World Council of Churches - Feature
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immediate release - 19/05/2008 10:15:17 AM
IN DUBAI CHRISTIANS PRAY SIDE BY SIDE BUT NOT ALWAYS TOGETHER
By Annegret Kapp (*)
Free photos available, see below
On Fridays, the Holy Trinity church compound in Dubai is abuzz with
wor****pers from early morning till after nightfall. Some 10 - 11 thousand
members of more than 120 different Christian groups and congregations come
here on the Emirates' weekly day of rest.
Services in more than a dozen tongues - including English and Arabic, but
most of them South Asian such as Urdu, Tagalog, Tamil or Malayam - fill
not
only the main church from 6 am to 11 pm but the 25 other halls built
around
a central courtyard adorned with a Canterbury cross.
A vibrant church life may not be the first thing that comes to mind when
thinking about the Gulf region, which is primarily Muslim. But in a way,
the
3-4 million Christians in the region, almost all of whom came in search of
work from around the globe, present a microcosm of Christianity and the
challenges of church unity.
At the Holy Trinity compound the Christian testimony is one of diversity
in
wor****p, from the solemnity of song to happy clapping. As one services
ends,
wor****ppers quickly rearrange what was a sober Protestant wor****p facility
into an Orthodox sanctuary with icons and incense. Glory to God is
proclaimed throughout the day in a variety of liturgies.
In Dubai, as throughout the United Arab Emirates, Christians are free to
practice their faith, but only within the limits of their church compounds
or in the privacy of their homes. The foundation stone of Holy Trinity
Church was laid in 1969 by Sheikh Ra****d bin Said Al Maktoum, then ruler
of
Dubai, who had graciously granted the land to the Christians living in his
sheikdom.
A chaplain was appointed to care for the spiritual welfare of the
expatriate
Christians living in Dubai, Sharjah and the northern Trucial States, as
the
state entity which preceded the UAE was called. The following year, Holy
Trinity was dedicated as an inter-denominational church building.
The Chaplaincy of Dubai and Sharjah has strong ties to the Anglican
tradition. But it also lives up to its inter-denominational vocation and
"the Anglican emphasis on hospitality", as the current chaplain Rev. John
Weir underlines, by accommodating more than a hundred congregations of
other
traditions in the Holy Trinity compound - be they Evangelical, Pentecostal
or Orthodox.
The challenge of Christian unity
The intimate coexistence in which churches of all stripes and colours find
themselves in the Emirates is both a challenge and a chance to develop a
deeper sense of belonging to one e***enical community. "So far, the first
thing churches build when they are allotted territory in a new church
compound often is a wall separating their plot from the neighbour
congregations," said Rev. Rolf Pearson, who used to work in the UAE as
Gulf
liaison officer for the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC).
"It is sad that churches [in compounds jointly granted to several
denominations] are often built facing away from one another," acknowledged
Weir, the Anglican chaplain, "when in fact, each church could encourage
the
other." He added that, in the planning meetings for the next compound to
be
built, he would like to work with the other church leaders involved to
find
a more e***enically oriented approach.
Since Christians are such a small minority in the country, the Emirate
society sees them as one community. "We need a dialogue among Christians
in
the Gulf on what it means to be the church here," Catherine Graham, a
committed volunteer with both the Anglican congregation and the Mission to
Seafarers in Dubai, said at a meeting in April between a delegation from
the
World Council of Churches (WCC) and Christians from several Gulf
countries.
One area in which churches can do good work together is their care for the
needs of migrant workers. That this can earn them appreciation and sup****t
from the mainstream society has been proven by the case of the Mission to
Seafarers.
The charity, which is part of an international Christian organization
caring
for seafarers of any race or religion in over 300 ****ts around the world,
was able to raise the necessary 3,650,000 dirhams (some 99,000 U.S.
dollars
or 64,000 euros) to built a boat for outreach to the crews of vessels
lying
off Dubai's busy ****t.
During its first year of service, the "Flying Angel" has provided 3,000
seafarers with the services and counsel of a paramedic and a chaplain. An
onboard internet café allows the sailors, who often have no other contact
with their families for weeks or months, to get in touch with their loved
ones. Much funding came from Muslim Emirates who saw the need for such a
service and the capacity of the Christian charity with its long experience
in the Gulf to deliver it.
The service of the Mission to Seafarers is a perfect example of the
biblical
mandate for Christians to seek the welfare of the city where God has sent
them which the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia evoked in a
<http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=5785>
sermon at Holy Trinity church during
the
visit in Dubai: " We must learn to welcome the stranger, every stranger,
in
a spirit of love and solidarity; to open up our relation****ps so that we
may
move from being strangers to being neighbours".
The churches in the Gulf may still have some way to go in order to fully
live up to the particular challenges of their situation. But the
e***enical
encounters witnessed by the WCC delegation bore evidence of a heartening
enthusiasm and the readiness to pull their forces together. The very
morning
the WCC delegation left Dubai, the local e***enical group who had prepared
the visit met to set up task groups for a better coordination of their
activities. A first fruit of their efforts will be a training programme
for
volunteers in a Christian charity in Oman in autumn.
[971 words]
(*) Annegret Kapp, WCC web editor, is a member of the Evangelical Church
in
Württemberg, Germany.
Photo gallery of the WCC delegation's Middle East visit:
<http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/photo-galleries/middle-east-visit-2008.htm
l>
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/photo-galleries/middle-east-visit-2008.html
Free high resolution photos available upon request.
Members of the WCC delegation to the United Arab Emirates:
** Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, WCC general secretary
** Mr Guirguis Saleh, MECC, general secretary
** Dr Prawate Khid-Arn, Christian Conference of Asia, general secretary
** Ms Doris Peschke, Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe, general
secretary
** Mr William Gois, Migrant Forum Asia, regional coordinator
** Rev. Rolf Pearson, MECC Gulf liaison officer, 1997-2007; Church of
Sweden
** Ms Carla Khijoyan, WCC Middle East desk
### SIDE BAR ###
Christianity in the Gulf - facts and figures
An estimated three to four million Christians live in Kuwait, Qatar, the
United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Omar and Saudi Arabia today. While many
Arab
countries have historic Christian minorities, the Christian presence in
the
Gulf is a very recent phenomenon, closely linked to these countries
enormous
need for foreign labour. In fact, prior to some missionaries arriving from
North America at the beginning of the 19th century, for an entire
millennium, there is practically no historic record of Christians in the
region, even though Christian traders from India were probably present
there
before.
According to tradition, Christianity was brought to Arabia by the apostle
Bartholomew. Archaeological finds and records in ancient church annals
indicate a widespread Christian presence on the whole Arabian Peninsula in
pre-Islamic times, that was eventually supplanted by the dominant new
faith.
Since the sudden increase in oil revenues starting in 1973 rapidly turned
the oil-ex****ting sparsely populated dessert nations into the richest
countries of the Middle East, millions of workers from abroad have met the
demand of their booming economies. The migrants today vastly outnumber
some
local populations. The most extreme example are the UAE, where just about
a
fifth of all residents are nationals according to the 2005 census.
Though many immigrants to the Gulf are Muslims themselves, the influx of
mainly South Asian workers has significantly increased the religious
diversity in the region. Regarding the UAE for instance, the U.S. state
department's International Religious Freedom Re****t 2007 indicates that
Christians officially account for nine percent of the total population,
while Hindus are estimated to make up 15 percent, Buddhists 5 percent, and
5
percent are said to belong to other religious groups, including Parsi,
Bahá'í, and Sikh.
Only Kuwait and Bahrain have small Christian communities with a national
identity and all Gulf states are governed by Islamic law. However, laws
concerning the practice of religion vary from country to country.
In the UAE, the constitution guarantees freedom of religion in accordance
with established customs, and Christians can indeed practice their
religion
freely within designated church compounds. Land an permission to build
such
compounds are granted by the local ruler in each emirate.
Because an orthodox interpretation of Islam considers Christians to be
"people of the book" (monotheists practicing an Abrahamic religion),
facilities for Christian congregations are far greater in number and size
than those for other non-Muslim communities, despite the fact that
Christians are estimated to represent less than a quarter of the UAE's
non-Muslim population. Even so, the continuing influx of Christian
migrants,
combined with a building boom i.e. in the thriving metropolis Dubai make
the
provision of sufficient wor****p spaces a continuous concern.
Some churches enjoy particularly good relations with the indigenous
society
and local rulers. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, due to the emirates'
historic
ties to Britain, and Indian Orthodox, who have been a backbone of
development in the Gulf, have managed to build trust over the years. So
has
the Reformed Church in America, whose missionaries had provided medical
care
and education in the region long before oil was found. Church compounds in
the UAE are usually run by these mainline churches, but also accommodate
less established Christian groups.
Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC policy.
This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to the
author.
Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
<mailto:media@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> media@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness
and
service for a just and peaceful world. An e***enical fellow****p of
churches
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 347 Protestant, Orthodox,
Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians
in
over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church.
The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist
Church
in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
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