KUWAIT: Representative of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, attended a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the inauguration of St Paul Church in Ahmadi on Friday. Dr Michel Mbona, the Church’s priest, gave a speech in which he extolled the State of Kuwait under the leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and the Kuwaiti people’s tolerance and peaceful coexistence throughout history. Some souvenirs were offered to His Highness the Amir’s Representative on this occasion. According to the church’s website, the Anglican chaplaincy was established in 1948 originally meeting in a converted Nissan hut. The current building was originally built by the Kuwait Oil Company as part of its commitment to meet the spiritual needs of the workforce. St Paul’s Church was chosen as the name for the new church because St Paul was the only apostle who is named in the New Testament as having spent time in Arabic countries.
Standing for 75 years, the church has witnessed Kuwait’s happiest and darkest moments. During the Iraqi invasion, the church was left unscathed by troops but it was damaged during the bombardment by the allied air forces. All the stained glass windows were blown out by the bomb blasts and have since been replaced. Since most of the Western Christian community had fled at this point or were in hiding, it was the Indian Christian community who rallied alongside the liberating allied troops to restore St Paul’s Church to a place of active worship.