EMQ » January–March 2020 » Volume 56 Issue 1
By Brian F. O’Connell
The Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP) is a collaborative effort of Christian organizations from over twenty countries focused on religious liberty for all. The RLP seeks to more intentionally work together in addressing advocacy, research, assistance, and in raising the awareness of religious restrictions worldwide. Founded in 2006, the organization has nearly one hundred full or associate members from all continents, and its current leadership team comes from the WEA Religious Liberty Commission; CSW, UK; Advocates International; Voice of the Martyrs, Canada; Jubilee Campaign; HMK Switzerland; Middle East Concern, and Alliance Defending Freedom.
Global religious liberty is at an all-time low, with current estimates showing that about eighty percent of the world’s population lives under some form of religious-liberty restrictions (harassment, discrimination, imprisonment, torture, death). The primary challenge is the freedom for people to change their faith without threat of severe punishment, such as prison, torture, or even death. Even though the vast majority of those impacted are Christian, virtually every faith has a place in the world where it’s being restricted.
We do have more insight into religious-liberty violations than in the past, thanks to new research and expanded access to information in our interconnected world. And it’s clearer than ever that we must partner with our colleagues to support and advocate for our sisters and brothers in crisis. Partnership is essential if we hope to shift cultures toward religious freedom, giving every person an unfettered opportunity to know God and make Him known.
Stronger Together
Many groups (both faith-based and others) have networks that promote human rights and freedom of religion and belief. The Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP) is the only global network that brings Christian agencies together under a unified banner.
The RLP is home to organizations from every continent working to advance religious liberty. We represent a wide spectrum of Christians who may differ doctrinally, but all subscribe to the Apostle’s Creed. Our members come from not only the evangelical and Protestant communities, but also can come from Catholic and Orthodox faith traditions. All Christians have a seat at the table.
Our members work in multiple contexts, whether focusing on a national setting such as China, or on issues like advocacy, assistance to believers in difficult situations, or research.
Like others, religious liberty organizations often grapple with a perceived sense of competition for resources, even though we’re working toward the same overarching goals. The RLP offers a platform for leaders to develop relationships and build a foundation of trust that often leads to organic collaboration and partnering initiatives.
By facilitating these conversations, the RLP gets a front-row seat to God’s work in bringing leaders together around these critical issues. Working in partnership allows us to achieve things that we can’t do on our own. We’re stronger together.
That’s not to say we haven’t faced challenges. Advancing religious liberty is a massive undertaking, and our member organizations are busy with their individual missions. Coming together in a meaningful way requires an investment of time, finances, and staff resources.
While it may sound counterintuitive, crafting a structure that includes membership contributions has likely increased the sense that each member has ownership of the partnership with “skin in the game.” Our membership continues to grow every year, which is a testament to the value of linking arms together.
Building Collective Impact
All our members have important initiatives specific to their unique spheres, and the RLP doesn’t seek to duplicate or replace those efforts. Instead, we build collective impact in key areas that impact believers on a global level. To that end, we currently operate four task forces:
Apostasy Laws
Apostasy laws mandate punishment for people who leave their religion (primarily among Islam). We’re working in several nations to get these laws off the books. Like in many situations, there is power in showing that our whole partnership is behind this cause. Though much more work needs to be done, we are beginning to see a better response from the United Nations and other governments in response to our unified efforts.
Research
The research task force of the RLP is helping the community to better define common terms. People too often use the word “persecution” as a catch-all term for discrimination, harassment, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom. We recommend referring to the first two as “religious liberty violations,” which clearly conveys the problem without diluting the meaning of “persecution.” We should be sparing in our use of the word “persecution,” so that people know when we are talking about severe violence.
Gender and Religious Persecution
The goal of this RLP Task Group is to inform, inspire, and bring evidence on the subject of gendered religious persecution in order to effect change. Women often face more severe persecution, from being shunned or beaten, to even being killed if they change their faith and their husbands don’t. We’ve co-sponsored several events on this topic over the past few years, including a significant consultation in Nigeria. This task group has also elevated research conducted by some of our members to help our wider membership understand these realities in more detail and tackle them together.
Christians from a Muslim Background
Christian believers who come from a Muslim background often face unique challenges, both in their faith journey and in the response to their faith change. We have a task force focusing on helping our members understand these issues.
Standing Alongside the Church
Religious liberty is a global issue, but some areas of the world are worse than others. That is one reason why the location of the annual RLP Consultation rotates. Two years ago, we held it in Brasilia because statistics had shown that Brazil was the country with the least religious restrictions, and we wanted to celebrate with them and honor them. In contrast, our most recent annual consultation was held in Nigeria because it is one of the places where Christians are actively facing persecution. We heard testimonies from Nigerian leaders and several other African countries, including Sudan, Eritrea, and Kenya. The speakers shared what is happening in their locations, and they also demonstrated an inspiring vibrancy of faith.
Standing alongside the Nigerian church and showing publicly that we support them was important. We had forty to fifty pastors and denominational executives from Nigeria present. I believe they came away knowing that Christians around the world care about them and that they are not forgotten.
Engaging the Church
People always ask how they can support their sisters and brothers who lack religious freedom or are in danger. The number one thing is prayer. That is what virtually every believer in those situations asks. Each November, we mark the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted, mobilizing specific and designated prayer among the global church which dedicates themselves to lift up the persecuted church in their churches, small groups, classrooms, and families.
Prayer is a simple, yet powerful opportunity for the church to engage in this issue and understand it better. And then, prayer supporters can see other opportunities like giving financially, or providing resources like Bibles, or assisting persecuted church leaders with training on advocacy and their legal rights.
The thing is, it is also reciprocal. Those who are in the midst of persecution are often praying for those of us who are not facing such difficulty. We can learn so much from them.
Signs of Progress
In countries like Colombia, Eritrea, and Uzbekistan, we have seen some progress thanks to many different organizations working with governments or behind the scenes.
In addition, over the last few years, global awareness of religious liberty violations and persecution has grown substantially, partly because our community is more able to communicate together. The past two years, the United States has held an annual State Department ministerial on religious liberty. The UK foreign office asked for a report on the persecution of Christians specifically. Of course, this increased awareness is also likely due to the increase in religious liberty violations over the past several years.
And that means there’s so much work left to do. We continue actively working to provide information to government officials all over the world. For instance, our Gender and Religious Freedom Task Group has visited several embassies to discuss the problems in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. In these situations, we’re giving them details on the suffering happening in their community or country, while showing up in a very concrete way to advocate for real solutions.
When we advocate for religious freedom, we mean for everyone. In all our efforts, we advocate for a level playing field for religious liberty. As humans created in God’s image, we all deserve freedom, whether we’re Christian, follow another faith, or have no faith. We think this is the right thing to do, but religious freedom also impacts our individual ability to flourish by creating space for the cultural institutions, norms, and values that support free societies. Studies show that religious freedom has an impact on the average income level of each person. It basically translates into less poverty and more overall prosperity.
The Jesus Strategy
We often ask, how do we determine success when it comes to
collaboration? In our view, the way we measure collaborative work is somewhat
different than how we measure our work as organizations. The metrics that might
apply to other efforts don’t reflect what success in an upside-down kingdom
looks like. For example, how do we
measure the depth of relationships and trust? How do we measure faithfulness?
In the end, we know God has called us to do this work, and we may not see the
full harvest for many years. And, of
course, it is He who causes increase.
We believe that the Jesus strategy is for the body of Christ to work together,
and that things change dramatically when that happens. How that happens is in
God’s hands. Exploring that important question of what we can do together that
we can’t do by ourselves – and building those kinds of partnering opportunities
– demonstrates something to those people who are in persecution: that the body
of Christ is behind them, that their voices are heard, that they’re part of a
global environment, part of a global church that takes their issues seriously.
The Religious Liberty Partnership offers membership for organizations that are primarily focused on religious liberty, as well as associate membership for other organizations seeking to come alongside and support the movement. To apply for membership or to learn more about RLP, visit rlpartnership.org.
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Brian F. O’Connell (Brian@REACTServices.com) is the president of REACT Services and the facilitator of the Religious Liberty Partnership. He has been involved in partnership development and international missions for over twenty-five years, ministering in over ninety countries, holding senior leadership positions with the National Association of Evangelicals, World Evangelical Alliance, and Interdev. Brian has helped catalyze partnering initiatives addressing global issues such as refugees, sports ministry, HIV/AIDS, orphans, persecuted believers, and vulnerable children.
