evangelical 360°

Ep. 49 / Inside the UN and the Fight for Religious Freedom ► Janet E. Buckingham

• Host Brian Stiller • Season 1 • Episode 49

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A quiet statistic hides a loud truth: one in seven Christians lives with the risk of arrest, mob violence, or bureaucratic erasure simply for practicing their faith. In this episode we sit down with Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham—lawyer, professor, and head of the World Evangelical Alliance’s Geneva advocacy team—to unpack how smart, steady diplomacy at the UN can create real space for believers to worship, witness, and even bury their dead without fear. 

Janet traces her path from Canadian public policy work to leading a team that turns testimony into action. She explains how special consultative status opens doors to convene side events, deliver hard-hitting 90-second statements, and file reports that influence asylum cases and government responses. We dig into the mechanics: building trust with diplomats, coordinating with national alliances across 140 countries, and timing “good cop, bad cop” strategies so international pressure empowers local engagement rather than eclipsing it.

The conversation explores rising trends—registration traps that criminalize house churches, apostasy laws that penalize conversion, and AI-fueled surveillance that tightens control. Case studies bring the stakes into focus: a pastor from Turkey facing restrictions, Nigerian Christians displaced by violence, and India’s disturbing pattern of mobs blocking Christian funerals. Through it all, Janet shows how precise language, credible evidence, and persistent presence can turn compassion into policy change and small wins into lasting protections.

If you care about religious freedom, this episode offers both clarity and a roadmap: what works at the UN, how advocacy reaches the local church, and where listeners can step in—through informed prayer, careful sharing, and support for trusted relief and legal efforts. 

You can learn more about the World Evangelical Alliance at the UN and Dr. Buckingham's work through the WEA website and Facebook. 

And please don't forget to share this episode and join the conversation on YouTube! 

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Brian Stiller:

Hello and welcome to Evangelical 360. I'm your host, Brian Stiller. Most of us live our lives in relative ease, free from intimidation, or from those who might try and infringe on our faith or right to believe as we choose. As we do, we really are unaware of so many in our world who today, even as we speak of having to watch who is seeing them go into a church or listen to them share their faith. That kind of intimidation may come from a government, police force, or from another religious community, or from a neighbor who, in reporting you, may get you removed so your house can become theirs. Within the echelons of power where countries meet, most of us are excluded. It takes people who know their stuff to speak into those rooms of governmental and judicial power. We need people who understand how the system works and are able to finesse legal jargon getting the attention of the offending country. Janet Epp Buckingham is one of those. We've worked for years together in Canada, but now from her post in Geneva, she leads the advocacy team of the World Evangelical Alliance. She's the one who presses hard on those countries who diminish the rights of freedom of faith and religion. She leads a team of people skilled in the art of diplomacy, not just to make friends, but to find ways so people on the ground, those overcome by oppression and persecution, are free to worship and serve the God they choose. You're in for a rich moment of seeing how this global infrastructure of governments work on matters of persecution. I'm so pleased you've chosen to join as part of this podcast. As you listen, would you consider sharing this episode with a friend? And if you haven't, please hit subscribe by joining the conversation on YouTube in the comments below. Now to my guest, Janet Epp Buckingham. Janet Epp Buckingham, thanks for joining us on Evangelical 360.

Janet Epp Buckingham:

It's great to be with you today.

Brian Stiller:

Janet, I want to talk about the various activities that you're involved in in the Geneva office of the World Evangelical Alliance. But these numbers jumped out at me today as I was preparing. One in seven Christians face persecution. Last year, the year 2024, 4,476 Christians were killed, 4,700 detained. 380 million Christians live in countries of high levels of persecution. In this age, in the 21st century, these numbers tend to alarm me. Should they?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

They should. Now, interestingly, I have met Christians in some of those countries where there are high levels of persecution, and I find them so inspiring because they recognize exactly what's going on and the risk that they are in, but they want to stay and share the gospel with their family and friends and bring them to the saving love of Jesus. And I am so in awe of them and the risks that they face. And one of one of my jobs at the UN is try to try to try to change that. Try to make it so that they are not facing the kind of persecution that they are. But it is very real, the kind of persecution that Christians around the world are facing.

Brian Stiller:

But how does a uh Canadian lawyer educator end up in Geneva managing an office that deals with advocacy against persecution?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

Well, it's interesting, Brian, because I feel like God has just been preparing me for this my whole life. And it started back when I was a young lawyer, and my husband wanted to do graduate studies at Cambridge University in the UK. And I came into contact with the Jubilee Center, which is a Christian public policy think tank. I had never heard of such a thing before, but God just laid it on my heart at that time that He wanted me to engage in Christian public policy, whatever that meant. Well, when I came back to Canada after that, I was directed to the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. And someone named Brian Stiller was the president then and gave this young whippersnapper lawyer an opportunity to engage with the Social Action Commission, which was engaging in public policy issues of the day from a Christian perspective, uh, and then the Religious Liberty Commission. And uh ultimately I ended up doing my doctorate in freedom of religion or belief, looking at both international and Canadian laws on that subject. I then was given the opportunity to lead the Ottawa office of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada for a year, which turned into seven years, um, and really gave me a flavor for how one engages in advocacy from a Christian perspective. And we always have to be conscious, we're speaking on behalf of the church and Christians. We want to engage relationally, we want to engage positively, but we want to make known to policymakers what we believe and what is important to us. Then God led me into working with Trinity Western University, and I directed the Laurentian Leadership Center, which is a live-learn center that Trinity Western, which is in British Columbia, runs in Ottawa. And students would come for a visiting semester, engage in public policy internships, and I would teach them about Canadian history from a Christian perspective, and look at our prime ministers and their leadership and Christian ethics from a public policy perspective. And then in 2022, I retired from that, and the Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance said, Janet, you seem to have some extra time on your hands. How would you like to engage in public policy? So when I started with the World Evangelical Alliance, I was the director of global advocacy. And so I was still in Canada and I was providing strategic oversight to the work of the UN. And then one of the people who reported to me, who was the director of the Geneva office doing direct advocacy, left actually to go run a persecuted church organization in the US. And my husband looked at me and said, Janet, is God calling you to that? You are an advocate at heart. And I said, I'm not looking for a new career. What are you talking about? Well, obviously, he was right that God was calling me to that. But this, this I have this wonderful title of professor doctor, because I'm a professor emerita of Trinity Western University. I have a doctorate in law, in freedom of religion or belief. And so I have a lot of credibility when I meet with diplomats, when I meet with people who are engaged in the UN system, who work for the UN in human rights, because I have all the experience and background, and I wrote a book on religious freedom in Canada. So I know what I'm talking about when I talk about religious freedom.

Brian Stiller:

And let me say for people that are listening that knowing Janet, her own modesty, but confidence in her ability to do the work is critical when you're facing the kind of people and issues that you face worldwide. But let me let me come back to this question. As evangelicals, we talk about the evangel, the good news of Jesus. And at the very heart of our message is Christ coming and transforming one in life. How does this caring for persecuted Christians, of course, is self-evidently important, but how does that in your mind connect with the sharing of the gospel, the good news of Jesus in the transformed life? How does this match?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

One of the things I've been very conscious of is years ago, when I would go as a university student to missions conferences, I went to Urbana many, many decades ago, and we talked about the 1040 window. And everybody was like, you know, we need to be evangelizing in some of these really hard-to-reach places. And by God's grace, there's been a lot of evangelism in some of these hard places, but that's where Christians are most persecuted. And so a missionary comes, brings the good news, people come to Christ, they plant a church, and all of that is illegal. And so there's this transformation that is happening in these young Christians' lives, but they also have to be an underground church. The World Evangelical Alliance has national alliances in over 140 countries. Some of those are places where people can't even mention that they're Christians, and yet they are being formed in a crucible. They're being formed under pressure for their faith. I met one young woman who said her Muslim family had locked her in her bedroom for eight years, and she lived for her Christian friends sneaking Christian literature into her bedroom. And she would read it avidly, and when her family found out about it, they would beat her.

Brian Stiller:

Okay, let's cut, let's come down to the activity that you supervise that you head up in Geneva. How did this World Evangelical Alliance, the association of which you and I are a part, evangelicals make up a quarter of the world's Christians today? How did this WEA, this group of network of evangelicals, come to establish an office in Geneva? And what's the nature of that office?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

Well, actually, back when I worked with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, I used to come over for what was then called the Commission for Human Rights, which met once a year. And so I would come over for a couple of weeks in the springtime when they were meeting and do some advocacy and just realized the opportunities that there were to represent those Christians from around the world who were persecuted for their faith. And so this was about 2005, 2006. Another colleague of mine and I made a recommendation to the WEA that they start an office in Geneva, a permanent office here. But that didn't happen for several more years. And it was actually someone who worked for the Swiss Alliance who saw the need, who saw the UN here, who said, you know, WEA, we really need an office. And we in the Swiss Alliance are willing to support it. So since 2012, there has been an office here. And actually, the WEA has had what's called special consultative status at the UN since 1997. So we've been actually doing advocacy where we could. And it's, you know, it was fly-in visits for a long period of time, like I did from Canada. Um, but now that there's been an office here since 2012, we're able to do so much more. And we're able to actually connect with our national alliances to the work that's going on here in Geneva on human rights. And I actually skipped a step when you were talking about, you know, how how does this actually work in practice from missions to the advocacy work we do? Because once you plant churches, even in a restricted country, when you get a couple of churches, they want to form an alliance. So that's why the WEA ends up having national alliances in some very restricted countries. And it is my privilege to work with some of those to bring their voice here to Geneva.

Brian Stiller:

What does special consultative status mean? And what does it, what levers does it allow you to exercise or to use in in dealing with the persecuted Christian?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

Well, special consultative status means that I have an annual pass, a nice little blue badge that lets me into the UN. So I if if you walk up to the UN doors, they'll say, I'm sorry, sir, you cannot come in. And so my status allows me to come and go freely into the UN. I am able to sign up to have what are called side events, which is, you know, during a human rights council session, we can hold an hour-long meeting and bring in speakers, and then diplomats will actually come to our side event and hear directly from people from the persecuted church. Um, I really like being able to do that because it's a it's a really good opportunity to reach people who really can make a difference. We have the opportunity to make oral statements. So right now, the Human Rights Council is holding a session. They hold three month-long sessions during the year, and they're in the middle of a session right now. And we made an oral statement today on the persecuted church in Nigeria. Those statements are 90 seconds. You have to be very focused in what you say, but you have to have this status to be able to make those oral statements. Now, we can get passes as well for other people. So I have an annual pass. I can come and go at any time, but I have with me for two weeks two emerging leaders from African countries, one from Nigeria and one from Kenya. And I could get them a pass for a two-week period. And it was actually the Nigerian who was able to make the oral statement on Nigeria today. I'm telling you, it was very powerful.

Brian Stiller:

What's it like to represent evangelicals in international institutions?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

We get a mixed response. I'm not gonna lie. There are some people who really like us. So I said that we had somebody here, an emerging leader here from Kenya today. I was able to make an appointment for him to meet with his ambassador. So he met with the ambassador to the UN from Kenya, and Kenya is a very Christian country. And she said to us, she said, I am a Christian and I really appreciate the fact that you're here and that you're doing the kind of work you're doing. So we're we do work at the diplomatic level, and some diplomats here, of course, some diplomats are going to be Christians. Some of the people who are diplomatic staff are Christians. There are other Christian NGOs who work here. There are other organizations that are advocating for some other human rights that are seem to be at odds with Christianity. I've I've had some strong words, not you know in a large setting, but even in a behind-the-scenes setting with some Muslim diplomats and the diplomats from Islamic countries. We sometimes have had people take issue with our stand on human sexuality. We don't all agree with each other, but one of the things about being in a diplomatic setting is that we have to speak diplomatic language. And obviously, not all countries agree with each other, but the language of diplomacy allows you to kind of take a step outside of the angry heated debate and use diplomatic language to express your point of view and recognize that not everyone's going to agree with it. But we do get quite a few people who appreciate what we have to say. And does any of this make any difference? It does. For one thing, it's important to give people a voice. So people who are being persecuted, we are able to, we are able to speak for them. And I regularly, even if they're not able to come to Geneva, I regularly hear from our National Alliances, thank you for speaking up for us. We feel very isolated and alone, and knowing that you are our voice in Geneva makes a difference. Sometimes we're able to bring people from those countries. So I brought a pastor from Turkey, and Turkey has been facing quite a few restrictions on churches, and it's it's hard for them to meet. Foreign pastors have been banned from the country. So they've had certainly some issues. And I brought him to Geneva and he spoke at a side event, and he was so grateful for that. And then he had the opportunity to speak to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Maybe the American government will take it up with better, you know, with more force. There's also another mechanism that we're taking up on behalf of Turkey, specifically on the foreign ministry workers. So we have a number of different ways that we are engaging on specific issues. Sometimes we see some small advances. Um, a report that we filed earlier this year was used as testimony in a refugee case for a Rohingya Christian. We always think it here about Rohingya Muslims. This man is a Rohingya Christian, so he faces kind of double persecution, and he was able to get refugee status in the US based on information that was in our report that we had made to the UN. So that I consider it's a small victory, and I like to see bigger victories, but it takes it takes a long time. As one person put it to me, this is like running a marathon. It's definitely not the hundred-meter dash.

Brian Stiller:

What are some of the issues that evangelicals face, or Christians in general, uh face uh in particular countries?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

One of the issues that's quite pervasive, and it's happening in many different parts of the world, is governments putting restrictions on legal status for religious institutions. So they say, oh, we're just regulating religion. But then they put these restrictions on, well, if you want to register as a church, you have to have 2,000 adherents. Well, that makes it pretty hard to start a house church somewhere. And so we're seeing these being used to keep certain types of churches out. And if you hold a religious service without having that legal status, it's considered an illegal meeting. And then the pastor can be arrested. So we see in country after country, when when you see, oh, this pastor was being arrested, you're like, well, what kind of law are they arresting a pastor for? It's almost always holding an illegal meeting with under one of these very restrictive kinds of regimes. Now, there are other places where it is much more restricted to convert to Christianity from Islam, for example. Many Islamic countries have what they call apostasy laws. So if you leave Islam and become a Christian, you're apostate. And so you you that's a criminal offense. And in some countries, it it carries the death penalty. So that's incredibly serious. There's also social pressure. So in a place like Pakistan, for example, a lot of times it's mob violence against Christians. And so that's a little bit more difficult to deal with. And what the kind of advocacy I do is to say, government, you need to protect people. You need to protect your citizens, you need to do some things that are going to de-escalate conflict before it turns into violence. I have another colleague who works at the diplomatic level in my office, Gaetan Roy, another Canadian, actually. So Brian and Gaetan and I are all Canadians. So I'm gonna cheer for Canadians just for a moment here. Let me wave my flag. Um, Gaetan actually lives in Germany, but he's been doing a lot of work in Pakistan to try to develop government-sponsored peace committees that will include Muslims and Christians and be in different communities that will de-escalate conflict before it turns into violence. So sometimes you have to be kind of creative about solutions you might propose to a government. There's certainly not a one-size-fits-all answer to all of the persecution we're seeing. Do governments listen to you? They do. It requires developing some relationships. You have to build some trust with governments. You know, if they're sometimes they're already familiar with a national alliance in their country, but if they're not, you have to build a level of trust. Sometimes it's helpful to say, you know, we are a global organization that represents over 600 million evangelical Christians around the world. That tends to get a little bit of an open door, even in very restricted countries, and then introduce them to the local alliance. The local alliance might be quite small. You know, it might have only a few thousand people involved with it. But if they're under very heavy persecution, even that introduction and getting them recognized by the government as even existing can be the beginning of a new relationship for them so that they can try to have a little bit more of a measure of freedom.

Brian Stiller:

Janet, obviously, we're dealing with the winds of change. Uh China, which is a country that I've been to a number of times, it's changing uh by the way, by way of surveillance and requirements. So globally, though, is there is there a movement among nations to be more tolerant of religious for religious freedom, or is the opposite occurring? Is there any trend that you're observing?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

Well, I am observing this trend of trying to regulate and control religion. Now, China has long tried to control religion. So that's that part of things is not new. What's difficult and new is that they have incredible AI technology that allows them to have a lot of surveillance on Christians, and Christians can no longer hide from the government. But in more and more countries, I'm seeing this trend towards governments wanting to have more control. This is part of governments being very authoritarian. We're seeing a rise in authoritarian governments in many, many countries. And of course, religion is a threat. Any religion is a threat. But Christianity they see often as a threat because it's a countervailing force to government. And often religious leaders will feel free to criticize a government if they feel that it's going in the wrong direction. And so governments do have a tendency, particularly as they are more author authoritarian, to have a heavier level of regulation on churches and religious communities in general. And that often, often that hits evangelicals more than it hits other Christians. Other Christians are more established, they have, you know, they have buildings, they have theological seminaries. Evangelicals are often the new kids on the block. And, you know, we may not have a seminary in a country, we may not have church buildings, we're in-house churches, and that is often what gets hit by the regulation.

Brian Stiller:

Jenna, you're uh you're involved at the international level uh with governments in Geneva. How does that activity work its way down to the local congregational level in a particular country?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

That is a really great question. And it's one that I'm I work very hard on trying to make those connections. So the way the World Evangelical Alliance is organized is we have nine regional structures, regional evangelical alliances, and then all the national alliances belong to a regional alliance. So it's really helpful for me to be able to go to a regional alliance meeting and tell them about what we can do and say, look, come and talk to me if you are having problems in your country. And uh I spoke to the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, which is our largest region. Over 50 countries were represented there, and I had quite a number of countries come and speak to me, and then I can start working with them to talk about okay, how can you be advocating in your country and maybe advocating at the UN and we are giving the same message at the same time. Now, occasionally we play good cop, bad cop. So I'm right now, I I've been quite critical of one country so that their national alliance can come along and say, oh, you know, let's take that pressure, that international pressure off you. Here are some ideas around it. So we can sometimes work collaboratively that way. And you know, the national alliances have denominations and churches that. Our members, and so they're very conscious of what the issues are locally and how to speak to their own governments. Every now and then they want me to come to their country and go with them to their government meeting because they say, you know what, we need an international presence. If you come here, they'll listen to us more. And I'm like, if that's what works for you, let's do it that way. So different strategies for different countries, but my goal is always to try to empower the National Alliance to be stronger and to be able to speak for itself, but also connect with what we're advocating at the international level.

Brian Stiller:

Janet, let's let me take you to one country, India, for example, a country where the church is growing at a remarkable rate, and yet a place where the Hinduvata, the cultural religion is rising with political strength to both impact Muslim and Christian presence. How does your office work in relationship to the dynamics within India?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

Yeah, India is a country that we have been doing advocacy for as things have been getting more challenging there, and we have been doing advocacy for for a while. And we've we've had a number of different approaches. We raise issues related to India in every single human rights council session. We we do it in different ways. Sometimes it's written statements, sometimes it's oral statements, sometimes it's a side event. The there is actually also the UN human rights system has some special experts. They call them special rapporteurs on certain issues. And there's one on freedom of religion or belief. She makes two reports a year, and her next report is going to be focused on freedom of religion or belief and death issues, particularly focused on being able to bury your dead in accordance with your religious faith. Well, one of the big issues in India right now is Hindus mobbing a Christian funeral. I'm gonna cry, and not allowing them to bury their deceased, their loved one. And like literally forming a barrier in front of the local cemetery. It is like heart-wrenching to think about this. But apparently they organize these groups on WhatsApp and they bring in like very militant Hindus from surrounding communities to prevent and to interfere with Christian funerals. So that is what our report is going to be focused on to the special rapporteur, is going to be focused specifically on that issue in India. But there are a lot of different issues that they have been facing in different places. But it it is, we use every opportunity to raise the issue, but we know that the Indian government right now is getting a lot of political mileage out of being very restrictive on minorities. It's not just the Christians, it's also the Muslims, it's also the Sikhs in India. We have held in the past a side event with all of the different minority religions talking about how they're facing different kinds of restrictions. And my colleague, who is no longer with this office, but my colleague was the moderator for that. And they actually had social media bots that were spreading disinformation about him. No, I kind of feel that's when you know you're being effective, is when a government targets you. I mean, they were saying things like he'd been a missionary in India and been kicked out of the country for you know, spreading falsehoods. At that point, he'd never been to India before. Like he'd never even been in the country. So so we do know that the Indian government takes this very seriously, but at the moment, they're not very open and willing to change. But we will keep working at things. You know, Pakistan for many, many years had a government that was very resistant to change. And now they're open to us talking about having multi-faith peace committees in communities. So you never know, like over time, fortunately, these are democratic governments. Over time, governments change, and we keep working so that when there is a change of government, when there is an openness, we are ready to step in with positive solutions.

Brian Stiller:

Janet, you have extensive experience as a lawyer, as working on religious liberties issues. But over this last period of time in in overseeing the Geneva office, what have you learned professionally and personally about this larger issue of religious freedom?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

I've I've learned that we have more allies than I thought we did. There there seems to be quite a few organizations that promote religious freedom. One of the other things I've learned is that it is really, really important to engage with people who are willing to engage with you. Sometimes I think that's a secular organization. Like I what what interest would they have in this issue? And then I find, oh, they actually have three Christians that work there. And so they're quietly promoting freedom of religion within whatever other topic they're dealing with. So I've actually found some allies in surprising places and from surprising countries. So it's always worth trying to engage with people and trying to have conversations and discussions and see where you can find areas of collaboration.

Brian Stiller:

Janet, this issue of religious persecution has become more front page news than it has been, at least in my lifetime. That results in a lot of people interested in doing something. What can a person do? What might a person read or understand to help them better know what's going on? And what action might they take from where they sit as a student or as a lay person or as a retired person in their own world?

Janet Epp Buckingham:

There's a great deal of information available about those who are being persecuted for their faith. There's way more than there used to be. It's often not reported in mainstream media. So you do need to go looking for it. There are some Christian media organizations, you know, Christianity Today, there's another one, Christian Daily International, that both carry stories about religious persecution. There are also a number of organizations, you know, in in different countries, they have different names. So I'm I don't want to name the ones that I know in a particular country because they might have a different name in your in your country. Every year there is in November the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. And it is a really good opportunity to raise the issue in your church community and to pray for those who are persecuted. That is what they ask for most. Most please pray for us. They they want prayers for strength, for boldness, that God would continue to encourage them. There, just as you read about global situations, you can be aware of the Christians that are involved in some of these conflicts. One of the things I'm very aware of is Christians who are persecuted often are pushed off their land. My emerging leader from Nigeria talks about three and a half million Christians have been pushed off their land and are living in internally displaced camps, like the equivalent of refugee camps. Some of them don't have, you know, food and shelter and sanitation. So a lot of the organizations that support the Persecuted Church support these kinds of ministries that are bringing relief and aid to Christians who are facing very difficult circumstances because of their faith. So I would encourage people to support these kinds of organizations, but fundamentally learn more and pray, maybe even pick a country where Christians are being persecuted and pray for the Christians in that country.

Brian Stiller:

Janet, thanks so much for joining us on Evangelical 360.

Janet Epp Buckingham:

It's a great pleasure, and uh thank you for the opportunity.

Brian Stiller:

Thanks, Janet, for joining me today, and thanks for the work you and your colleagues do on behalf of people around the world whose lives have been turned upside down by governments and people who are determined to seize from them the rights to worship as they choose. And you, my friend, thanks for being a part of the conversation today. Be sure to subscribe to Evangelical 360 and share this episode wherever you watch or listen to this podcast. If you'd like to learn more about today's guest, be sure to check the show notes for links and info. And if you haven't already received my free ebook and newsletter, please go to BrianStiller.com. Thanks again. Until next time.