By Wissam al-Saliby This week, the General Secretary of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, a regional arm of the Baptist World Alliance in Africa,  contacted me with news that 27 Baptist churches in Niger have been closed following violence by radical Islamists.  He shared that church members and pastors are now displaced and asked if 21Wilberforce could provide any support. Last week, Baptist …

By Wissam al-Saliby December 17, 2024 Over a decade of civil war, Syria lost hundreds of thousands of its Christian population, with one estimate putting the number of Christians currently at less than 2% of the population – down from 10% pre-war. With the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, what is likely to come next for the Christians of Syria? …

By Wissam al-Saliby November 7, 2024 Upon starting work in the field of Christian religious freedom and human rights advocacy in 2018, I noticed that national and international Christian institutions, denominations, and alliances frequently had separate commissions or departments focused on advocacy and peacemaking, respectively. Over time, I’ve found that this distinction between peacemaking and advocacy is counterproductive and has …

September 30, 2024 In the face of planned protests in their country, and heightened risks of violence, how can churches respond? In recent months, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Nigeria witnessed mass demonstrations. Growing up in Lebanon, I saw demonstrations, sometimes very large, on a regular basis. I have also seen some of my Christian friends in leadership roles struggle with how …

By Wissam al-Saliby June 20, 2024 On January 11, 2013, I said a reluctant “yes” to God’s call to transition from a solid career in the secular world to a ministry position with the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in my home country, Lebanon. Little did I know that serving churches would take me on a wonderful journey from Lebanon to …