The World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF) has led the Commission on Religious Liberty (CRL) for more than a decade. The Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF), also recognizing the need of persecuted Christians around the world, asked the PWF World Missions Commission (WMC) to attend to the concern. In 2016, the World Missions Commission established a Task Force for Religious Liberty.

In 2015, Pastor Max Schläpfer, Chairman of the Commission on Religious Liberty, invited Dr. Arto Hämäläinen, Chairman of the PWF World Missions Commission, to collaborate on such efforts. This led to a proposal to merge the WAGF Commission on Religious Liberty and the PWF World Missions Commission Task Force for Religious Liberty. Both the WAGF and PWF accepted this proposal, and the joint commission was named the Pentecostal Commission on Religious Liberty. Pastor Schläpfer served as its first chairman in 2019, followed by Dr. Hämäläinen, who was elected at the start of 2020.