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About William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce was only twenty-eight years old when he wrote the following: 鈥淕od Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.鈥� Forty-six years later and three days before his death in1833, the bill for the abolition of slavery was passed in the House of Commons in England. 

A man steeped in character, Wilberforce was a Christian abolitionist and reformer in the 1800s whose deep allegiance to God was the 鈥済rand governing maxim in all of life.鈥� Wilberforce was driven by an uncompromising commitment to Christ and his desire to see "the supremacy of God's glory in all things." Because of this, he persevered through seemingly insurmountable odds at the risk of losing wealth and reputation.

Wilberforce had:

• A deep sense of calling that grew into the conviction that he was to exercise his spiritual purpose in the realm of secular responsibility.
• A strong commitment to community, surrounding himself by a small group of like-minded individuals, known as the 鈥淐lapham Sect," who were devoted to working together. 
• A firm belief in the power of ideas and morality to change culture through a campaign of sustained public persuasion.
• A grasp on the cost for courageous public stands and persistence in pursuing one's life鈥檚 tasks.
• An understanding of strategic partnerships for the common good, irrespective of differences over methods, ideology, or religious belief.

This is the sort of individual the Wilberforce Scholarship Program seeks to raise up鈥攎en and women committed to Christ, to each other, and to their communities鈥攆or whom the spread of the gospel and the realization of biblical justice far outweigh any hardship they might endure. 

Source:
Character Counts: Leadership Qualities in Washington, Wilberforce, Lincoln, and Solzhenitsyn, edited by Os Guinness (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999)