From our correspondent
What is the experience of workers in the Arab world when it comes to church? Well, it varies from area to area. To give us a bit of a flavour, Louise*, and James* and Amy* share what church on the mission field is like for them.
James and Amy in North Africa write:
Church for us on the field looks like weekly meetings in homes as our ministry team of expatriates. As we come from the West, it is assumed that we are Christians, so we can happily sing hymns in English without any pressure from the authorities. We study the Bible, and most recently we have been going through the book of Acts, which has been so encouraging as we work with the unreached! We listen to YouTube worship songs, sing in Arabic and in English and when we have communion, we all break one freshly baked khobz (a traditional local round bread) and share grape juice. We find it so important to break bread and fellowship together, when we are fewer than 30 Christians in a city of 120,000 people!
It is rare however for us all to meet visibly as a large group with local believers. This is because most of these believers (who are believers from Muslim backgrounds) are in families that have been hostile to Christians in the past. For many of these believers, if their faith in Christ was discovered, they could lose their jobs or be shunned by their families, so we don’t want to draw too much attention to them. We have been meeting in groups with just one local family at a time to minimise this risk.
However, it is so encouraging when we meet with our local brothers and sisters. We have great depth in fellowship, and it is great to be doing this in their heart language! We pray, sing and read the Bible in Arabic, and we encourage each other in how to respond to challenging situations. We encourage locals to share what they have learned with their family and each other, and so encourage the local fellowship by discipling them from behind-the-scenes. We pray for Christ’s Church to be established in this spiritually dry land!
Louise in the Middle East writes:
In my context there are many established churches of a variety of denominations, some that offer services exclusively in Arabic, some in English and some that offer both languages.
When I arrived in the country I attended a large Baptist church that holds its services in Arabic and that had the English translation transmitted to headsets. I really enjoyed getting to
know Arabic worship songs, experiencing church in this context and being able to get involved with the youth work. I also attended a great English Bible study where I found fellowship and prayer support.
During COVID lockdown our services moved online and as this church is so large it took a long time for us to meet again in person. At the same time, more of my work and ministry began to be in Arabic and I began to crave English worship. It was a challenge to engage with my mind, heart and spirit in worship and not to feel like I was in another Arabic class.
So, at the time that many restrictions had lifted, but my original church had not yet opened in person, I decided to try a smaller international community church. This church operates in English and has people from all over the world in attendance. I enjoyed being part of a smaller congregation, being able to worship in English and also being able to serve the church by preaching every now and then. I have now attended this church for a year and a half and continue to appreciate the fellowship and teaching it provides.
*Names have been changed.
