In 1997, efforts began to mobilize Christian lawyers internationally to protect the rights of believers to worship and share the message of Jesus Christ without fear of persecution or discrimination in Europe. Jay Alan Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law along with Thomas Patrick Monaghan, Senior Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, decided the time was right to implement an international legal strategy.

That vision was shared with religious leaders and attorneys throughout Europe. There was a chorus of agreement that the protection of fundamental human rights and religious freedoms were issues of pre-eminent importance for people of faith. With renowned international human rights attorneys, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), a non-profit law firm dedicated to the protection and defence of religious freedom in Europe, was established.

The ECLJ opened its official headquarters in Strasbourg, France on July 2, 1998. In August, 1998, it opened offices in Moscow, the Slavic Centre for Law and Justice (SCLJ) which is operated by a full time staff of religious rights attorneys. The ECLJ has brought together the most outstanding collection of religious liberties attorneys in Europe. Its vision is the mobilization of the most skilled Christian lawyers of Europe defending the rights of believers to worship and share their faith without fear of discrimination or persecution. Thus, the ECLJ was born to safeguard and protect human rights and religious freedoms for people of faith in Europe.

With the advent and expansion of the Council of Europe, religious freedoms in Europe are now guaranteed under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. These rights include the fundamental right to freedom of worship and religious expression without discrimination or persecution. From its Strasbourg offices ECLJ coordinates and supervises Christian attorneys throughout Europe defending the rights of believers to evangelize, worship, and live as Christians without fear of persecution or discrimination.