The annual Gulf Churches Fellowship Conference met this year at St. Andrews Church in Abu Dhabi on the 19th and 20th January 2015.
The Gulf Churches Fellowship consists primarily of executive Church leaders from the officially recognized Churches of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen. The GCF will gather for the purpose of growing in relationship with each other, identifying areas of shared ministry and concern, and joining together for mutual support in communicating with governments.
The officially recognized Churches (which both own and manage buildings, and have the authority to allocate visas and to sponsor congregations) are categorized into five ecclesiastical groupings that are relevant to the Gulf context: Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal Churches in Communion, Oriental Orthodox and Protestant. All other Christian Churches in the Gulf are represented through their sponsoring Church body.
On behalf of the Catholic Church in the Arabian Gulf, Bishop Paul Hinder, Bishop Camillo Ballin and Fr. Gandolf Wild took part in the Conference with about 30 Christian church leaders from the countries of the Arabian Peninsula.