Qatar is the richest country in the world per head of population, but the Anglican Church and other protestant congregations are working hard to raise money to build a church centre in Doha's Church City.

In October 2009 the population of Qatar was 1.6 million of which 0.3 million were local Qatari people. The rest are expatriate workers from all over the world, mainly on fixed term contracts. Many are Christians and away from home especially appreciate the fellowship opportunities that a worshipping Christian community offers.

The Anglican community is growing. The congregation for the Friday morning service has grown in a year from about 250 to about 350.

The Qatar government has leased land in Doha to the Christianity community for churches and worship centres. It is a substantial piece of land. One half of it contains the Roman Catholic Church which is already up and running.

A further quarter of the site is for the use of the Orthodox, Coptic and other Eastern churches. A completed building is home to the Indian churches.

The final eighth provides land for the worship spaces of Anglican and other protestant churches. The building project for this sector is headed by the Anglican Chaplain, Father Bill Schwartz. Bill, an American by nationality, has spent most of his working life in Arabic speaking countries and speaks Arabic. He has always served Anglicans living in a minority community and has a great respect for the majority Muslim cultures in which he has lived.

The plans for the church buildings on the Anglican and protestant site include a church which would seat 650 flanked by two buildings containing other worship spaces, space for administration, Friday School (Friday is the principal non working day) and community activities. Because of the difficulty of raising funds, the centre is being constructed in three stages. The first stage will include worship and administrative space. Work on the site started in 2008 and when I visited in November 2009, the main shell of the building was almost complete.

I stayed with the Anglican chaplain and his wife in their home in Doha. One of their reception rooms acts as a Wedding Chapel. Weddings are a vital pastoral ministry in Qatar. Bill may perform marriage ceremonies for Christians – one of the couple must be a baptised Christian and neither may be a Muslim. The reasons for weddings are usually urgent and pastoral. It is illegal to live together if you are not married. If a woman becomes
pregnant she cannot obtain medical care if she is not married. If a couple meet in Qatar and the man gets a job elsewhere, the woman may not be able to get her employer to release in her, in which case she would not be able to leave the country. If she is married, her husband, according to local law, can insist that she leaves her employment.

In October 2010 I was able to spend another couple of days in Qatar and stay again with Bill and Edie Schwartz. The first stage of their church centre is progressing and they are planning to hold services there at Christmas and the New Year. They will then be able to let out the worship space. The rental from that will assist with further fund raising.

If you would learn more about the Church of the Epiphany in Qatar, its website is at: http://www.epiphany-qatar.org/home.html

My visit in 2009 was arranged by Christians Aware, which is organising another visit in October 2011, if you interested please see: http://www.christiansaware.co.uk/calendar/visits/calendar_visits.htm

Susan Cooper, London