The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has appointed Advocate Botrus Mansour as its new secretary general and chief executive officer, making him the first Arab Christian to head the global body.
Mansour, an Arab-Israeli of Palestinian heritage from Nazareth, will formally assume the role during the WEA’s General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, from 27–31 October 2025. The gathering will be the first since 2019.
His appointment follows a six-month international search. Mansour was chosen by majority vote of the WEA’s International Council. The Alliance has been without a permanent Secretary General since March 2023, when Thomas Schirrmacher stepped down for health reasons.
Council Chair Dr Goodwill Shana described the process as “a journey marked by diligence, transparency, and prayer,” and said Mansour would bring “servant leadership and strengthen collaborative efforts” across the global evangelical movement.
Mansour said he was “deeply humbled” to take on the role, acknowledging the responsibility of uniting evangelicals worldwide. “With God’s grace, I will work relentlessly with others to remove any obstacles that may seek to hinder our unity,” he said. “I will be reaching out to my brothers and sisters around the world so that together we may rally behind the vision, ‘The Gospel for Everyone by 2033.’ ”
Born in Nazareth in 1965, Mansour studied law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and later earned an MBA in nonprofit management. Alongside his legal and academic work, he has served in senior leadership roles within the evangelical community, including chairing the Convention of Evangelical Churches in Israel and co-chairing the Lausanne Initiative for Reconciliation in Israel-Palestine.
The WEA represents more than 600 million evangelicals across 148 countries and has worked for nearly 180 years to unite evangelicals for mission and advocacy.
