Protestantism in the Philippines

Protestant Christianity arrived in the flag|Philippines during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. These Christian denominations were introduced mostly by American missionaries at that time, although some were founded locally. The country has the world's 13th-largest Protestant population with almost 9 million adherents, about 10 percent of the national population. Some of it are member church of National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), Philippines for Jesus Movement (PJM), Christian Conference of Asia, and the World Council of Churches.

Major Protestant Denominations

* Assemblies of God
* Bread of Life Ministries International
* Baptist Bible Fellowship
* Christian And Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines [http://camacop.org/]
* Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the Philippines
* Conservative Baptist Association
* Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches
* Episcopal Church in the Philippines [http://www.philippines.anglican.org]
* Evangelical Methodist Church in the Philippines
(Iglesia Evangelica Metodista En Las Islas Filipinas - IEMELIF) [http://www.iemelif.org]
* Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo
* Iglesia Unida Ekyumenikal
* Jesus Is Lord Church
* Jesus Christ To God be the glory church international
* Lutheran Church in the Philippines
* Southern Baptist Convention
* United Church of Christ in the Philippines
* The United Methodist Church [http://www.umc.org]
* Victory Christian Fellowship

Early History

Protestantism developed in the Philippines through the United States taking possession of the Philippines with the 1898 Treaty of Paris. [Deats, 1967, p. 91] United States rule allowed more opportunity for missionaries to enter the Philippines than under Spanish rule. In addition, there was a backlash against the Catholicism of the Spanish and a greater acceptance of Protestant Christianity represented by the Americans. [Deats, 1967, p. 92] The dominance of the Catholic Church in the Philippines and Protestant animosity towards Catholicism were prominent reasons for the start of Protestant missionary activity. [Anderson, 1969, p. 298] In 1901 the Evangelical Union was established in the Philippines to co-ordinate activities amongst the Protestant denominations and lay the foundations for an indigenous church movement. [Deats, 1967, p. 95]

First Protestant Worship Service

The first Protestant service held in the Philippines was on Sunday, August 28, 1898. Chaplain George Stull, a member of The Methodist Episcopal Church mn|Protestant|1, came with the occupying forces. Although his primary duty was to minister to the soldiers, he recorded in his diary that that first service, held in an old Spanish dungeon facing the bay, was attended not only by his own men but by many Filipinos as well. He commented on this service: [ [http://www.philmethodist.com/ The Story of Methodism in the Philippines - EARLY BEGINNINGS] ]

"That the power of God will use this day to make a good Catholic better, any weak American stronger, any backslider ashamed, and the gloomy old dungeon the beginning of wonderful things in these Islands, is my prayer." [Homer Stuntz, 1940, pp. 415-416]

mnb|Protestant|1Currently known as The United Methodist Church since 1968

Protestant Christianity (1898-1940): Comity Agreement

Protestant Christianity was introduced after the United States of America subjugated the Spanish Armada in the Philippines. In 1898 the Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist leaders met together in New York to discuss how to bring the evangelical message to the Filipinos. The result was a comity agreement of the missionary enterprises, dividing up places of ministry to avoid future conflicts among themselves and their converts. [Guillermo & Verora, pp. 1-3] This meant that only one Protestant church would be started in each area. The comity agreement, which led to the territorial division of the Philippines, was one of the greatest accomplishments of mission enterprises in the Philippines. The meeting was followed by another gathering in 1901 by the early missionaries in Manila to further discuss the comity agreement with three specific major agenda items:
* "“to organize the Evangelical Union,”"
* "“choose a common name for Protestant churches,”" and
* "“delineate the geographical work allotments for each church.”" [Guillermo & Verora, p. 3.]

From 1898 to 1905 there were different Protestant missions agencies joining the comity agreement, namely:
* Methodists (1898, most of lowland Luzon and north of Manila);
* Presbyterians (1899, Bicol, Southern Tagalog area and some parts of Western Visayas);
* Northern Baptists (1900, some parts of Western Visayas);
* United Brethren (1901, Mountain Province and La Union);
* Disciples of Christ (1901, Ilocos, Abra, and Tagalog towns);
* Congregationalists (1902, Mindanao except for the western end); and
* Christian and Missionary Alliance (1902, Western Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago).Manila was opened to all denominations and mission agencies. [Tuggy & Oliver, p. 19] The Seventh-day Adventist Church and Protestant Episcopals did not join because they wanted to go to all parts of the archipelago. [James H. Montgomery and Donald A. McGavran, pp. 41-51]

What would be the evident mission thrusts of these Protestant denominations in the country? The American Protestant Missions (APM) heavily emphasized institutional ministry, and medical missions in their evangelistic and missions endeavors.

For a short time the comity agreement worked well, until the situation grew more intricate and splits transpired. The most notable of these involved the Methodists in 1909 when Nicolas Zamora broke away from the Methodist and founded the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista en las Islas Filipinas (IEMELIF). This shattered the agreement. Thus IEMELIF became the first indegenous Evangelical Church in the Philippines (All Filipino supported church by that time). Furthermore, Methodist Ilocanos from Northern Luzon moved into the areas of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Mindanao. Baptist Ilongos migrated from Iloilo to Central Cotabato, traditionally Christian and Missionary Alliance territory. As this kind of movement increased, the sharp boundaries between the different comity areas became obscured. [Tuggy & Oliver, pp. 136-40.]

Divisions came with growth and expansion, and personality clashes, racial tensions, the dynamics of nationalism, cultural differences, power struggles and other non-theological factors contributed to the schisms. In the 1920s the fundamental-modernist controversy in the USA affected the Philippines, causing further division. By 1921, some nineteen independent denominations were registered with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and important splits occurred among the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Disciples of Christ. Several small denominations, some of them entirely under national leadership, emerged. [Frank Laubach, p. 23]

However, the original desire for unity remained strong. In 1929, the United Brethren, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches formed the United Evangelical Church in the Philippines. In 1932, six of the smaller indigenous denominations formed the Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo. The National Christian Council was founded in 1929 as a successor of the Evangelical Union. This was followed in 1938 by the organization of the Philippine Federation of Evangelical Churches. With the coming of World War II, the United Evangelical Church underwent severe trying circumstances when the mission agencies were completely cut off from the USA. American missionaries were incarcerated and mission funds were unexpectedly discontinued. To better deal with the diverse Protestant groups, the Japanese pressed for the formation of the Evangelical Church in the Philippines which combined thirteen denominations in all. However, most of the larger denominations such as Methodist, Episcopal and independent churches refused to do so. After the war, the Evangelical Church of the Philippines fell into further fragmentation, but the Disciples of Christ, the United Brethren, the Unida de Cristo, the Evangelica Nacional, some individual congregations of the IEMELIF, the Philippine Methodist and the Presbyterian Churches remained intact and retained the name. In 1949 the United Evangelical Church and the Philippine Federation of Evangelical Churches united to form the Philippine Federation of Christian Churches. Today, Protestant and Evangelical churches and denominations are grouped into major councils of churches: The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), organized in 1963; the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) organized in 1964; and the Philippines for Jesus Movement (PJM) organized in the 1990s.

Growth of Protestantism

A major factor in the development of Philippine Protestantism is the explicit expression of religious freedom found in the Philippine constitution. [Elwood, 1969, p. 370] The Philippine Youth Movement founded in 1926 boosted the move to develop the indigenous church nationwide. [Anderson, 1969, p. 296]

Protestantism and Nationalism

A continuing theme in the development of Protestantism in the Philippines is the tension between the religion and nationalism. After an initial period of resentment toward American missionaries Filipinos gradually accepted Protestant Christianity. [Deats, 1967, p. 132] During the 1920s and 30s American Methodist missionaries openly supported Filipino independence from the United States. [Deats, 1967, p. 142]

Negative Aspects of Philippine Protestantism

The Philippines has a history of accepting American religious trends without proper scrutiny and skepticism. This is especially true of poverty stricken and underprivileged Filipinos who are attracted to the grand promises made by American evangelists. [Elwood, 1969, p. 371] Filipino pastors also run “Evangelical Crusades” where they descend on a church to preach to the congregation and expect payment for their work. These pastors are referred to as “rocket pastors” by the local churches. [Missionary to the Philippines for Wycliffe Bible Translators] In addition, indigenous churches have developed with theology that very loosely represents that of either Catholicism or Protestantism, or is in direct contradiction to these theologies. For instance, the Sons of God of Caloocan City administer a test to members to "prove that they are chosen by the Holy Spirit to be Sons of God." [Elwood, 1969, p. 381]

Education

Protestants founded many schools and universities all over the Philippines. Most notable of these is Silliman University, the first and oldest Protestant founded university in the Philippines.

References

Deats, R., Nationalism and Christianity in the Philippines (Dallas, 1967)

Anderson, G. H., ‘Providence and Politics behind Protestant Missionary Beginnings in the Philippines’, in G. Anderson (ed.), Studies in Philippine Church History (London, 1969)

Merlyn L. Guillermo and L. P. Verora, Protestant Churches and Missions in the Philippines, vol. 1 (Valenzuela, Metro Manila: Agape Printing Services, 1982)

A. Leonard Tuggy and Ralph Oliver, Seeing the Church in the Philippines (Manila: OMF, 1972), pp. 26-53 discussed the Spanish-American war.

James H. Montgomery and Donald A. McGavran, The Discipling of a Nation (Manila: Global Church Growth Bulletin, 1980)

Frank Laubach, People of the Philippines (New York: George H. Dora, 1925), p. 23.

Homer Stuntz, The Philippines and the Far East. Cincinnati: Jennings and Pye, 1904. Cincinnati: Jennings and Pye, 1904.

Elwood, D. J., ‘Varieties of Christianity in the Philippines’, , in G. Anderson (ed.), Studies in Philippine Church History (London, 1969)

Missionary to the Philippines for Wycliffe Bible Translators

ee also

*Christianity in the Philippines
**Roman Catholicism in the Philippines
**Philippine Orthodox Church
**Methodism in the Philippines
*Buddhism in the Philippines
*Hinduism in the Philippines
*Islam in the Philippines

External links

* [http://www.nccphilippines.org/ National Council of Churches in the Philippines]
* [http://www.pcec.ph/ Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches]