http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/04/09/christians-face-shortage-of-churches-in-kuwait-easter-celebrated-around-the-country/
Christians face shortage of churches in Kuwait – Easter celebrated around the country Traditional Easter Sunday Service at the National Evangelical Church compound KUWAIT: The places of worship for both Evangelical and Catholic denominations teem with faithful, come Easter and Christmas time. Yesterday’s celebrations showed that there is a dearth in places of worship for the faithful. Both religious denominations had earlier appealed for additional land to construct new churches. Recently, there have been moves from new members of the parliament to block attempts to build new churches in Kuwait. A Kuwaiti parliamentarian has reportedly submitted a draft law banning the construction of churches and non-Islamic places of worship in Kuwait. Kuwaiti MP Osama Al-Munawer announced on Twitter that he planned to submit a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in the country. However, he later clarified that existing churches should remain, but the construction of new non-Islamic places of worship should be banned. In an earlier interview with the Kuwait Times, Catholic Bishop Camillo Ballin, noted that with the number of Catholics, estimated at 350,000 out of 500,000 Christians, [Evanglicals, Anglicans, Coptic and Orthodox] he said the Catholic church needs new land to construct a new church. “Our numbers are very large, and the present premises is not enough to accommodate all. In case of panic, there will be hundreds dead in a stampede,” he noted. “We want only to pray,” he told the Kuwait Times. Christians all over Kuwait thronged churches from morning till evening yesterday to celebrate Easter. The tradition of Easter is celebrated in different ways across various Christian congregations around the world. In Kuwait, the Lighthouse Church at the National Evangelical Church in Kuwait City, celebrated early morning service from 4:30 am till 6am. The Easter Sunday Service at the Lighthouse Church was an annual event where Christians gather to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, three days after his death. At the Evangelical Church, Easter Sunrise Service has been a tradition where Christians celebrate through joyful songs, dancing and playing musical instruments to express their jubilation over Christ’s resurrection. In the Philippines, for example, Easter is celebrated in many different ways. There is a ‘Salubong,’ an early church visit where an image of a Christ with Mary-the mother of Jesus is paraded across town and villages. In some East European countries, the tradition is to attend church with a bag of painted eggs and to engage in egg-fights. In the US, the Easter Bunny is one of the most waited characters. Children wait impatiently for an Easter egg hunt when they stroll around the neighborhood in the search of hidden eggs. In Kuwait, Evangelical church shared Easter eggs, some sandwiches to worshippers right after services. Rev Warren Reeve, the new Senior Pastor at the National Evangelical Church led the congregation in the joyful celebration. Reeve’s message was simultaneously translated into Arabic by Pastor Nabil Attallah. He said, Christians all over the world should arise and be proud that they belong to the winning team. “Jesus rose from death; the fact that Jesus defeated death; and Jesus conquered death; we are in the winning team,” he said. He made note of statistical data which cited the growing number of Christians across the globe, from one in every 350 people in 100 AD to one in every six people in 2012. By Ben Garcia, Staff Writer [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
