College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Theology and Religious Education

Document Type

Book Chapter

Source Title

Church in the Age of Global Migration: A Moving Body

First Page

187

Last Page

199

Publication Date

2016

Place of Publication

New York

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract

Allan is a Methodist Christian who works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He used to go regularly to a Sunday Holy Communion service in the Philippines, but he can no longer do this because Christians are prohibited from worshiping publicly here. Those who do worship risk incarceration and deportation. He once participated in an “underground” church worship service that was held in the basement of a house. Congregants were fetched from their homes and brought inside the venue so that nobody would notice the big gathering taking place inside. Because it was risky, he stopped joining this underground gathering. For his spiritual nourishment, he now finds the Internet most helpful, including the sharing of quotations on Facebook and listening to worship concerts on YouTube— especially healing concerts. He also gets online spiritual direction from his father, a Methodist pastor. This is irregular, though, as it takes place only when he visits his sister’s home, where there is a laptop and Internet connection. One problem he finds with participating in an online Eucharist is the five-hour time difference. It would be better, he said, if the worship was videotaped and uploaded, so that migrant workers like him could access it in their time off.

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Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1057/9781137518125_13

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Religion

Series Title

Pathways for ecumenical and interreligious dialogue series

Keywords

Foreign workers, Filipino—Religious life—Middle East; Foreign workers, Filipino—Middle East—Social conditions

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