Gospel Gap: Algiers

Algiers is a ‘gateway’—a megacity-in-the-making, with enormous influence both over Algeria and North Africa, down into the Sahel. Algiers is a port on the Mediterranean, located on a mountainous coastal plain. It has a population of about 3 million, growing slowly (fertility rate currently 2.9, but also attracting migrants from rural areas). At this rate, by 2050 it will likely have 10 million people—larger than cities like New York or Paris are today, yet with almost no indigenous Christian presence.

Algiers is the capital of Algeria and the political and economic center of the nation. It is the seat of state authority, but also the site of opposition. Much of Algeria’s economy depends on hydrocarbons, especially natural gas. The oil and gas fields lie deep in the Sahara, with pipelines carrying exports north toward Europe. Algiers itself does not produce energy, but it serves as the “control tower” where Sonatrach, government ministries, and foreign firms manage contracts, revenues, and logistics. The capital thus draws a lot of foreign businesses.

Berber communities in the area became attached to the Carthaginian empire (modern Tunisia) in the 6th century BC; after the Punic Wars, Rome formally annexed the whole area as a province in 46 BC. Christianity flourished (Augustine, Tertullian, Cyprian) but was erased under the Arab conquest in the 600s. Since then, Algiers’ civic identity has been Islamic, reinforced under the Ottoman corsairs.

The French captured it in 1830 and held it for a century. During this period, Christianity, mainly in the form of the Catholic church, was reintroduced. The Notre-Dame d’Afrique, a Catholic basilica, was built and consecrated in 1872, and remains a functioning and well-known landmark today. Protestants entered too and did some work, but Christianity largely remained tied to European settlers—little Algerian fruit was seen.

Then, in 1956-57, Algerian nationalists fought fierce battles (1956-57), leading eventually to independence in 1962. This was followed by a mass exodus of nearly one million settlers. Churches emptied, buildings were nationalized, and Christianity’s image as a colonial religion hardened. Algerians were Muslims.

In the 1970s, Algiers was a ‘Mecca for revolutionaries’; in the 1980s, youth revolts led to a brief multiparty democracy. The 2011 Arab Spring lightly touched Algiers but was quickly squashed through economic subsidies and forceful suppression. The deeper rupture came with the 2019 Hirak protest movement: hundreds of thousands took to the streets, ultimately leading to the resignation of President Bouteflika (after 20 years in power). Since then, Algiers has continued to struggle with a variety of economic challenges. But none of this has changed Algier’s Islamic identity much.

There was one bright outlier: some Protestant missions labored among the Kabyle Berbers in the 1800s and saw little fruit, but then in the late 1970s and 1980s, a movement began among them. It accelerated during the Algerian Civil War, when many Kabyle were disillusioned with Islam. House churches multiplied, and tens of thousands of Kabyles came to identify as Protestant.

Today, the economy of Algiers is strongly bound up with Europe. The Mediterranean Sea is 160 kilometers between Algeria and Spain, and regular ferry routes connect the two. Tens of thousands of Algerians cross annually, mostly for reasons ranging from dual nationality and family visits to study and tourism. There are some who go to Europe to work, but this is tightly regulated. France is Algeria’s largest trading partner, and most of Algeria’s exports go to the EU. One might think that the Gospel would ‘leak in,’ and there have been efforts to do so.

At the same time, Algeria’s government, seated in Algiers, is a formally republican but substantively authoritarian system: elections are tightly managed, the military is the ultimate arbiter of power, press and assembly are constrained, and dissent often leads to arrest. Islam is the state religion, and the proselytization of Muslims is criminalized. It’s true Algeria isn’t like some oppressive governments—it leans heavily on visa denials and church closures to police matters—but the atmosphere is still restrictive. Because it is centralized, control is easier: new efforts in the city will be noticed quickly, unlike in other countries where things can grow quietly on the margins (think of China, where ‘The mountains are high, and the emperor is far away’).

There are a number of ways the Gospel could flow into Algeria. Radio programs, Internet-based media, and satellite television are all accessible. There are plenty of connections between diaspora Algerians in Europe and Christianity. But at the same time, Christianity often carries a sense of the foreign. In Iran, many are coming to faith because they are disillusioned with the form of Islam shown by the government; in Algeria, many Berbers started their faith journey with similar disillusionment. But for many, this is still a bridge too far. Where fresh seedlings do manage to be planted, the government has so far been very good at uprooting them. The bay may be open, but the city keeps its doors strongly closed. Until the Gospel “puts on Algeria” and moves into the neighborhood, Algiers will likely remain a gap.