God as the architect of future security for teens in the Arabian Peninsula

The architectural statement of the Arabian Peninsula (AP) skyline is striking. Its magnificently, unashamed dominance sends a message to the world of power, plenty and possibility. It draws workers from around the world, with its promise of job prospects and future security.

Amongst those who come are those who work in large multinationals, in global enterprises that span the world’s economies and businesses. These include health, education, construction and finance. Foreign workers often bring their families, whose children grow up amidst the extraordinarily diverse social landscape of interweaving cultures and belief systems, rubbing shoulders with a cross-section of society who live here for a time and benefit.

Followers of Jesus come, too. Although not permitted to share their faith openly, they work alongside others with a trust in God to direct their steps and a care for their fellow human beings, irrespective of others’ personal faith. As do their children, who benefit from growing up in a cross-cultural environment and can be helped to be disciple makers among themselves and the least reached in the AP.

“The pressure on professionals is very high and workers constantly need to decide who to make time for. One of the biggest challenges is how to live a balanced life in the AP with a high-pressure work lifestyle,” admitted one believer in Jesus, and a parent.

Alan*, a foreign worker and follower of Jesus, clearly sees the challenges for the children of such workers, known as Third Culture Kids (TCKs). He can also see the potentials, too:

“TCKs have marketplace ministry opportunities,” he explains. “They have skills and an understanding of the world that those growing up in a monoculture don't necessarily have, combined with a really strong faith.”

Alan points out that TCKs are used to being in the minority in the established faith system. They readily reach out to befriend those around them, without prejudice or pre-assumption. TCKs’ education often gives them skills, academic abilities and resilience to survive in different environments. “Whilst they may not necessarily thrive, they can usually handle the differences,” he observes.

Alan has a heart to encourage and help TCKs in the region. As a Theology graduate and established local company worker with a strong desire to mobilise others, he partners with local faith-based groups to get alongside young people and help them find credible answers to some of life’s most difficult questions, developing “intentional entrepreneurship.” Just as God has “shaped his thinking over the years,” Alan sees His preparation through questioning “How do I live as God has gifted me to be?” with “How do I deal with the challenges life brings?”

Like many young adults transitioning out of adolescence into adulthood, most of the TCKs are asking ‘What next?’ Alan is aware that, just as he did, they are asking questions about their futures — what to study, what to do with their lives. “The transition may shipwreck their faith. I have walked that way, so I have some things to identify and share, and maybe ask them questions.”

Encouraging young adults

Alan and other volunteers have also put on specific events for TCKs, not just “simply going into schools or hanging out with youth groups.” In 2024, they held a teen event where 300, including leaders, turned up. “We ran out of capacity!” Alan smiles. They then followed up with smaller programmes, including one outreach to a largely unreached area in East Asia.

Alan remarked: “Often these are easier countries where you can legally do outreach, but spiritually and culturally it is challenging.”  Some of those in the programme have subsequently been asking God if He is calling them to work and live in other parts of the world. Through creating such opportunities, Alan and the other volunteers intentionally encourage these young adults to see things from a different perspective.  One such young adult is Ben*.

Ben grew up in the AP. An adult now, Alan encouraged, followed up and helped him in his spiritual journey:

“When I got to know him, he'd had a rough ride, and a lot of discouragement from the people he'd interacted with. He was very much interested in discipling young people and doing a lot more than he was currently. When we met, he was almost ready to give up, feeling "This is just way too hard." Then I got to know him a little bit. We started to do things together; I started to mentor him and help him along the way. Just the other day, he told me how things changed when I gave him opportunities. Other people were looking down on him as if he wasn't capable: some of it was cultural, also it reflected his spiritual environment. But it wasn’t true.”

As Ben began to identify that he wanted to give not just his free time, but his whole life to helping people grow their faith, and mobilise them for God, “marketplace stuff,” as Alan describes it. Alan could see that when Ben was a teenager, other followers of Jesus had invested in his life. “While a lot of Ben’s friends from similar backgrounds have taken a different road, Ben started a start-up and is now in his 20s. I didn't do all the preparing work, somebody else did” — the key to where Ben is today.  

Alan sees the importance of partnership with other faith-based groups. “There are other groups out there,” he said. “One group has an online curriculum to help teens think in terms of intentional entrepreneurship. Another group is working intentionally with business people to give a Kingdom mindset.” Excited by the possibilities, he wonders if these could be modified to work with ‘not yet adults.’

In a part of the world where foreign workers continue to be drawn to live with their families, there are definite possibilities of encouraging future generations to invest in Kingdom values and perspectives for eternal security.

*name changed