Methodist Church to Participate in the Quincentennial of Christianity

Posted on 23 April 2019
By NQC Admin

Officials of the First United Methodist Church with Ian Alfonso (leftmost) representing the NQC Secretariat, DBM Usec. Agnes Joyce Bailen (second from left) representing the NQC, and Davao Episcopal Area Rodolfo Juan (third from left). NQC

With ecumenism as part of its guiding principle, the National Quincentennial Committee (NQC) has reached out to the First United Methodist Church of the Philippines.

Department of Budget and Management Undersecretary Agnes Joyce Bailen represented the NQC in the 23rd Regular Session of the Visayas Philippine Annual Conference of the First United Methodist Church, Davao Episcopal Area, held in Cebu City on 9 April 2019.  Ian Christopher Alfonso, NQC Secretariat Head, also introduced the activities related to the 500 years of the introduction of Christianity in Philippine territory.

“It was Christ who arrived to Philippine shores in 1521 and every Christian Filipino must acknowledge it, regardless of denomination and beliefs,” Alfonso noted.

Led by the its Bishop Rodolfo Alfonso Juan, the Davao Episcopal Area unanimously approved the participation of the Methodist church in Mindanao and the Visayas in the quincentenary.

Also attending the session were Wesleyan University Philippine President Judge Benjamin D. Turgano and the university’s immediate past president Pacifico Aniag.

It was during the early American period when Philippine society was opened to other Christian beliefs and religions.  The Methodist Church in the Philippines was among the biggest waves of non-Catholic missions that came to the country.  The period also gave rise to other Christian denominations founded by the Filipinos such as the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, the Iglesia Evangelista Metodista en las Islas Filipinas, and the Iglesia ni Cristo.

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