Summary: 21Wilberforce is a Christian nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of freedom of religious, belief, and conscience globally. It was formed in 2014, legally joined with the Baptist World Alliance in 2020, and was restructured in 2024 as an integrated ministry of the BWA under the leadership of its Secretary General Elijah Brown.

Personally challenged by a colleague of another faith as to why Christians weren’t on the forefront of defending persecuted Christians and other minorities around the world who were deprived of these fundamental rights, Dr. Randel Everett, a long-time religious freedom advocate and Baptist pastor, founded 21Wilberforce in 2014 as a non-denominational Christian international human rights nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education, advocacy, and support for the persecuted and to defend the fundamental right of all people to freedom of religion and belief.

2014-2018: The Early Years

Former Virginia Congressman Frank R. Wolf, a leading champion of international religious freedom in Congress for over 30 years and after whom the landmark 1998 International Religious Freedom Act was named, joined the organization as a Distinguished Senior Fellow.

Originally formed as the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative (but commonly known as 21Wilberforce), the organization was named after the 19th century British parliamentarian William Wilberforce, who identified the slave trade as the single greatest violation of human rights in his time. Responding to this seemingly impossible challenge, he led a successful abolition movement using a “top-down, bottom-up” strategy that coordinated political advocacy with grassroots mobilization, empowerment, and collaborative action. Under Randel’s leadership, the team employed Wilberforce’s powerful model to engage grassroots networks, people of faith, and policymakers in addressing one of the greatest human rights crises and challenges in the 21st Century—denial and suppression of the universal and fundamental human right of every individual to be free to choose and practice his or her faith and beliefs without fear of government or social intimidation, repression, or persecution.

The original team focused on policy reform, political advocacy for specific groups or outcomes, and leadership training in Iraq. The initial engagement in 2015 addressed the genocidal actions of the Islamic State that had pushed Christians and other religious minorities to the edge of extinction in Iraq. In 2016, work continued on Iraq and the portfolio expanded to include Nigeria, where Boko Haram and other militants have destroyed thousands of churches and millions have been displaced from their homes because of violence and human rights atrocities. 21Wilberforce also began defending persecuted religious minorities in China and pressing for the freedom of imprisoned pastors and other religious leaders in China and such countries as Turkey and Myanmar.

In addition to ongoing campaigns for political reform and protection for prisoners of conscience, 21Wilberforce engaged in a wide range of advocacy and activist training for emerging student leaders and transformational leadership training for pastors and other local leaders, equipping them to become champions for religious freedom in their own culture. During and after this time Randel and colleagues conducted training for over 4,500 leaders in Hong Kong (including over 1,800 Chinese house church leaders), Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Korea, and with Syrians in Lebanon.

2018-2023

In 2018, a pivotal decision was made to focus on mobilizing and empowering people of faith to work together locally and globally to provide support for people and communities who suffer because of their faith and religious practice. 21W action teams helped coordinate advocacy and assistance for crisis areas such as Myanmar/Burma and Afghanistan.

In 2020 the organization name was changed to 21Wilberforce Global Freedom Center. The same year, 21Wilberforce legally became a part of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) while retaining its own 501(c)3 nonprofit status. This relationship expanded 21W’s mandate by helping mobilize and engage the BWA’s network of 174,000 churches and 51 million members globally to stand with the persecuted and defend the freedom of religion and belief.

2024-Present

At the end of 2023, Dr. Everett retired from his position at 21Wilberforce to pursue other opportunities, but he remains engaged both as a leader in the field of religious freedom advocacy and affiliated with 21Wilberforce as its Founder and President Emeritus. In May 2024, the position of 21Wilberforce president was filled by Wissam al-Saliby.