When Regina Setiadi moved from Indonesia to the Gulf last year, she left her Bible, crucifix and rosary behind.

"I never think that here in the Middle East there's a church," the 37-year-old Catholic, who now lives in Doha, Qatar. "I thought we have to pray secretly at home."

Or in schools. Or rented halls.

But now, after decades of worshipping in borrowed spaces, Qatar's growing Christian community is celebrating - albeit quietly - the opening of the country's first church since pre-Islamic times.

For Christians, the milestone is a validation of their growing community, comprised of expatriate workers mainly from South Asia and the Philippines.

For others, the church symbolises a step forward for rapidly developing Qatar, a tiny energy-rich country bidding for the 2016 Olympics.

"The church will send a positive message to the world," Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, Qatar's minister of energy and industry, told reporters on Friday during the unveiling of the complex.

But because some say the church flies in the face of Qatar's Islamic values, religious leaders and government officials have been cautious about trumpeting the news too loudly.

"You have to respect the sensitivities of the country," Reverend Bill Schwartz, an American priest fluent in Arabic, told the Qatar People. "The people here have no cultural foundation to perceive Christianity. I don't think it's a negative thing - the exposure just hasn't been there.

Large and unassuming

The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, to be consecrated on Saturday and open for Easter services on Sunday, will serve Doha's Catholic community, which comprises 90 per cent of the city's 150,000 and growing Christian expatriate population.

Construction of buildings for four other groups - Anglican, Coptic and the Greek Orthodox communities, as well as an inter-denominational centre where 11 Indian churches will converge under a single roof - is also under way, says Schwartz, who is involved in the Anglican Church of the Epiphany effort.

When completed, the complex will be one of the largest Christian structures in the Gulf, Naim Fouad Wakin, the project contractor, told.

The $20m Catholic church, which seats 2,700, is located in the southern outskirts of the city on land donated by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Qatar's emir, and leased for a nominal fee.

Though it sits amid mounds of uneven gravel and sand, Schwartz predicted rapid development within the next two years. Around 7,000 housing units are going up in the area, he said.

Because of the controversy surrounding the church's opening, security patrols are to monitor the complex for months to come.

In keeping with government requests, the building's exterior bears no crosses, steeple or church bells. The interior is similarly cautious, awash in soft blues and yellows, subtly airbrushed Biblical imagery - including a few crucifixes - and understated stained-glass windows.

"We have complied and intend to keep complying with every regulation set by the government," Archbishop Paul Hinder, the Apostolic Vicar of Arabia and the senior Roman Catholic cleric in the region, said on Friday.