Regional Snapshot

From Bill and Daphne Sidney

Philippine churches
equip leaders and
plant churches

By Pedro Melendez

MANILA, Philippines—This has been a year of great opportunities for the churches in the Philippines to serve and grow despite major political, social and natural upheavals.

After a failed impeachment trial begun late last year, President Joseph Estrada was ousted Jan. 20 through a popular people power movement dubbed EDSA-2. (EDSA stands for Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Manila’s biggest thoroughfare).

No sooner had Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sat as new president than a mass-based EDSA-3 May 1 threatened, but failed, to unseat her. Crisis after crisis has since challenged the new administration: kidnaps for ransom, the eruption of Mt. Mayon volcano, flooding in many places, political wrangling and the falling currency (peso), among others.

Meanwhile, WCG members have kept on equipping local church leaders for more competent and greater service to God, members and countrymen. Some congregations have continued missionary or evangelistic outreaches; others have started new congregations.

Through networking with other evangelical churches and parachurch organizations by Rey Taniajura, manager of Leadership Development and Church Relations, our local church leaders have been participating in Foundations for Christian Leadership (FCL), a program developed by the International School of Theology (ISOT)-Asia. It is endorsed by the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), of which the WCG-Philippines is a member.

FCL seeks to fill an urgent need to provide basic theological and administrative competence for church pastors who have not had solid pastoral training. While many churches have been raised here through enthusiastic evangelizing efforts, the training of would-be pastors has lagged behind. FCL fast-tracks the training for pastoral competency.

FCL has benefited our many leaders who serve on pastoral teams. Because of the dip in income over the past several years, many of our salaried pastors have been retired. The alternative has been to form volunteer pastoral teams. Various stages of the program have been conducted in Baguio, Manila and San Pablo for the Luzon churches; and Cebu and Bacolod for the Visayas and Mindanao churches.

Another leadership training program, more basic than FCL, is the Servant-Leaders Development Program (SLDP). This was put together by our own team at the Institute of Family, Leadership and Biblical Studies (IFLBS). Several of our church leaders in Cebu and Manila have finished this program, and many more are undergoing this training, with WCG pastors and other leaders as teachers.

We also have on-going studies to broaden members’ appreciation of the ministries that God makes available to every member. More than 300 members have finished the eight-session Condensed World Mission Course, some are currently taking it, and others begin in October.

At least four WCG members are enrolled at the Asian Theological Seminary, and several others are enrolled in other seminaries. Two are taking doctor of ministry classes at the International School of Theology—Asia. In April, 40 pastors and leaders completed a class on pastoral counseling taught by Stewart De Boer by special arrangement with ATS’s Lay Institute.

Several have also undertaken training in conducting daily Vacation Bible Schools and other ministries. Members in Metro Manila and Pampanga have been undergoing training in Evangelism Explosion (EE) as well.

The first National Women’s Conference in Baguio City March 30 to April 1 helped women appreciate their gifts from God that have enabled them to affect their families, congregations and communities. Helen Jackson and Helene Kiyono from the United States and Mila Paunil from the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches were resource speakers.

As a natural overflow of our members’ equipping, with the help and power of God’s Spirit, God has opened many doors to reach out to our fellow citizens—and our Asian neighbors—who need to know the love of God through Jesus Christ.

Most outstanding has been the work God has done through our missionary in Sorsogon, Enrico Mercader, now assisted by Joe Basera. In his initial contact with members of the Cimmarron tribe in San Rafael, Sorsogon, Mr. Mercader shared the gospel with them and helped them improve their living conditions.

Eventually a church was established there. Last year, Mr. Mercader learned from tribal chieftain Wellington Bien that the other tribal communities in the area were also interested in having God’s Word shared with them. Outreach Bible studies thus opened in Matnog, and then in Pieto-Diaz, both in Sorsogon, in November.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Indigenous People (NCIP) had gotten wind of Mr. Mercader’s efforts. Impressed by the holistic ministry of the church, Silverio Garcia, Sorsogon NCIP chief, asked to have the WCG partner with his office to help improve the lives of the 44 tribes under his jurisdiction.

Several other church leaders are reaching out to other indigenous tribal communities elsewhere in the Philippines. They are Onesimus Galit (among the Manyan tribe of Mindoro), Perlito Bayeta (among the Palawan tribe), Joe and Norma Salvador (among the Maguindanao people in Mindanao), and Boni Gonzales and Abelardo Balisnomo (among the Aeta tribal people in Iriga, Camarines Sur).

We have two WCG witnesses to China: Elizabeth Leyva and Cecilia Bangay. Both teach English at the college level in the southern region. Soon we will officially have a third witness, in Diody Silva [see box]. Two other missionaries are soon to leave for their mission fields: Delora Sales to Thailand and Malou Leyva to another Asian country.

The regional office, combining its resources with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, arranged for relief goods to reach victims of Mt. Mayon eruptions in Albay, Luzon, in June. The WCG was among the first church groups to respond to the needs of those affected by the calamity.

The women’s ministry in our Pangasinan churches, led by Pastor Rudy Salisipan’s wife, Belle, conducted a daily Vacation Bible School in Urdaneta and San Carlos during the school break in April.

The Manila church also conducted a medical and evangelistic mission in Santa Ana, Manila, in April. Outreach Bible studies are ongoing there with several families who accepted Christ as Savior. 

SERVANT LEADERS—First batch of
graduates from the Servant-Leader
Development Program

RELIEF EFFORT—Members give to
victims of Mayon eruption.

Pedro Melendez is senior pastor of the Manila, Philippines, church. He also teaches in the church’s Institute of Family, Leadership and Biblical Studies.

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2001