Algerian and Christian

CONTENTS

Preface xvii
Foreword xix

Introduction 1

1 Methodology and Key Findings 7

2 Transformed by Liberating Liminality 19

3 Kabyle Identity, Algérienneté, and the Algerian Church 29

4 Islam, Muslims, and the Algerian Church 39

5 State Education, and the Algerian Church 55

6 A Liminal Pedagogy for the Algerian Church 73

7 Augustine, a Model Liberated Liminal 89

Conclusion 99

Appendices
A Timeline of Christianity and Algerian History 103
B Glossary of Acronyms 111

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Pat Brittenden (DPhil, Oxon) is a teacher, researcher and writer. Raised in North Africa and now based in Cambridge, UK, he works predominantly with Christians from Muslim backgrounds around the world. He teaches in a range of seminaries and serves as an associate lecturer at the Institut
Chrétien d’Algérie. Pat also leads the Hikma Partnership, a network supporting believers of Muslim heritage through research, writing, and publishing. His journey has taken him through classrooms, development work, and cross-cultural ministry — all shaped by a deep love for the global church. He’s married to Kitty and dad to Naama and Nate.

Algerian and Christian is a missiological gem, not simply for introducing the global church to the little-known Algerian church, which the Spirit of God resurrected after almost eight hundred years of extinction, but also for laying out Dr Patrick Brittenden’s forward-looking vision for its spiritual formation, theological training, and equipping for mission. From a PhD dissertation this
became a much shorter and captivating book, though still retaining some of the social science theory that underpins his central insight, liminality, or the experience of being caught between different identities, like Algerian Christians struggling to navigate their own culture steeped in Islam while beginning to relate to the church universal. Or caught between the East (the Islamic Middle
East) and the West (contacts with churches in the West). Yet through the many quotes and distillation of hundreds of interviews with church leaders between 2012 and 2016 and many illustrations in the course of explaining his pedagogical philosophy, Brittenden’s book brings to life the challenges and amazing opportunities set before these new disciples of Jesus in their particular context.
Dr David L Johnston, Adjunct Lecturer, Fuller Theological Seminary; author, Muslims and Christians Debate Justice and Love; blog at humantrustees.org.

I strongly and wholeheartedly endorse this outstanding book, which offers a groundbreaking exploration of the challenges and opportunities faced by MBB communities in Algeria. Through its detailed analysis of identity formation, theological grounding, and the development of stable church structures, this book provides essential guidance for anyone seeking to support and strengthen
these churches.
With its well-researched insights and practical strategies, this book equips readers to navigate the complexities of culture, religion, and education while fostering vibrant, sustainable Christian communities. It is not just a study; it is a roadmap for the future of MBB movements in Algeria and beyond. This book is a must-read for scholars, practitioners, church leaders, and all those passionate
about advancing the Gospel in the most challenging contexts.
Bishop Dr Yassir Eric, Anglican Bishop and Theologian, dedicated to ministering to Muslim-background believers (MBBs) globally. Founding member of Communio Messianic (CM), Founder of EKKIOS, Professor at the Academy of World Mission at Columbia International University in Germany, and Director of the European Institute for Migration, Integration, and Islam (EIMI).

I’m particularly pleased and proud to endorse and support the immense work of my dear brother and friend Patrick Brittenden. His contribution goes far beyond the very deep and serious research of his book. I can testify that, along with his dear father Gerry Brittenden, he has shown a steadfast love for Algeria and its people over five decades, and beyond that, for all North Africans. Thank you Dear Pat for your work and your love for my people.
Nabil Rahal, helper and servant to Algeria’s beloved

Pat Brittenden's Algerian and Christian masterfully unveils the liminal journey of the Algerian Church – a story of faith flourishing at the margins of culture, history, and identity. With keen insight, Brittenden captures the tension and beauty of a movement redefining both Christianity and Algérienneté. His exploration of liminality as a lens for theological formation is both timely and transformative, offering a profound contribution to global missiology. This book is a treasure trove for those seeking to understand how the gospel takes root and thrives in unlikely soil. Essential reading for missiologists, practitioners, and anyone with a heart for movements to Christ.
Dr Warrick Farah, editor of Motus Dei (2021)
and co-editor of Margins of Islam (2018)

Dr Patrick Brittenden, is not an outsider to what has been taking place in Algeria, especially in the Kabyle area since the late 1980s. It is a remarkable story of a revival in Algeria. God chose the weak to confront the strong. Dr Patrick in an insider and he knows what he is writing about. He has lived in Algeria, befriended many Algerian believers, teaching, equipping and training them till today. We the Algerian church leaders, have failed to mobilize the church to the task of missions, and to fulfil the great commission. This book will help each us to be better equipped. It is a roadmap for us as the Algerian church. I would like to recommend the Algerian and Christian book with all my heart.
Rev Youssef Ourahmane, Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) Vice President

It is more than 40 years since an Algerian BMB handed me his initial research material on the history of the Algerian Church and begged me to develop it into a book. ‘This is important not only for the emerging North African Church, but also for world-wide mission,’ he insisted. Little did I know that, in His ‘sovereign work in the history of Algeria’, God was already preparing an ‘adopted son of Algeria’ to do the work which I would never do. I am delighted that Pat Brittenden’s careful study and reflection is now to be published, and trust that it has its place in God’s sovereign plans not only in North Africa, but also around the world.
Dr Ida Glaser, International Academic Coordinator and
Founding Fellow of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, author

Dr Patrick JS Brittenden’s Algerian and Christian is a groundbreaking and thought-provoking examination of the Algerian Church’s uniqueness, identity, and theological challenges. With profound cultural understanding and scholarly rigor, Dr Brittenden addresses critical questions of identity, faith, and discipleship in a context shaped by its ancient Christian heritage and contemporary realities. This book is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand or contribute to the mission of the North African Church.
MK Sheriff Daniel, founder, Mesha India (Trust), Partnership Director (South Asia), Partners International, Executive Member, India Missions Association

As much a reminder of what Christianity was like in the first centuries in North Africa, it is also a tool that realistically addresses the challenges and opportunities of the Algerian Church today. Pat Brittenden’s remarkable journey challenges us both on a personal level, linked to his childhood in Algeria as much as to his academic training which led him to studying the situation of MBBs in his adopted country in such depth.
Dr Brittenden has successfully addressed a subject that is as sensitive as it is fascinating. To navigate between cultures and ethnic sensitivities and draw out what could become a road map for Algerian Christian leaders. The author does not avoid challenging and provocative questions but very gracefully offers concrete solutions to such delicate questions. This book might also be a source of inspiration for other Christian communities in the region who share the same challenges. This work, which I recommend without reservation, will captivate nonexperts as well as those who already have some understanding of the reality of the Algerian Church.
J Chabouh, IFES Regional Manager for the Middle East
and North Africa, author

Patrick Brittenden’s doctoral research broke new ground in several ways, and I am delighted that a wider audience can now benefit from it through this concise Hikma publication. Dr Brittenden highlights the remarkable rebirth and growth of the Algerian church in recent decades, but without triumphalism. Christ’s followers of Muslim background worldwide search for identity at the individual and corporate level, and Patrick is right to identify liminality as a key lens to understand this longing. He combines this sociological perspective with theological and historical insights and with his own empathetic stance as son of Algerian soil, to bring us a book which is both warmly written and academically penetrating.
Dr Tim Green, director of Word of Life which serves with
Christ’s followers of Muslim background worldwide

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to hear authentic voices of the Church in North Africa. Patrick Brittenden gives us a rare look into the past, present, and future of what it means to be a Christian in Algeria.
David Garrison, PhD, author of A Wind in the House of Islam