The Ripple Effect of Providence
While I was not able to attend a recent theology conference with a number of our members that drilled down on God’s providence, I was able to see the same in the United Arab Emirates. In addition to visiting with a family Westview has sent there, I got to travel to the city where Christian influence in the country began. From that city, God’s providence has brought about a ripple effect that has reached 1,700 miles away in Kerala, India.
The city of Al Ain developed around a natural oasis in the desert far from the glitz of Dubai and the bustle of Abu Dhabi. Christians provided medical care in faithfulness to Christ that eventually gave rise to the government permitting churches and a seminary to be founded. One of those churches, Evangelical Community Church of Abu Dhabi (ECCAD), started a global pastoral internship program, inviting elder-qualified men from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to come and learn and hone pastoral skills.
The city of Al Ain developed around a natural oasis in the desert far from the glitz of Dubai and the bustle of Abu Dhabi. Christians provided medical care in faithfulness to Christ that eventually gave rise to the government permitting churches and a seminary to be founded. One of those churches, Evangelical Community Church of Abu Dhabi (ECCAD), started a global pastoral internship program, inviting elder-qualified men from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to come and learn and hone pastoral skills.
More Than an Oasis
One such brother is Shyam. He leads Christ Community Telugu Church of Abu Dhabi, a church he helped lead in planting after completing the internship at ECCAD. It’s a church that is part of our shared Pillar Network. There are 3.42 million Indians living in the UAE, comprising 30% of the population. Many of these Indians come from the southern region of Kerala and speak Telugu. But there are few faithful churches seeking to serve them with the untarnished gospel.
Sixty-five percent of the Indians that come to the UAE are blue collar workers, many of whom are laborers earning around $200 per month. They rise before dawn to be bussed from “labor camps” an hour into the city to work all day, only to return well after sunset to sleep and do it all again. Day after day, seven days a week. It is this predominantly Hindu demographic that Pastor Shyam has been especially burdened to engage.
Sixty-five percent of the Indians that come to the UAE are blue collar workers, many of whom are laborers earning around $200 per month. They rise before dawn to be bussed from “labor camps” an hour into the city to work all day, only to return well after sunset to sleep and do it all again. Day after day, seven days a week. It is this predominantly Hindu demographic that Pastor Shyam has been especially burdened to engage.
Feeding More Than Bread
Twice a week Pastor Shyam travels to the labor camps to bring dinner for those who will join him. Typically, laborers eat sparingly—some bread in the morning and evening—so they can send as much of their earnings back to family in India. As the men gather on a carpet rolled out on the concrete, he opens his Bible and shares from God’s Word.
And he is able to do so openly because of God’s providence.
The medical professionals who went to the UAE decades ago didn’t have a strategic plan that involved Telugu church plants. But God did. The government officials who decided to leverage oil wealth by recruiting laborers and professionals from what seems like just about every people, tribe, nation, and language didn’t do so to provide access to the gospel. But God did. The ripple effect of God’s providence won’t be fully known until glory, but we get glimpses of it now. And O how glorious his providence is.
And he is able to do so openly because of God’s providence.
The medical professionals who went to the UAE decades ago didn’t have a strategic plan that involved Telugu church plants. But God did. The government officials who decided to leverage oil wealth by recruiting laborers and professionals from what seems like just about every people, tribe, nation, and language didn’t do so to provide access to the gospel. But God did. The ripple effect of God’s providence won’t be fully known until glory, but we get glimpses of it now. And O how glorious his providence is.