21Wilberforce is honored to present the 2026 Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Award to Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, recognizing a lifetime of courageous Christian leadership in pursuit of religious freedom, justice, peace, and human dignity.
For more than five decades, Rev. Medley has lived out a conviction that faith cannot be separated from the pursuit of justice or the defense of our neighbor. From confronting racism and segregation in the American South to standing alongside Muslims in the face of Islamophobia, advocating for persecuted Christians and displaced communities in Burma, and building relationships across religious differences, he has demonstrated that interfaith cooperation can be a powerful force for peace.
His witness is marked by both conviction and humility: deep fidelity to his Christian faith alongside a willingness to listen, learn, and stand in solidarity with people of other faiths.
For 21Wilberforce President Wissam al-Saliby, it is precisely this combination of faith, courage, and peacemaking that makes Medley a fitting recipient of an award named for Congressman Frank Wolf.
“We live in a world mired in conflict, where religion is instrumentalized and religious communities fall prey to violence and persecution,” said al-Saliby. “It is in this context that Jesus, 2,000 years ago, called his disciples to be peacemakers. Today, we celebrate a life of obedience to that calling.”
Al-Saliby said Medley’s example offers an important lesson for Christians seeking to respond faithfully in a turbulent world.
“We need to learn from the steadfast and humble advocacy of Rev. Dr. Roy Medley—for religious freedom, for peace, for restoration, and for healing,” he said. “I pray that the Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Award will be an opportunity for men and women, myself included, to learn from Rev. Medley’s life: how to discern God’s calling, how to fight the good fight for peace, and how to seek freedom for people of all faiths.”
A life shaped by moral courage
The Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Award recognizes outstanding champions who stand up to oppression in the pursuit of freedom of religion or belief. It identifies and honors those who embody the spirit of Congressman Frank Wolf, who worked tirelessly for decades to promote international religious freedom and human rights.
Known as the “Champion of human rights” and the “Conscience of Congress,” Wolf represented Virginia’s 10th Congressional District for 17 terms, from 1981 until January 2015. He later served as Distinguished Senior Fellow at 21Wilberforce.
Wolf understood that religious freedom is inseparable from the broader struggle for human dignity. Throughout his congressional career, he used his position to draw attention to people suffering persecution because of their faith and to press governments and institutions to protect fundamental freedoms.
Medley’s life reflects that same willingness to see suffering, name injustice, and respond.
His understanding of religious freedom has never been confined to defending an abstract principle. For Medley, religious freedom is inseparable from the dignity of the person whose freedom is threatened. It means standing beside people who are vulnerable—even when they belong to another faith, live on the other side of a political divide, or have become the object of public suspicion.
That conviction has been evident throughout his ministry.
In the years following September 11, when fear and Islamophobia threatened to deepen divisions between American Muslims and their neighbors, Medley helped lead efforts to bring Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others together to resist anti-Muslim prejudice and affirm the rights and dignity of Muslim Americans.
His approach to interfaith engagement has always been rooted in his Christian faith. He has never viewed cooperation with people of other faiths as requiring Christians to set aside their own convictions. Rather, he believes that deep Christian faith should produce both the courage to speak from one’s convictions and the humility to listen to others.
For Medley, relationship is not simply a tool of diplomacy. It is a way of overcoming fear and discovering the humanity of the person who might otherwise remain an “other.”
Standing with the persecuted
That commitment has also moved beyond dialogue into advocacy and solidarity.
When Christian woman Miriam Ibrahim was sentenced to death in Sudan because of her faith, Medley joined an interfaith delegation that advocated for her release. Christians, Muslims, and Jews stood together in that effort. Ibrahim was freed the following day.
For Medley, moments like this reinforce a conviction that has shaped his ministry: people of different faiths can find common ground in defending human dignity and religious freedom, even when they disagree profoundly on matters of belief.
That same conviction continues to inform his work with communities affected by conflict and persecution in Burma.
As Executive Director of the Burma Advocacy Group, Medley advocates for communities suffering persecution, violence, and displacement. He has visited refugee communities along the Thai-Burma border, listened to people whose lives have been upended by conflict, and continued to call attention to those who might otherwise be forgotten by the international community.
The work is difficult, and the forces driving conflict are enormous. Yet Medley has continued to insist that faithfulness requires both prayer and action.
That combination—moral clarity without self-righteousness, conviction without contempt, and action rooted in faith—is at the heart of why 21Wilberforce is honoring him.
The courage to seek freedom for all
Religious freedom is sometimes described as a right that protects what individuals believe and how they practice their faith. But Medley’s life illustrates something deeper: religious freedom also calls us to consider what happens when our neighbor’s freedom is taken away.
We are called not only to defend religious freedom for ourselves, but to seek it for people of all faiths.
That is a principle that connects Medley’s life with the legacy of Frank Wolf and with the mission of 21Wilberforce.
Medley has repeatedly crossed the boundaries that fear, prejudice, and conflict create. He has stood alongside people whose faith differs from his own. He has listened to communities experiencing persecution. He has advocated for people displaced by violence. And he has sought to build relationships where suspicion might otherwise prevail.
His witness offers a compelling picture of what Christian peacemaking can look like in practice: not retreat from conviction, but a deeper commitment to live that conviction through courage, humility, solidarity, and love of neighbor.
In honoring Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, 21Wilberforce celebrates a life in which faith has been put into practice—and a model of Christian leadership that understands religious freedom as both a matter of conviction and a call to compassion.
Join us in honoring Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley
The 2026 Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Award will be presented to Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley at a special program and reception on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, from 4:00–7:00 p.m. at Hoge Chapel, Columbia Church, in Falls Church, Virginia.
Friends, colleagues, partners, and members of the international religious freedom community are invited to join 21Wilberforce in celebrating Medley’s remarkable life and honoring his decades of service to religious freedom, peace, and human dignity.
We hope you will join us for this special celebration.
Register to attend the 2026 Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Award program and reception
For readers who would like to learn more about the person behind this remarkable legacy, 21Wilberforce previously shared Medley’s story in Blessed Are the Peacemakers: A Life Shaped by Faith and Moral Courage. That earlier profile offers a deeper look at the experiences and convictions that have shaped his life and ministry.
Read “Blessed Are the Peacemakers: A Life Shaped by Faith and Moral Courage”
August 28, 2026