Evangelical Christianity is quietly flourishing among migrant groups in the Gulf as churches provide low-paid workers facing horrific abuse with aid in times of crisis.
About 30 million migrant workers live in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Migrants make up most of the population in some places, with up to 80% employed in construction, hospitality and domestic jobs.
Many, including those from Hindu and Catholic backgrounds, are now converting to evangelicalism and Pentecostalism.
‘Pastor John’, who uses a pseudonym as Gulf governments are suspicious of Christianity and proselytising is often illegal, said his church was helping migrants who faced exploitation, financial hardship, domestic servitude and sexual abuse.
‘Rape is a very, very common problem across the entire domestic help industry,’ he said. ‘And it’s not just women – men come to us because they get raped as well.’
These churches tend to bring in people from ethnic and national groups whose governments are reluctant to take up cases of human-rights violations with wealthy Gulf states for fear they will damage generous aid and trade packages. Instead, they act as their first point of call in a crisis.
‘If you go to the embassy, they will talk to your employer and get the local police involved,’ Pastor John said. ‘That’s a very intimidating situation. In my experience, most of our members who face those challenges are labourers and are very, very vulnerable to abuse.’
In cases of rape, he said, the person would contact the church first, which would then coordinate with the embassy to arrange a way to escape.
‘They have this special rescue team that tells them to get out of the building at a certain time, when the car would be waiting. ‘Obviously, in order for them to be able to trust this process, it needs to be arranged through someone who she actually knows – usually, that’s a church.’
Secrecy around conversions means the exact number of Gulf Christians is unknown, but church leaders and researchers agree there are significant numbers of migrant workers converting in Gulf countries. And while they are expressly forbidden from proselytising to Muslims, some Islamic workers, too, are turning to Christ.
Qatar has over 2million migrant workers who make up about 75% of the population; Google Maps lists scores of evangelical churches there. Yet many choose to remain underground for fear that conditions may change.
At one such house church, which tells only trusted people its location via a WhatsApp dropped pin and a compound door left slightly ajar, they are working overtime. ‘Sister Mary’ explained how they had tried to look after rape victims. ‘If an unmarried woman shows up [pregnant] in hospital, they will look for her marriage contract. If she can’t show anything, she is reported to the police and put in jail – and they’ll take her children.’
Pastor Luke, who has been working in one of the less strict Gulf states since 1991, focuses on converting people from Hinduism: ‘In our church, we’re seeing several people being baptised every month and more people are coming to us than ever before.’
He said people who converted tended to get their lives together – they settled down and got married, had children, and got promotions at work. ‘People come from India and Pakistan to increase the status of their family, but they arrive at the labour camps and they’re so crowded, and there’s so much drinking and smoking,’ he said. ‘No one tells them that they often find more problems here than they left behind.’
