WEA Appeals to Algeria to Re-Open Forcibly Closed Churches

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) calls on Algerian authorities to guarantee freedom of worship to churches and to religious institutions, and to allow all closed churches to re-open.

We deeply regret that two additional churches were forcibly closed by administrative decisions, in May and in August 2019 in the city of Boudjima, northeast of Tizi-Ouzou in Kabylie Region.

This brings the number of forcibly closed churches to 6, including one house church. Five of these churches are members in the Protestant Church of Algeria, the national evangelical alliance and a WEA member. Many more churches are threatened with closure, amid denial of formal registration and recognition by authorities.

We also call on the Algerian authorities to suspend and revise the February 2006 ordinance setting out the conditions and rules for the exercise of non-Muslim religions. This ordinance is cited in each of the decisions to close churches.

Furthermore, we call on Algerian authorities to respond to the administrative requests from the EPA Council, namely requests related to the renewal of the EPA governing council.

As Algeria goes through the current political transition phase, the WEA calls upon Christians globally to pray continually for their brothers and sisters in Christ in Algeria, and for the people of Algeria. We ask for prayer for peace and prosperity for this country, as we urge them to uphold religious freedom.

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Over two billion Christians in the world today are represented by three world church bodies. The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is one of those, serving more than 600 million evangelicals. Launched in 1846 to unite evangelicals worldwide, the WEA continues to be a dynamic movement with 7 regional and 129 national Evangelical Alliances, and over 150 member organizations. WEA's mission is to establish and strengthen regional and national Evangelical Alliances, who in turn enable their national Church to advance the Good News of Jesus Christ and effect personal and community transformation for the glory of God. For more info, e-mail [email protected] or go to Worldea.org.