Not Your Typical: Part 1

Even though I've lived in Kuwait for over five years, I still have to field questions in the summer, such as, "Do they have houses over there?" or "Do you have to ride a camel to work?" My wife and I have to be really still in our sand igloo or it all comes crashing down, and my camel needs an oil change and rub-down every two thousand kilometers.

Another question I get asked a lot is about church. People are very surprised when I tell them I go to a thriving church in Kuwait. In fact, the church service I go to is an off-campus site of the main evangelical church in Kuwait, which literally has thousands of people who attend on a weekly basis.

My first year in Kuwait, I had a difficult time finding the church because the phone numbers on the website didn't seem to work, and there is no really functional address system in Kuwait(another story for another time). Because we didn't have a car, we ended up taking a bus and walking around downtown Kuwait City for the church until we stumbled across the main site.

The area itself is this massive site with several buildings where the different church services are held.  There are lights and plants and concrete all over along with several large awnings.  Additionally, there is a book store, library, some offices, a school and a house.

Once we found the church, we started attending a Sunday night service. However, that wasn't really working for me because Sunday is a work day, and because it was my first year teaching in Kuwait, I was super drained after work, and barely had the strength and motivation to worship in spirit and in truth or to listen attentively to the sermon.

Another thing that was hard was the difficulty in connecting with people. Because there are so many people who need to be fed through the church, there are several services that are one after another, so it felt like there was a need to get out and let the next service in.

Finally, we were quite the minority as Americans. While I certainly love people from all languages and cultures, as a first year teacher and going through some major culture shock of my own, I really wanted some sense of familiarity with people from a similar background, profession, language or shared experience.

It was very strange to be sitting in service with a couple hundred people who are mostly from the Indian subcontinent while the worship leader is a Filipino man playing southern gospel songs, followed by a message from an older American gentleman.  After a long day at work, that was definitely sensory overload!

However, we believed that God would be faithful to us and that we were called as Christians to be apart of the Jesus' church, and we definitely grew through that experience.  While that first year wasn't MY ideal church experience, I realized God used it to lead me to the next level of my faith and eventually to where I am today.