There are approximately 150-200 Kuwaiti Christians among 450-500,000 Christians celebrating Christmas this year. Speaking to the Arab Times, Reverend Amanwil Ghareeb of the Evangelical Church of Kuwait said: “2009 was a very successful year for us. We thank God for the religious freedom we enjoy in Kuwait.”
Reflecting on the Church’s accomplishment of this past year as well as future plans Reverend Ghareeb said that the creation of the Islamic Christian Relations Council is a huge step towards strengthening ties between the Muslims and Christians of Kuwait.
“The Council’s establishment was announced in February 2009 and was an initiative by the National Consensus Movement run by our Shiite brothers. They approached the Church for the purpose of gathering all Muslims, Shiite and Sunni, and all Christians, the Catholics, Protestants and the Orthodox. We agreed on all the by-laws of Council in order to strengthen relations and inter-religious between all the Muslims and Christians of Kuwait in order to cooperate and defend ourselves against any attacks on the two religions in the country and outside,” he said.
On Dec 23 the Council members held a meeting to evaluate the visit that was made on Dec 14-16 to the Vatican in which they met with different councils in the Vatican such as the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Pontifical Council for Arabic and Islamic Studies.
“It was a successful visit. We thank God we were able to introduce ourselves to them and build relations of cooperation. We invited them for a conference which will be held on November 2010 regarding Saint Mary and they promised to participate,” commented Ghareeb.
“We are also planning next year to visit Egypt and meet with Muslim and Christian spiritual authorities such as Al-Azhar’s Sheikh and Mufti as well as Pope Shounuda,” he added.
Apart from Reverend Ghareeb who is the Vice-Chairman of the council, the visiting delegation comprised of the General Secretary of the Council, Zuhair Abdul-Hadi Al-Mahmeed, among other council members. On the final day the delegation visited the Pope in person to secure relations.
According to Reverend Ghareeb, Christianity in Kuwait began in the beginning of last century when American missionaries arrived in Kuwait and built their small hospital after permission was granted by the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah.
“When God blessed Kuwait with oil in the 1940s there was an influx of people migrating to Kuwait to participate in the development of the country, among them Christians of various denominations... today we have about 85 Churches and prayer groups who worship in the Evangelical compound and we estimate the number of worshippers now to be about 20,000 during the week. Everyday there is a service or a prayer,” explained Ghareeb.
Commenting on Christmas celebrations he said that like every year Christians begin decorations at the beginning of the month in their houses and Churches. On Dec 24, Sunday school children present their activities during the celebrations and our choir sings Christmas carols and during mass the story of the birth of Jesus (PBUH) is recalled and lessons are taken from that great event.
“On the morning of Dec 25 we will also receive people in the Church Diwaniya who will be congratulating us on this occasion. As a social activity to strengthen the fellowship among Church members we go for lunch together after the Diwaniya,” he concluded.