When New York Times best-selling author Joel Rosenberg saw Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at a meeting in Washington, D.C., in April, he had one question: Would you be interested in meeting with Evangelical Christians?

President Sisi had been invited by President Trump to speak with Middle East experts and thought leaders. Rosenberg was invited to attend.

“He lit up at the thought,” said Rosenberg. “He loved the idea. It was as if he was waiting for someone to ask.” Sisi instructed his staff to coordinate a meeting in Cairo with evangelical Christians — one group Rosenberg said had not yet met with the president. “I thanked him for rescuing Egypt (from the Muslim Brotherhood), for wanting to rebuild the U.S.-Egyptian alliance and for protecting Christians.” Noting that the president had met with other groups, and even sought to meet with the pope, Rosenberg asked for the meeting to discuss a wide range of issues, like terrorism and an Arab-Israeli peace treaty.

Dr. Andrea Zaki, head of all of the protestant churches in Egypt, was a key player in the events. Rosenberg invited Zaki to attend the Cairo meeting and explained, “If we bring evangelical Christians from America, we want to meet with Christians in Egypt. We want to hear your perspective, build a friendship and know how better to pray for you.”

The Meeting

On November 1, 2017, a delegation of evangelical Christians sat in the president’s palace. In his opening statement to the president in Cairo, Rosenberg explained that “We really want to build a bridge of friendship [with] the people of Egypt and the Christian brothers and sisters [here].” President Sisi “very much wanted” that type of relationship and told attendees they could ask him whatever they wished. “But don’t listen to me,” he said. “find out from Egyptians whether we’re moving forward.” It was the very first delegation of evangelical Christians that met with Sisi.

The meeting that was supposed to take an hour took three.

President Sisi sees himself as building on the late Anwar Sadat’s legacy — his predecessor who was assassinated after signing a peace treaty with Israel. “Sisi made it clear that he’s trying to build on that legacy. Egypt has experience now with making peace with Israel and maintaining peace with Israel. Sisi believes they have experience that they can share with other areas in the region.”

The most poignant moment of the meeting came when a member of Rosenberg’s delegation began talking about God’s love for Egypt. He referenced Is. 19:25 which talks about “Egypt my people.” “Out of that, the president asked us to pray for him and for the people of Egypt. He said, ‘I need more prayer than Donald Trump!’ So, that was a special moment for a devout Muslim Arab president to ask Christians to pray for him and the people of Egypt.”

And Sisi has made progress with protecting Christians in his country. “At least 85 churches were burned, damaged or destroyed through the reign of terror of the Muslim brotherhood,” said Rosenberg. “All of those have been rebuilt or repaired.” Sisi has also signed a law that allows churches to be built or expanded and to obtain a license to operate if they didn’t have one previously. “Nobody’s saying the process is perfect,” said Rosenberg, “but now there is a law in place that makes it legal — things are moving in the right direction.” There are still a lot of challenges but it’s not like it was.

The bottom-line question is, How do Egyptian Christians feel about their freedom to practice Christianity in Egypt? Rosenberg said it’s much better. He continued:

Are Christians feeling safer? Are they safer? Are they freer? Are they more honored and respected than ever, and the answer is ‘Yes.’ We met with a wide range of Christians from all over the country and we got very similar input. Many challenges remain but we’re really making progress. We’re seeing hope and we’re so astonished that President Sisi is giving Christians so much honor and respect.

Future Expectations

Rosenberg hopes that the meeting will spur “healthy open relationships” between Egyptian evangelicals and their president. “It’s more important that the Egyptian Christians feel that they have access to their president. For us, we want that relationship … As American evangelicals [we will] come alongside and strengthen and honor our Egyptian brothers and sisters so they have a good working relationship with their president. This was the most important part of the meeting.” He notes that the Egyptian evangelicals will have a range of issues over time to address.

Rosenberg asks Christians to do three things for their brothers and sisters in Christ. “We need to be praying for the Christians in Egypt, Jordan and all those in the Middle East.” He explained the three parts as prayer, protection and a boldness to proclaim the Word of God and the Gospel. “We live in states or kingdoms, but we have a kingdom that is coming and we need to be faithful ambassadors of that kingdom,” said Rosenberg. “That begins with loving our neighbors. That includes Muslims. Loving them, listening to them and having a dialogue with them.”

A ‘Gift From God’

The delegation of evangelical Christians was also invited to meet with King Abdullah II in Jordan. The group had lunch with the king, then headed to Mt. Nebo where they prayed for Jordan, Egypt, Palestine and Israel. “We couldn’t have designed it better but it really wasn’t our design. It was a gift from God. It gave us insight into two countries that have peace treaties with Israel. In a region that has been plagued with Christian genocide, [it was astonishing] that God would allow such open doors.”