Wissam al-Saliby never dreamed of leaving his beloved country of Lebanon, but the call from God to help the persecuted church was strong.
With a background in law, the newly appointed (May) president of Virginia-based Christian human rights group 21Wilberforce had served as director and advocacy officer of the U.N. Office for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and was also development and partner relations manager at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary.
Having moved to Geneva for his previous role at the WEA, he has now accepted the need to live in the United States to lead the next chapter of advocacy initiatives for 21Wilberforce.
“I have a Lebanese passport and have to get visas to go to lots of countries,” he commented wryly. “We weren’t seeking to move to the United States, but we ended up here to basically serve. Geneva was the best place to live, but God calls us to many places.”
Al-Saliby explained that his law education involved studying at universities in both Lebanon and France, specializing in armed conflict and humanitarian and refugee law, as well as displacement and humanitarian crises.
“That’s when I journeyed in work and human rights work and then later in ministry, and that’s how I ended up in my current role.”
His interest in supporting persecuted Christians came from his work at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary from 2013 to 2017.
“What is important for me is what God is calling us to do, and for me that is serving with churches, working with them and equipping them but in the field of freedom of religious belief and human rights,” he said.
Al-Saliby said following in the footsteps of founding President Randel Everrett, who retired earlier this year, was challenging.
“There was an effort to find a replacement, which is certainly not an easy thing to do considering the presence of Randel with the ministry and impact that he’s had in the past within the evangelical family, including the Baptists. But I got a phone call from one of the key leaders of the board inviting me to apply.”
Now that he is leading 21Wilberforce, al-Saliby said he is working on exciting initiatives for the future. Is he planning to take the organization in a different direction to his predecessor? “I would say yes and no.”
He elaborated that he’s “picking up” on prior work in Asia and in Africa. Yet he sees his role as “taking it further” in terms of equipping churches within countries of persecution. One of his key visions is to create 10 grassroots advocacy centers based within these places. The centers would inform the 21Wilberforce headquarters and the “wider global family” of their support needs.
“So, one of the first things I did [when appointed as president] was to get the board to approve a vision that within 10 years, 21Wilberforce will help establish 10 centers in 10 countries within countries of persecution. These will be centers led by the local Christians themselves.”
Al-Saliby and the 21Wilberforce team have already started implementing the strategic plan by visiting church leaders during the Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering in Nigeria, a hot spot for violence against Christians.
He has also had initial conversations with church leaders in several African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries. “We will go and meet with them again, and understand what they need and how we can support them,” he said.
“We have conversations ongoing with half a dozen countries, discerning their journeying and where they feel called and where we can partner with them. I’m also picking up on existing work and relationships [in his previous role at the World Evangelical Alliance] and trying to talk with multiple stakeholders.”
Al-Saliby has seen interest from Christians in persecuted countries for the 21Wilberforce 10 centers project.
“I only joined three months ago, but from the little conversations I’ve had so far, yes there’s absolutely interest. Anytime there’s an agency that has religious freedom as a priority, they see the perspective and vision we are bringing as very compelling.”
Practically, al-Saliby said the 10-centers plan works by looking individually at churches and Christian institutions already working in a given country, such as members of the World Evangelical Alliance.
“It’s a mammoth undertaking,” he commented. “There’s a lot of work ahead. Is it a Christian university, owned by denominations? Is it a nonprofit supported or owned by Christians? Is it an Evangelical Alliance or Fellowship? You have to go to every single country and see how they feel called.”
He disclosed that the organization aims at “going more solidly in terms of investing in indigenous capacity with national centers of advocacy alongside global 21Wilberforce centers of support.”
“That’s the vision that we’re going with, and it’s very important for the churches to be able to speak with their own governments within countries of persecution,” he said. “And oftentimes, there’s a will but not the right alignment of human skills, expertise and financial resources. And that is where we would like to offer support.”
Al-Saliby pinpointed unique challenges facing persecuted Christians in the area of religious nationalism, saying there is a lot of tension along sectarian, ethnic and religious lines.
“There’s more conflict and violence and destabilized countries. And all this threatens religious freedom in the larger sense – the ability of churches to operate and just be the local church and witness to the gospel. And then there’s governments with weak rules of law. Inevitably, there are human rights violations, and that includes religious freedom. And that is something we see all over the world.”
When the judiciary is not free and independent in a country, even if judges want to acquit a pastor under trial, they’re under pressure by government to issue a sentence, he said.
“There’s a weakening of the rule of law, and there’s the weakening of the state leading up to violence, like in many African countries where there’s an incredible amount of violence. But all over the world, there are armed conflicts and this spectrum is a big threat to Christian work and the ability within churches to answer what God is calling them to do.”
At the same time, al-Saliby does not want to sound negative about the fact that church growth still happens in countries where there’s persecution, “because the people are answering God’s calling, and then Satan uses persecution against that. But the starting point in many countries is that there’s a lot of good work being done by churches.”
Al-Saliby does not agree that persecution is rising in the West, preferring to collate as a form of aggressive secularization events such as closure of evangelical churches due to discriminatory zoning laws in certain regions of Italy and Spain, or prohibition of male circumcision, or Geneva city denying requests for baptism in Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). Such measures affect all religions to varying degrees, and undermine “the legal right to freedom of religion of belief in some countries.”
21Wilberforce is more concerned with direct persecution in other parts of the world, and al-Saliby said that existing partnerships there between western churches and persecuted Christians were “a wonderful thing.”
“America’s churches are already doing a lot. I think what is needed at this point is investment, very specifically in sustainable indigenous institutions, engaging in the bodies that bring churches together and investing in their capacity to advocate for religious freedom, justice and peace within society,” he said. “We cannot continue doing advocacy as westerners without the full involvement, investment and leadership of churches within countries of persecution.”
Al-Saliby pointed out that his previous work in Geneva with the WEA taught him the importance of working with grassroots, local people “empowered to do research, advocacy and to tell us what to do, to shape and guide us.”
“When I talk about empowerment, it’s not just financial but human resources; the capacity and knowledge of doing the research outreach. For example, bringing people to Geneva to understand the United Nations system and how to engage with it, and then they can build the capacity to do that. That is what I believe is needed at this point by the global family. And this is where 21Wilberforce is going, and there is what we would love to have people working with us, partnering with us in support of these 10 centers.”
Al-Saliby said it would be easier for him to visit a country and just file a report on support needs with his office in Washington, DC, but that is not the future direction for the organization because it is not as effective in the long run.
“I think one of the reasons that religious freedom advocacy is not often effective is because grassroots-movement building within countries of persecution are missing, and therefore not informing work centered around DC, Geneva and other global cities,” he said.
Engagement with governments needs to start from within the countries of persecution, as every government says, “Our constitution protects this issue and our government is doing great,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about movement building within those countries and about the churches, the Christians, rallying as many stakeholders as possible and bringing issues to the table and engaging with their government,” he said. “And these are processes that 21Wilberforce would love to journey with the local churches with.”
21Wilberforce was named after British parliamentarian William Wilberforce (1759-1833), famed for forging powerful partnerships with other abolitionists to successfully make slavery illegal, a move gaining Royal assent on March 25, 1807. Wilberforce also helped to found the Bible Society and Church Missionary Society.
