eSMS Africa lets churches, mosques and event planners send service times, giving receipts and convention logistics to every member, and handles the DND category 9 rule for religious promotions.

Create a free account Talk to sales

MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Delivery reports From NGN 9.1 per SMS

LivingWatrPromotional

Living Waters Church: Holy Ghost night vigil this Friday 10pm, main auditorium. Come with a friend. Opt out: SMS STOP to {shortcode}

134 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Nigeria context

What makes churches, mosques & events messaging different in Nigeria

Many churches hold Sunday services, a midweek Bible study or Shiloh-style programmes and monthly night vigils, plus department meetings for choir, ushers and youth. Members belong to several groups, so segmented lists matter.
Large annual conventions and camp meetings draw worshippers from across the country to campgrounds along routes such as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Organisers need to share travel advisories, accommodation allocation and session times at scale.
Mosques and Islamic societies share Jumu'ah times, Ramadan tafsir schedules and Eid prayer grounds. A single SMS before each programme reaches members who are not in the WhatsApp group.
Offerings, tithes and building-fund pledges are increasingly paid by bank transfer, and members appreciate a receipt. Weddings and owambe parties collect aso ebi payments ahead of the day.

What to send

Messages churches, mosques & events teams in Nigeria send

Service and vigil reminders

Send the time and venue of vigils, special services and revivals to members the day before, and segment by branch so each parish or area sees its own times.

Giving and pledge receipts

When a transfer to the church account is matched to a member, send a thank-you receipt with the amount and the fund it went to.

Convention logistics

Before a convention, send members registration links, accommodation allocations, bus departure points and traffic advisories, then session times, lost-and-found and shuttle notices throughout the event for every attendee.

Department and group messages

Keep separate lists for choir, ushers, youth, women's and men's fellowships, and send each group its own rehearsal or meeting times without disturbing the whole congregation.

Wedding and event RSVPs

Send invitations, aso ebi payment deadlines, venue directions and a reminder on the day, and collect RSVPs through a two-way short code so planners know numbers for catering.

Sample messages

Copy-ready templates for Nigeria

Character counts and segments are calculated with the same GSM-7 and Unicode rules used for billing. Replace the example brand and values with your own.

Vigil reminder Promotional

Living Waters Church: Holy Ghost night vigil this Friday 10pm, main auditorium. Come with a friend. Opt out: SMS STOP to {shortcode}

134 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Giving receipt Transactional

Living Waters Church: Thank you {name}. We received your building fund pledge of NGN {amount} on {date}. God bless you.

125 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Jumu'ah notice Promotional

Al-Noor Mosque: Jumu'ah khutbah starts 1:15pm this Friday. Ramadan tafsir begins daily after Asr. Opt out: SMS STOP to {shortcode}

132 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Aso ebi reminder Transactional

Tolu & Ade 2026: Aso ebi payment closes 30 Nov. Pay NGN {amount} by transfer to {acct}, narration your name. Collection from 10 Dec.

136 chars · 1 segment · GSM-7

Rules that apply

Compliance for churches, mosques & events SMS in Nigeria

A practical summary with sources, not legal advice. Check the regulator's current text for edge cases.

Religious messages to the public, including service invitations and programme announcements, fall under NCC DND category 9 (religion). Members who blocked that category or sent STOP to 2442 will not receive them, even if they gave you their number.
A giving receipt for a payment the member made is transactional. Keep appeals for further giving out of the receipt.
Membership lists reveal religious belief, which is sensitive personal data under the NDPA 2023. Limit who can export the list and never share it with vendors or other organisations.
Get consent when members register and give them an easy way to stop. A two-way short code records STOP replies automatically.

Across Nigeria

Telecom regulator: Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
Data protection: Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC)
Languages: English, Nigerian Pidgin, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo
Payments: Bank transfer, USSD banking, MoMo PSB, OPay, Moniepoint, PalmPay

The NCC Do-Not-Disturb service lets subscribers text STOP to 2442 to block all promotional messages, or choose partial DND by category (banking, real estate, education, health, consumer goods, tourism, sports, religion and more).
Promotional SMS does not reach numbers on DND. OTPs, alerts and other transactional messages are sent on a separate transactional (corporate) route that operators restrict to non-promotional content.
The Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 gives people the right to object to direct marketing at any time, and processing for marketing must stop once they object.
Sender IDs are approved per network (MTN, Airtel, Glo, T2) and operators apply sending windows to promotional traffic.

Sender ID registration in Nigeria

Send it

From your system to MTN and Airtel in one call

1Create an account and copy a test key (esms_test_...) to try the integration without spending credit.
2Request your sender ID for Nigeria. Until it is approved you can send from the eSMS default sender.
3Call the send endpoint from your app, or upload a CSV in the dashboard with merge fields like {{name}}. Delivery reports arrive by webhook.

Need one-time codes? eSMS Verify generates, sends and checks them in two calls. Full reference in the API docs.

curl -X POST https://sms.esmsafrica.io/api/messages/send \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ESMS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "to": "+2348031234567",
    "text": "Living Waters Church: {name}, your {department} rehearsal is on {date} at {time}, {venue}. See you there.",
    "sender_id": "LivingWatr"
  }'

Live pricing

SMS pricing in Nigeria

Per-SMS rates for one segment, updated live. Pay as you go with no monthly minimum; volume rates apply automatically by monthly spend.

Basic

NGN9.1

per SMS· USD 0.0068

Monthly spend USD 1 - USD 1,000

Business

NGN7.5

per SMS· USD 0.0056

Monthly spend USD 1,001 - USD 4,999

Enterprise

NGN6.1

per SMS· USD 0.0046

Monthly spend USD 5,000+

Estimate a campaign with the SMS cost calculator or compare all countries in the Africa SMS pricing index.

FAQ

Churches, mosques & events SMS in Nigeria: common questions

Why are some members not receiving our church messages?

Service and programme announcements count as religious promotions in NCC DND category 9. Members who blocked that category, or all promotions with STOP to 2442, will not receive them. Ask those members to text ALLOW to 2442 for the category if they want your messages, or use another channel for them.

Can we send giving receipts to members on DND?

A receipt for a payment the member made is a transactional message, so it can go on the transactional route. It should only confirm the payment, the amount and the fund. Adding an appeal or event invitation turns it into a religious promotion that DND then blocks.

Can members register for a convention by SMS?

Yes, with a two-way short code, which you can order online for Nigeria. Members text a keyword such as REG with their name and branch, the message reaches your system by webhook, and you reply automatically with a registration number and their accommodation details.