Page 81 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

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Thus as the year 1972 came to a close and the Arabian

Mission completed its eightieth year of operations in the
I
Gulf, it was clear to all that the Mission’s work was coming
5
to a close. In Iraq, Arab nationalism, perhaps somewhat mixed

■
' with a socialistic distrust of all religious activities as well,
•:
had forced the closure of the medical mission at Amarah and

the educational mission at Basrah. In Kuwait the rising
*
tide of western materialism had secularized the bookshop and

competition with the new oil-financed state medical system

had caused Mew York to close the mission’s hospital there.

In Bahrain the Mission's various activities had transformed

themselves into local institutions and divorcing themselves

from New York had found ways to make themselves self-support­

ing, In Muscat also the Mission personnel were being absorbed
into the government's health program and only the small
!
;
:
school and bookshop run by the Danes were continuing to operate

as. independent missionary activities. To a certain extent,

; the Mission had just reoriented itself in assuming its pastoral
'
; duties towards the various settled communities of Christians
:
in Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait, but in terms of its originally
;
stated goal of evangelizing the Gulf and occupying "the interior
•:
of Arabia from the coast as a base," the Arabian Mission had

come to an end.

In March of 1973 representatives of the three remaining

stations gathered in Muscat. Foremost in their concerns v/ere

the future of the Arabian Mission and the Oman government’s

plan for absorbing the mission medical personnel into its

ai