[RC] Tolerance for Christianity in Persian Gulf States -small numbers but growing

[BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community]

Christianity Today
 
 
 
Why Christianity Is Surging in the Heart of Islam
Medical missions and  market dynamics lead to millions of believers in the 
Arabian  Peninsula.
 
Jayson  Casper in the United Arab Emirates/ September 11, 2015


 
 
Sam Espada led friends in a chorus of “Happy Birthday” for his  
sombrero-wearing brother at a Mexican restaurant. After dinner, they saw the  
latest 
Hollywood blockbuster.  
The five-story mall could have been anywhere in America, except  that every 
storefront sign was in Arabic as well as English. The group was in  Abu 
Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 
“This place is like Disneyland,” said Espada, a Christian from New  
Jersey. “But I don’t feel fully free. You can definitely tell you are living in 
 
a Muslim country.” 
Espada, an architect, is one of the millions of foreign workers  
transforming the former desert oasis into a global center for business and  
travel. 
The UAE’s Dubai is the fifth-fastest-growing city in the world; its  
population is now more than 80 percent migrant. 
The great majority of migrant workers in the region come from  India and 
Southeast Asia, sometimes suffering exploitation in labor camps to  send a 
collective $100 billion back home. As an American, Espada is unusual. 
But as a Christian, he is not. Today the Pew Research Center _numbers_ 
(http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projection-table/2010/number/all/)
 
  Christians in the Arabian Peninsula at 2.3 million—more Christians than 
nearly  100 countries can claim. The Gulf Christian Fellowship, an umbrella 
group,  estimates 3.5 million. 
These migrants bring the UAE’s Christian population to 13 percent,  
according to Pew. Among other Gulf states, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar are each  
about 14 percent Christian, while Oman is about 6 percent. Even Saudi Arabia,  
home to Islam’s holiest cities (Mecca and Medina), is 4 percent Christian 
when  migrants are counted. 
Together, they represent the largest Christian community in the  Middle 
East outside of Egypt. But their experiences vary considerably. 
In Bahrain and Kuwait, Muslims can enter church compounds. In  Qatar, 
guards allow only foreigners. Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti (the nation’s  highest 
official of religious law) has called for all churches in the peninsula  to 
be destroyed. 
Surprising to many observers is how many of these churches there  are. 
“We don’t really face persecution; we face misunderstanding,” said  Bill 
Schwartz, formerly with YWAM, now the Qatar-based priest responsible for  the 
Anglican Church’s work in the Arabian Gulf. “But we are building churches 
in  every country except Saudi Arabia, and have good relationships with all  
governments.” 
At least 17 Gulf cities provide land for more than 40 church  buildings. 
Through them, the Bible Society in the Gulf legally distributed  41,000 
Bibles, 10,000 New Testaments, and 115,000 pieces of Christian literature  in 
2013. “It shows the Christian community is here to stay,” said general  
secretary Hrayr Jebejian. 
“People in the West measure religious freedom exclusively by the  freedom 
of Muslims to convert,” said Schwartz, but he believes this view is too  
narrow. He grants that restrictions exist, and believes Islam at best  
“tolerates
” non-Muslims. But the general freedom that Christians have to worship  in 
much of the Arabian Peninsula issues from the Muslim faith and should be  
appreciated, he said. 
Thanks also to global capitalism, that freedom is not going  away. 
In 2007, Schwartz’s church construction project in Doha, the  capital of 
Qatar, missed a deadline to break ground. When he requested an  extension, 
every official involved reassured him: “We won’t take this land back.  There 
is too much invested in our public image.” 
It is an image local Christian leaders are eager to promote.  “Emiratis are 
not extremists. They are tolerant and want to live in the world in  peace,” 
said Jim Burgess, pastor of Fellowship of the Emirates, whose  2,500-strong 
congregation meets in the luxurious Gloria Hotel in Dubai. “We want  the 
government to know we appreciate this and want their attitude spread in the  
Arab world.” 
His church participates in Easter services publicly on the beach.  Last 
year, 39 expatriates were baptized in Gulf waters. And during this year’s  
celebration of the end of Ramadan, the ruling sheikh received Burgess and other 
 
local Christian leaders ahead of hundreds of prominent Emiratis jockeying 
in  line for position. 
“This was a message for those gathered,” Burgess said. “We believe  God is 
answering prayer. We really need to get the message out that there are  
opportunities here that haven’t existed for 1,400 years.” 
A quarter of Burgess’s fellowship identifies as non-Christian.  Sixty 
percent had not attended church in years. Many are surprised by the  
opportunities to share their faith, even with Muslims, if done within a strong  
relationship. 
“I never had more opportunities to preach the gospel end-to-end  than I had 
here,” said Wael Qahoush, a Palestinian-American banking executive  and 
deacon at Evangelical Community Church of Abu Dhabi (ECC). “I was  
apprehensive, always trying to hide my identity, and everyone wanted to ask me  
about 
Christianity.” 
Like other churches worshiping in theaters or private residences,  Burgess’
s fellowship operates in legal limbo. But that Gulf churches exist at  all 
stems from relationships, not economics or law. 
In 1960, before the oil boom that propelled the region to immense  wealth, 
missionaries with TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) were invited  by 
tribal sheikhs to start a hospital in what is now the UAE after TEAM’s  
medical work in Kuwait and Bahrain attracted their attention. Half of local  
children and 35 percent of mothers were dying during childbirth. 
In gratitude, the sheikhs allowed Oasis Hospital to operate a  church. 
Today the Gospel of Luke and a copy of the Jesus film are available in  patient 
rooms. Many royal family members were born in the hospital. In 2012, one  
paid for the national theater to host apologist Ravi Zacharias. 
“God has shown this country the blessing of religious freedom,  because of 
the kindness shown back then,” said Carol Rubish, a TEAM nurse. 
But full religious freedom has not been extended to most Gulf  citizens. 
The UAE barely made Open Door’s latest list of the 50 nations where it  is 
hardest to be a Christian—but it still ranks at No. 49. Qatar is No. 18, and  
Saudi Arabia is No. 12. The US State Department notes restrictions in all 
Gulf  nations, but officially designates only Saudi Arabia as a “country of 
particular  concern.” 
Rather than complain and lobby for international advocacy,  Christians work 
quietly within both social and market constraints. “God is in  control of 
Qatar and the Gulf,” said Schwartz. “And we will work with him  here.” 
Andrew Thompson, head of St. Andrew’s Church in Abu Dhabi, has  forged 
strong links with local officials. The greater challenge is sharing his  
facility with other churches. On a weekly basis, the Anglican compound hosts  
10,000 worshipers in 45 congregations, representing 17 languages. Space is  
scarce, and this occasionally results in bad behavior from Christian leaders  
seeking optimal meeting times. 
But on behalf of his international migrant community, much of  which is 
illiterate, Thompson has partnered with the Ministry of Labor and New  York 
University–Abu Dhabi to translate labor laws for a mobile audio app. “Some  
say there should be a prophetic voice,” he said. “We want to be prophetic  
hands.” 
Strong relations with the UAE’s royal family have also led to  their 
endorsement of Thompson’s book, Jesus of Arabia, translating the  message of 
the 
gospel into the culture of the peninsula. Complete with an  appendix tackling 
Islamic perceptions of Christianity, it is a bestseller in the  UAE. 
“We rub shoulders with people from all over the world, so it is a  dynamic 
place for kingdom impact,” said ECC pastor Cameron Arneson, who led the  UAE’
s Council of Evangelical Churches for nearly 25 years. 
The council’s current leader, John Fulmar, agrees. “The confluence  of 
peoples and cultures provides great evangelism opportunities,” said the  pastor 
of United Christian Church of Dubai. “What I want is to have people move  
here and live openly as Christians living among the  nations."

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