EEvangelical Christianity is quietly flourishing among migrant groups in the Gulf as churches provide aid to low-paid workers facing horrific abuses in times of crisis, according to pastors and parishioners in the region.
Around 30 million migrant workers live in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – the muscle turning oil-based economies into glittering 21st century metropolises .
In some Gulf States, migrants make up the majority of the population and around 80% are employed in construction, hospitality and domestic work.
The Guardian surveyed pastors and parishioners at churches in all six Gulf countries and found that migrants, including those from Hindu and Catholic communities, are converting to Pentecostalism, one of the fastest growing religions on Earth with over 600 million followers.
To cope materially and spiritually, many attend Pentecostal churches because they focus on people’s needs here and now – namely health and wealth – as well as the afterlife.
Pastor John, who like everyone interviewed for this article asked to use a pseudonym because Gulf governments distrust Christian movements and proselytizing is often illegal, said his church helps migrants facing exploitation, financial hardship, domestic servitude and sexual abuse.
“Rape is a very, very common problem throughout the domestic help industry,” the pastor said. “And it’s not just women – men come to us because they’re getting raped too.”
Pentecostal churches tend to bring in people from ethnic and national groups whose governments are reluctant to take up cases of human rights abuses with wealthy Gulf states for fear they will damage generous government programs. aid and trade.
Instead, spirit-led churches like this have become de facto labor unions for migrant workers, often acting as their first point of call in times of crisis.
“If you go to the embassy, they will talk to your employer and get the local police involved,” the pastor said. “It’s a very intimidating situation for a normal person. In my experience, most brothers who face these challenges are laborers and they are very, very vulnerable to abuse.
In the event of a rape, the pastor said, the person would first contact the church, which would then coordinate with the embassy to find a way to escape.
“They have this special rescue team that communicates to get out of the building at a certain time and the car would be waiting for them,” the pastor said. “Obviously, for her to be able to trust this process, it has to be arranged by someone she actually knows – usually it’s a church.”
Due to the secrecy surrounding conversion in the Gulf, it is impossible to determine the exact number of Christians in the region, but church leaders and scholars agree that there are significant numbers of migrant workers converting in the Gulf States. Although they are expressly prohibited from proselytizing to Muslims, it is understood that some Islamic workers choose to be ‘born again’.
In Qatar, home to 2.1 million migrant workers who make up around 75% of the population, Google Maps lists dozens of Pentecostal churches. Yet, as in other Gulf countries, many churches choose to remain as underground “house” churches for fear that conditions will change.
In one such house church, which only gives its location to trusted people via a WhatsApp pin and an enclosure door left slightly ajar, the fellowship is working overtime. On a hot Friday morning, a network of female apostles shared how they had tried to deal with rape victims.
“If a single woman comes [pregnant] in the hospital, they will look for his marriage contract. If she can’t show anything, she’s reported to the police and put in jail – and they’ll take her children away,” said one of the group’s leaders, who asked to be called Sister Mary.
“Let’s just say that some churches helped hide children from the police. The pastor’s wife will take care of them and she will try to get out while her belly is still small. But you can’t hide the kids for long.
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For some, conversion to this fundamentalist form of Christianity marks their arrival as global citizens and leads them to look back on their past. Pastor Luke, who has worked in one of the Gulf’s less strict states since 1991, focuses on converting people from Hinduism.
“In our church we see several people taking water baptisms each month and certainly more people are coming here than ever before,” he said.
Referring to followers of his former religion as ‘idol worshippers’, he said people who convert tend to pull themselves together – they settle down and get married, have children and get promotions at work.
“People come from India and Pakistan to improve the status of their families, but they come to the labor camps and they are so overcrowded, and there is so much alcohol and tobacco,” he said. said.
“Nobody tells them that when they get here they often find more trouble than they left.”
theguardian Gt