History (Since 1983)

The Salalah Christian Centre was established in 1981. Worship services of all the churches were held at the Central Church within the time allotted by the SCC Management Committee. In the early years of Salalah Christian Centre, pastors regularly visited from the Protestant Church of Oman, Muscat: Rev. Rod Koopmans, Rev. John Hall, Rev. Robert Boulter and Rev. Dick Westra are worthy of mention. A loan of $35,000 offered by the Reformed Church of America, with financial contributions from other churches, adding up to a total of $72,000, helped to build the present ESC Par-sonage. Construction work was carried out in 1981; the house was let out to Rev. Samuel Masih from the Urdu-Speaking Congregation for three months in 1983, and then leased out for two years.

The English Speaking Congregation was inaugurated on 30th January 1983. Rev. Dick Westra, the co-chaplain of the PCO Muscat, articulated that the PCO wasn’t really interested in having on-going responsibility for the church in Salalah. He initiated the January 1983 inaugural meeting where ESC was born in a constitutional sense. The church, with about 20 people, was truly led by laymen from 1983-1986. It was run by a committee whose secretary was Mr. Mike Procter. Mr. Mike Procter left Salalah, attended a Bible College and subsequently joined FEBA (Far East Broadcasting Association).

Pastor Tom Hamblin, who is now retired in the UK, led the church for a short period in 1986. The same year Rev. John Hubers was appointed as the first full-time pastor of the ESC. He took up the overall charge of drafting the Church’s constitution and ministered till 1989. Then he took up the assignment as the RCA mission’s secretary for the Gulf region. Rev. Tim Wiarda – now in San Francisco, where he teaches New Testament at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary – took up the leadership from 1989-1992. He was followed by Rev. Bruce Anderson who served the ESC from 1992-1993.

1994 saw the arrival of Rev. Ken Crummack. He reached out to the locals and expats alike. Being a true visionary, he took the initiative to rebuild the Salalah Christian Cemetery, putting up boundary walls, placing a gate, numbering the tombs. He also had plans to build a Prayer Hall on top of the existing Guesthouse and Bible Centre in order to have Christian meetings anytime. As there was a fixed time slot for each congregation at the Central Church, some ESC ser-vices were held in the open courtyard beside the parsonage. Tents were put up for this purpose. Sadly Rev. Ken Crum-mack passed away in a road accident in 1999.

But this dream of his was fulfilled by his wife Margaret Crummack, who became pastor of the ESC in 2000 after Rev. Gwen Banks had stepped down. The Protestant Church Prayer Hall was inaugurated on 10 Feb 2005 by the then British Ambassador His Excellency Stuart Laing and PCO Senior Pastor Rev. Michael Clarkson. The Prayer Hall is used for Sun-day and Friday services, Filipino Fellowship meetings, Nepali Fellowship gatherings and Women Aglow meetings, be-sides Bible studies, prayer meetings and choir practices. Besides, it has room for Sunday school as well as a Bible Re-source Centre. Pastor Margaret left for England in September 2006.

That same month Rev. Michael Haller was appointed pastor of the ESC after having already served as an assistant pas-tor for two years. A new enclosed reception room was built as an extension to the parsonage in order to welcome the new pastor’s family. As the church became bigger, the space on the ground floor was renovated and started being used for Sunday school, Women Aglow and as a fellowship hall. Also, the Bible Resource Center was refurbished by the Bi-ble Society Dubai. Rev. Osni Ferreira joined the church as an Assistant Pastor for two years. Rev. Michael Haller left for Switzerland in 2010 to pursue higher studies. Then the Church Committee managed to run the services until Rev. Oscar Richardsonbecame the pastor of ESC in  2011. Arabic fellowship meetings were started in 2012, acknowledging the need of Arabic-speaking brethren to worship the Lord in their mother tongue. Various community projects such as the Jumble Rumble to raise money for needy patients at Sultan Qaboos hospital and the Food Festival to raise support for the Church of Pakistan’s Chapel were successfully undertaken. Regular support was initiated to support co- laborers in the Kingdom of God,serving in other countries. Rev. Oscar Richardson went back to USA in 2014, which had opened doors for Rev. Andrew Prout to minister at ESC between July 2014 and October 2015. Few constitutional amendments had taken place during this time. The pulpit of the prayer hall was given a facelift with a raised platform. ESC women fellowship (“WINGS” – Women IN God’s Service) was formed and men’s fellowship (“Men-In-Christ”) got activated. In the absence of a resident Pastor, the Committee managed the worship services with the pastoral support from Rev. Osni Ferreira, Ps. David Williams, Rev. Augustine Mall, Bro. Asher Augustine and with the help of lay preachers. Afterwards, Rev. Paul K. Royappaspiritually nourished all the fellowships with God’s word between December 2017 and April 2021. By God’s grace, the Committee manages the worship services of the church, as we wait on the Lord for a resident Pastor.

PCO-Salalah-ESC,in its fourth decade of service in the Kingdom of God, continues to strive to align itself to Kingdom values in all its initiatives. We thank God for His faithfulness and leading this multi-national congregation as a “Good Shepherd”, to glorify His name in this beautiful land.

Praise be to the Lord!

Pastors and Leaders of ESC Salalah from 1983 – 2021