Arabic Bible Church is thriving, with dramatic growth despite COVID

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Dozens of Arabic people have turned to Jesus in Ottawa, in the last year. When COVID hit, Ottawa’s Arabic Bible Church (now called ABC) was only a year-and-a-half old and averaged 40 attendees on a Sunday. In the last year, they tripled.

“God has really blessed us,” says Pastor Richard Raya. “When COVID started, I was worried that the attendance of the church and finances would go down, but God had another plan.”

Before COVID, ABC held two services on weeknights, which averaged between 8 and 16 people. Yet Raya felt personally challenged to pray about the pandemic, for the Church in Ottawa, and for Canada. With the restrictions approaching, he moved the church to Zoom and started prayer meetings—everyday. God responded.

“We used to have 8 to 16 attendees during the week and about 40 on Sundays. Now we have 20 to 30, coming to pray every night. We have more than 130 attendees on Sunday mornings.”

“His vision is to plant 10 Arabic churches in Ottawa.”

Most of the church’s members are new converts, many are Syrian refugees. However, it was not prayer alone that led to this growth. Two years before planting ABC, Raya started holding Christmas parties in Arabic for the children of Syrian refugees. He also worked with One Way Ministries to start a program teaching English to Syrian refugees and he networked with a number of Ottawa churches to reach as many people as possible.

“I’m just so amazed by the energy and the vision of this young man,” says Judith Dancer. “His vision is to plant 10 Arabic churches [in Canada]. Because I’m in Arabic ministry, myself, I’m so encouraged to see Arabic people connecting with his church.”

Dancer first met Raya over the phone. A friend suggested he speak to her about finding gifts for the Christmas parties he was organizing. Dancer was volunteering at a Salvation Army, and they were able to supply gifts for 100 children.

Despite COVID, the Christmas party had a much larger reach this year. With help from several churches and programming from Child Evangelism Fellowship, they hosted 10 online “Christmas” parties running between December and May.

“His congregation really steps up to do what is needed.”

“In total, there were about 500 kids attending, mostly Syrians,” Dancer states. “Often parents were in the background listening. Pastor Richard had the names and addresses of the children and his church delivered Christmas presents to the homes. His congregation really steps up to do what is needed.”

Although they are new believers, the church members are very committed in their faith.

“They didn’t know how to pray when we started. Now, [in the daily Zoom prayer meetings] you have 20 people praying every evening. You wait one-and-a-half hours before they finish their prayers.”

As they discover life with Jesus, these new believers are also sharing their hope with their friends and families, causing the church to grow organically. With services on Zoom, the ministry now reaches beyond the boarders of Ottawa, too. This past Sunday, as ABC celebrated their third anniversary, the worship was led by a member living in Egypt.

“This week, God blessed me to lead three people from Arabic backgrounds to the Lord.”

“We have 19 in the Middle East and about 21 in Canada, outside Ottawa,” Raya states. “Last week, God blessed me to lead three people from Arabic backgrounds to the Lord, through Zoom: a lady in Morocco, a man in Syria, and a woman from Ottawa. They are now attending every night our Bible study and prayer meeting.”

The church has eight more members starting a class to prepare for baptism, in January. Yet, Raya hopes to strategically partner with more Ottawa churches to increase the number of Arabic Christians reaching Ottawa’s Arabic community.

“I am asking any church willing to sponsor a Syrian family, please contact us.” Raya adds that he is in contact with Syrian refugees who are dedicated believers and trained for ministry. “We will provide a refugee who is in need financially, but who is very ready for the field of God in Canada or Ottawa. They could start a new church in Ottawa or help ABC. They can make a difference in the spiritual lives of [other] Syrian refugees.”