Historyof Christianity in the lands of My Toil

HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE LANDS OF MY TOIL: PROF. M. M. NINAN
with the arrival of these expatriate workers, the first churches began to appear (with the exception of
Saudi)
To secure access to their colony India, the British set up a protectorate area around the southern port
of Aden in the 19th century. This formed the South Yemen. South Yemen was then occupied by many
from England and had many Christian presence. There are three official church buildings (two
Roman Catholic and one Anglican) which are located in Aden in the far south which became South
Yemen when the British colonisation ended.
When I took up a teaching job in the University of Sanaa in 1974 there were no churches in North
Yemen. A few christian missions were there serving the community with medical clinics and nursing.
Those who were serving in these held their own prayer groups in their own homes. Mother teresa's
Missionaries of Charity were also their in Sanaa, Taiz and Hodeidah. There were large number of
expatriates working in various projects all around Yemen who were christians without any opportunity
for worship. Since I had made friends with the ministers of education, internal affairs and state, I got
permission to start worship for these people and bible studies at my home with the condition that no
crosses are used outside of the home and no visible signs of identity is made. A large gathering took
place every Friday for the Indian Christians in my home. As such when the international community
wanted to start a worship service also, they have asked me to take over the pastership and the
worship took place in the American embassy. This was a community from all countries in the world.
The house church continued as smaller groups for several decades until the development of al-Qeida
and ISIS when all expatriates were forced to leave the country. The christian mission who served the
communities themselves faced opposition. They killed several of the Mother Teresa sisters and
nurses in Taiz and Hodeidah. They still faithfully served the nation inspite of these.
The South and North Yemen joined together to form one Yemen and the Christian community in South
Yemen also left leaving the church buildings without use. The rise of muslim fanaticism and the
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