There has been a thriving Anglican community in Al Ain since 1987, at which time the chaplains of St. Andrew’s Church in Abu Dhabi started visiting Al Ain twice a month to conduct services of Holy Communion on Monday evenings at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church.
St. Thomas’ Church Al Ain finally assumed its own identity, as a sister church to St Andrew's Abu Dhabi, in 2011. Since that time St. Thomas’ Anglican Church has continued to flourish and grow, and now embraces a diverse congregation from varied ecumenical backgrounds and church traditions, as well as a thriving and popular children’s ministry.
St Thomas' has been generously granted land by the ruling family of the UAE to build its own church, and the Building Committee and Church Councils of both St Thomas' and St Andrew's are working hard on the building project. St Thomas hopes to be able to occupy its new permanent premises early in 2019. In the meantime St Thomas continues to meet in its temporary location.
Chaplaincy of Dubai with Sharjah and the Northern Emirates prior to her ordination. As part of her ongoing training she now spends two days a week at St Andrew's in Abu Dhabi and most of the rest of the week in Al Ain, travelling back to Dubai when possible to spend time with her husband. Those UAE roads are very familiar to her.
OUR CHAPLAIN - REVEREND CHARLIE LLOYD-EVANS
Revd. Charlie was ordained as a deacon in September 2017 and began serving her curacy in the Chaplaincy of Abu Dhabi, with specific responsibility for the congregation at St Thomas, Al Ain. In September 2018 she was ordained to the priesthood.
She is married to Gareth and they have three daughters, Chloe (21), Heather (19) and Megan (17). Charlie studied Aeronautical Engineering at university and is a chartered engineer, spending many years working in that field before finally responding to the call to ministry. She trained as a Lay Reader in the Diocese of Lichfield, before moving to Dubai in 2011 and served as a Lay Minister in the