About US

The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF) has led the Commission on Religious Liberty (CRL) for more than a decade. The Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF), also recognizing the need of persecuted Christians around the world, asked the PWF World Missions Commission (WMC) to attend to the concern. In 2016, the World Missions Commission established a Task Force for Religious Liberty. 

In 2015, Pastor Max Schläpfer, Chairman of the Commission on Religious Liberty, invited Dr. Arto Hämäläinen, Chairman of the PWF World Missions Commission, to collaborate on such efforts. This led to a proposal to merge the WAGF Commission on Religious Liberty and the PWF World Missions Commission Task Force for Religious Liberty. Both the WAGF and PWF accepted this proposal, and the joint commission was named the Pentecostal Commission on Religious Liberty (PCRL). Pastor Schläpfer served as its first chairman in 2019, followed by Dr. Hämäläinen, who was elected at the start of 2020. 


At the 26th Pentecostal World Conference in Seoul, Rev. Max Barroso assumed the role of Chairman of the World Missions Commission. In 2024, the leadership of the PWF determined to bring back the PCRL fully within the fellowship’s scope and under the WMC as initially established. Following these discussions, Dr. Ted Vail  was elected to serve as the Team Leader for the PCRL to best serve the fellowship's religious liberties efforts.

PCRL Members

Team Leader: Dr. Ted Vail, USA

Lead Team:

Rev. Wendy Wright, USA

Rev. Ihsan Özbek, Turkey

Rev. Mikael Jägerskog, Sweden

PCRL Members:

Rev. Mark Brink, USA

Dr. Janet Buckingham, Canada

Rev. Randy Hurst, USA  

Rev. Harun Ibrahim, Finland

Rev. Edwin Jung, Austria

Dr. Susanna Kokkonen, Finland

Rev. Yuriy Kulakevich, Ukraine  

Dr. Peter Kuzmic, Croatia  

Dr. David Lopez, Latin America

Rev. Rauli Lehtonen, Sweden

Dr. Opoku Onyinah, Ghana  

Rev. Dikran Salbashian, Jordan

Rev. Mervyn Thomas, CMG, United Kingdom

Rev. John Vincely, India  

Dr. Tissa Weerasingha, Sri Lanka