Protestants are a religious minority in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. Figures in 2020 suggest that Protestants make up 0.03% of the country's population (or one in 10 Christians). The

Protestant Church of Algeria The Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA ) is a federation of Protestant churches from the Reformed and Methodist traditions established in 1972 in Algeria. It is officially recognised by the government of Algeria as the Association of the Protestant ...

, a

Reformed Church Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian, ...

, likely has tens of thousands of followers.
The Protestant Church of Algeria is one of only two officially recognized Christian organizations in the country. The Ministry of Religious Affairs (Algeria), Minister of Religious Affairs has called the evangelical Church "dangerous". Missionary groups are permitted to conduct humanitarian activities without government interference as long as they are discreet and do not

proselytize Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Carrying out attempts to instill beliefs can be called proselytization. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between Chris ...

openly. Algerian Christians are concentrated in

Kabylie Kabylia or Kabylie (; in Kabyle language, Kabyle: Tamurt n leqbayel; in Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ ⵏ ⵍⴻⵇⴱⴰⵢⴻⵍ; ), meaning "Land of the Tribes" is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kaby ...

. Since, 2006 proselytizing to

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s can be punished with up to five years of prison. Since November 2017, 17 churches, members of the Protestant Church of Algeria, have been closed by the Algerian authorities, who justify these closures by a lack of authorisation from the National Commission for the exercise of non-Muslim worship.République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire, �
DZA 15.03.2021 (5.2020)
», 22 janvier 2021 (consulted on 22-03-2022)République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire, �
HRC/NONE/2021/SP/6
», 12 janvier 2021 (consulted the 22-03-2022) According to the Protestant Church of Algeria, this Commission has always refused to grant any authorisation to evangelical Protestant communities. The Church of the Full Gospel in Tizi Ouzou, which is described as the largest Algerian Protestant church was closed by police in 2019; US State Dept 2022 report
/ref> in March 2023, a court sentenced the president of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), Pastor Salaheddine Chalah, to 18 months in prison for proselytizing on social media, although this was later reduced to non-custodial sentence. Algeria is included in the

episcopal area An episcopal area in certain Methodist denominations, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZC) and United Methodist Church (UMC), is a basic unit of this denomination. It is a region presided over by a resident bishop that is ...

of North Africa of the

Anglican Diocese of Egypt The Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria is a province of the Anglican Communion. Its territory was formerly the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa. On 29 June 2020 the diocese was elevated to the status of an eccles ...

, though there is only one current congregation in the country, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. The church mainly serves

sub-Saharan African Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

students from such areas as

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

List of denominations

Denominations in Algeria include''The World Christian Encyclopedia'', Second edition, Volume 1, p. 57 *

* Armée du Salut * Assemblées de Dieu * Eglise Adventiste du Séptieme Jour *

Eglise Evangélique Copte The Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile) (also called the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Egypt, Egyptian: الكنيسة الإنجيلية المشيخية ''El-Kenisa El-Engileyya El-Mashyykhia'') is a Protestant church that start ...

Eglise Protestante d'Algérie The Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA ) is a federation of Protestant churches from the Reformed and Methodist traditions established in 1972 in Algeria. It is officially recognised by the government of Algeria as the Association of the Protestant ...

* Frères Larges * Mission Baptiste Evangélique * Mission Biblique de Ghardaia * Mission d'Afrique du Nord * Mission Evangélique au Sahara * Mission Evangélique de Médéa * Mission Evangélique du Sahara * Mission Rolland

References

{{Africa in topic, Protestantism in

List of denominations

See also

References