Saudi Arabia: Churches few but growing in the birthplace of Islam

Source:                         www.MNNonline.org

Date:                             July 23, 2024

By Katie O'Malley

Saudi Arabia (MNN) — As relations between countries and militant groups in the Middle East grow daily more complex, a faithful church remains and increases by God’s grace in Saudi Arabia. 

“Saudi Arabia’s rate of Christian growth is about 65% greater than the global average,” says Bruce Allen with FMI, citing statistics from Joshua Project. “Just because we hear that a government is closed to the gospel doesn’t mean the hearts of the people are.”

Saudi Arabia’s government is an Islamic absolute monarchy. As you might expect, that puts believers in challenging positions. Allen says, “If you’re born in Saudi Arabia to a Muslim father, by law, you are deemed Muslim. Obviously, [an] overwhelming majority [of] citizens are Muslim. Any non-Muslim must practice their religion in secret — underground, so to speak — and they’re vulnerable to discrimination and arrest.”

FMI steps right into this window of opportunity and opposition in which local church leaders live. 

“We know there are shepherds of small, underground, scattered fellowships of Christ followers. [We want to] come alongside of them, and empower them for their crucial work in such a strategic place as the birthplace of Islam,” Allen says. 

A team from FMI will be going for the third time to Saudi Arabia this year. Pray for fruitful connections with local church leaders.

“It’s a hard place. Pray that their faith would grow, and that they can bless their countrymen in Jesus’s name, and that more people would respond,” Allen says. “We see the work of the Holy Spirit occurring in this place.”

Three Christian girls share a single Bible while attending a church service held in a private Saudi Arabia home. It is customary to remove shoes for these gatherings. (Photo, caption courtesy of FMI.)

Pray also for the foreign workers living in Saudi Arabia. 

“About 30% of Saudi Arabia’s population are not Saudi. They come from other countries to work in Saudi Arabia. Pray that the Christians among those foreigners would have opportunities and courage for creative and clear gospel presentations,” says Allen. 

Consider partnering with FMI to lift up church planters in expanding mission fields like Saudi Arabia. To support this work, visit forgottenmissionaries.org and give a gift to their New Fields initiative.

Header photo of Mecca is a representative stock photo courtesy of GLady via Pixabay.