HISTORY
The Beginning of Christianity in Kuwait
In the initial decades of the nineteenth century, the then ruler, Sheikh Mubarak Al Kabeer, granted land in the Qibla area of Kuwait City to the Reformed Church in America to establish a medical institution. This endeavor was instrumental in the beginning of Christian activities in Kuwait. In 1931, a place of worship and related buildings were constructed on this site. The church, initially known as the American Mission Church, later became the Church of Christ in Kuwait and is now known as the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait (NECK). The current place of worship was renovated in 1958.
The majority of people who came for livelihood in the oil companies were Christians from South India, mostly from Kerala. Since they resided in the Ahmadi area, a church ministry named the ‘Ahmadi Christian Congregation’ began there in 1949. They participated in the English worship of the Mission Church and the worship in Ahmadi. However, with the aim of worshipping God in their mother tongue, the Kuwait Town Malayalee Christian Congregation (KTMCC) was formed in 1953. From 1954, Pentecostal believers also started moving to Kuwait for livelihood. Since there were no facilities for conducting worship or other gatherings, they joined the worship services with the KTMCC.
Bro. Umman Abraham (son of Pr. K.E. Abraham) and Bro. Johnson (son of Pr. A.J. John) were some of the pioneer Pentecostal believers to arrive in Kuwait. In November 1965, Pr. A.C. Thomas, the Chief Pastor of the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission, visited Kuwait at the invitation of some relatives. Many people from non-Pentecostal churches attended the meetings held in the Alghanim Quarters in Sharq. As a result of these meetings, a native of Tamil Nadu named Samuel decided to be baptized, and Pr. A.C. Thomas baptized him in the sea. Brother Samuel’s baptism is considered to be the first believer’s baptism in Kuwait, and Pr. A.C. Thomas is believed to be the first Pentecostal Pastor to visit Kuwait.
The Emergence of Pentecostal Worship in Kuwait - PCK
In the early 1960s, more Pentecostal believers started arriving from Kerala.
In December 1965, Mrs. A.C. Mathews (mother of Bro. M. Mathews, Toyota Sunnychaayan) arrived in Kuwait to visit her children. As per her desire, worship began at 7:30 PM on the first Saturday of January 1966 at the residence of Bro. George Mathew, a native of Punalur, in the Alghanim Quarters. Thirteen people participated in this worship: Mrs. A.C. Mathews, Mr. and Mrs. Mathews (Kumbanad), Mr. and Mrs. George Mathew (Punalur), Mr. and Mrs. P.C. Daniel (Kadambanad), Mr. and Mrs. George M. Easow (Mavelikara), Mr. and Mrs. Mathai Podikunnju (Kadambanad), Mr. P.A. John (Thiruvananthapuram), and Mr. K.S. Philip (Kottayam). Bro. George Mathew led this worship and the subsequent services.
Due to the increasing number of believers and space constraints, the worship service was shifted to the Activity Hall within the NECK Compound in 1967, and this fellowship was named the Pentecostal Church of Kuwait (PCK).
In October 1968, George Shastri and his family visited Kuwait. In December of the same year, Pastor K.E. Abraham, the founder of the India Pentecostal Church of God, and Pastor George Varghese visited Kuwait. A convention held under the auspices of PCK at NECK from December 19 for several days was instrumental in the spiritual revival and growth of the Pentecostal Church in Kuwait.
In 1969, Pastor A.C. George, Rev. Bajith, Pastor P.M. Philip, and members of Operation Mobilization visited the church and participated in the meetings. On that occasion, Pastor P.M. Philip prayed and consecrated brothers George Mathew (Punalur), P.Y. Baby (Poonthala), and M.V. Philip (Kollakadavu) for ministry.
In the last week of December 1969, PCK’s first General Body meeting was held, and a committee with Bro. P.C. Daniel as secretary was elected.
For the first six years, the church operated as an independent entity. However, as the number of believers grew, the church recognized the necessity of associating with a movement.
Therefore, as per the decision of the General Body meeting held on February 26, 1972, it was decided to proceed as a local church under the full affiliation and cooperation with the India Pentecostal Church of God (IPC), headquartered in Kumbanad, and as per IPC constitution. The central leadership of the IPC was informed of this decision, and the late Pastor K.E. Abraham, the then President, granted recognition to the church as a local IPC church under the Kerala State Presbytery, naming it IPC Pentecostal Church of Kuwait. Subsequently, in April 1975, Pastor T.K. Philip (Venmony) was appointed as the church’s first full-time minister from the recognised Pentecostal denominations in Kuwait.
During the ministry of his successor, Pastor E.J. Ommen, the activities of the auxiliary organization PYPA began, and the collection of funds for the church’s charitable activities, named the Aid Fund, was initiated by the believers. PCK has been providing financial support for evangelical work in Kerala and other North Indian states since its inception.
In the early ’80s, a camp ministry was started in Subiya as part of the church’s evangelistic activities. For the convenience of believers in Ahmadi and Fahaheel, an outstation work of PCK was inaugurated at St. Paul’s Church, Ahmadi, on Tuesday, 1st March 1983 by the late Pastor P.M. Philip, the General Secretary of IPC. Worship was held there under the charge of PCK until November 1988. In 1989, the IPC General Council recognized this work as a local IPC church and named it IPC Ahmadi.
The first baptism in PCK was that of Brother Kochukunju. Baptism was one of the most challenging and difficult ministries in the early days. Baptism services were conducted in the sea during the early hours of the morning, when everyone was asleep, to avoid the attention of the locals and authorities.
Kuwait’s first Pentecostal wedding was solemnized at NECK on September 19, 1973, between PCK members K. Thomas Mathew and Mariamma Abraham, presided over by Rev. Luis Skadder, with Pastor M.K. Chacko as the main officiant.
The Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait
The event that shocked the world occurred in the early hours of August 2, 1990. Iraq attacked Kuwait and completely occupied the country. In that terrifying situation, thousands of people fled Kuwait seeking safety from the Iraqi army. They reached the borders of Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, where they spent several days in extreme distress without food or water.
However, the people of God in Kuwait fasted and prayed for this city. As a result of their prayers, the God of Heaven opened ways for them to return to their homeland peacefully.
God used Br. M. Mathews, a prominent figure in Kuwait’s industrial and social sectors and a founding member of PCK, to arrange the evacuation of approximately 175,000 Indians in Kuwait. To facilitate these arrangements, the Indian Government temporarily granted Mr. M. Mathews the rank of an Ambassador. Another member of the church, Br. Joseph John (UTC Joy), was with him until the end to help in this endeavor.
PCK believers who returned home during the Kuwait invasion organized special worship services for fellowship at the Sharon Auditorium in Thiruvalla, the IPC Chapel in Kumbanad, and the IPC Hall in Chalamadapam, Thrissur, under the leadership of Pastor C.C. Chacko.
The God who makes the impossible possible honored the prayers of His people, and Kuwait was liberated on February 26, 1991. People began to return to Kuwait for work in May. In September 1991, the PCK worship services resumed with 12 believers under the charge of Evangelist Rajan Thomas. Rajan Thomas served as the minister until Pastor C.C. Chacko was reappointed on January 25, 1992.
God blessed the church, which restarted with just 12 members after the Iraqi invasion, raising it to a congregation with over 800 members. The majority of church members who returned from India settled in Abbasiya and nearby areas. Therefore, the church parsonage was moved from Hawally to Abbasiya.
Spiritual gatherings like Sunday School, fasting prayers, and Bible classes were regularly held at this parsonage.
The first united Pentecostal convention in Kuwait’s Pentecostal history was held in 2004 under the leadership of the then PCK minister, Pastor Sunny Kurian, and the church, marking a milestone in church history. Based on the interest of PCK and other IPC churches in Kuwait, the IPC Kuwait Region was formed, and Pastor Sunny Kurian served as its first President.
As part of the church’s evangelistic activities, camp ministries were intensified in various parts of Kuwait. Consequently, many brothers and sisters received believer’s baptism and joined the church. Due to the increasing number of believers, Cell Groups with limited membership were formed in various areas of Kuwait to strengthen unity and fellowship. Fellowship meetings for these cell groups are held every Tuesday. Meetings that used to take place in the church parsonage were moved to various halls in Abbasiya due to space constraints.
Guided by the desire and prayer of the church to have its own hall, one was obtained in the heart of Abbasiya. Based on the verse, “And he called the name of the place Rehoboth, saying, ‘For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.’” the then minister, Pastor K.C. Samuel, named it Rehoboth and dedicated it with prayer. The Rehoboth Hall has since been a significant asset for the church’s spiritual gatherings and other activities.
While the church’s activities were progressing smoothly, the ‘COVID-19’ pandemic brought the world to a standstill. Consequently, the church’s worship and gatherings in Kuwait were confined to the four walls of social media. The circumstances were extremely adverse; the church could not gather directly. Nevertheless, God helped to conduct worship and other meetings smoothly through the Zoom platform. A joyful initiative was experienced on January 1st, after the watch night service on Zoom on December 31st 2021, where the PYPA brothers distributed lunch to every believer’s home in all parts of Kuwait without missing a single home. After the COVID era, God is helping the PCK church to continue its activities as before, as the world returned to normalcy.