 
| Christian Church Taking Off In Dubai |
Missions News: Missions in the Muslim World   CBN News has an excellent story today about the Christian church in Dubai. Dubai, home of some of the world's most luxurious hotels and tallest buildings, is also apparently one of the best Muslim countries in which to work and live as a Christian.  Of course, 76% of the country is Muslim, Islam is the official religion, and it is illegal to share the gospel with Muslims. Moreover, printing the Bible or other evangelistic materials is not permitted, and there are harsh penalties for converting people from Islam.  Still, relative to other Muslim countires, Dubai is remarkably tolerant of the Christian Church. For example, Kings Revival Church International, like everything else in Dubai is huge: 7,000 members, 24 pastors and 14 services, including 4 in English.  Not surprisingly, King's Revival is the largest evangelical church in the Middle East.  The church apparently does not balk at the restrictions on sharing the gospel, taking the attitude of being open to whatever God has for them in the circumstances they are in. And God reportedly has a lot for them: The church reports remarkable miracles -- cancers being cured, lame walking, blind seeing -- and supports charity and 170 pastors in the Middle East and Asia. Perhaps churches like Kings Revival that send Arab missionaries and pastors to their own people, are partly responsible for increasing reports of "revival" in the Middle East.  The KIngs Revival Church Dubai website is interesting. It is has a name -- http://www.miraclesforyou.org -- that might sound a bit too packaged and sensationalistic to many United States Christians. United States Christians are (perhaps rightly) increasingly wary of presenting Christ as a one-stop solve-all-your-problems commodity. The gospel should be about redemption and turning away from sin (think Kirk Cameron wearing Christ as a parachute). The Western World is largely rejecting the notion of sin, and even the concept of right and wrong, and thus needs to be reminded that God will judge us for our sins -- or so the theory goes. Presenting God as a commodity that will make life Wonderful diminishes His Greatness.  Yet who are we to question how God is apparently making himself known in the Muslim World, where no one can argue that the concept of God is taken quite seriously, and people live with a fatalistic view of sin and life?  Isn't the model the Kings Revival Church is following arguably closer to the approach Christ took when presenting himself to a highly religious Jewish society that clearly maintained a high view of God: Healing the sick, caring about people's practical problems, explaining that the Sabbath was made for man and not the man for Sabbath, etc? Maybe.  Read More: Links Revival Comes To the Muslim World The Christian Revival in the Muslim World Kings Revival Church International Dubai ______________________________________________________________________________ The International Faith Telegraph  |