Bagong UNIDA@Baclaran Unida Church: IGLESIA EVANGELICA UNIDA DE CRISTO: A CHURCH NAMED BY GOD

Monday, June 16, 2008

IGLESIA EVANGELICA UNIDA DE CRISTO: A CHURCH NAMED BY GOD

IN 1932, six Filipino indigenous Churches bonded together to form ONE. And with humble Faith, they followed the example of the Disciples, in letting God choose the Name of the new Church. They did what they call Pelotilya, as the first disciples did when faced with the task of choosing the replacement of Judas - the christians drew lots from two people they have separated.

Our forefathers voted and separated three church names and after the prayer of the whole congregation they submitted them to God, and He chose the name IGLESIA EVANGELICA UNIDA DE CRISTO. But they did not stop there, they also used pelotilya to choose the General Superintendent, General Secretary, General Treasurer, and General Evangelist of the Church. They voted 11 pastors to be members of the Board of Directors. Then they let God choose the Generales who will lead the church.

First the General Superintendent. They ranked the pastors according to the number of votes. The first three names were submitted to Pelotilya. In a straw hat they wrote the three names in three small pieces of paper and they rolled each one. In another straw hat they placed three rolled blank pieces of paper and a special one in which is written the words: “You are the one chosen by God.” It is possible and it had happened that three blanks will be drawn and no one is chosen, in which case the next three names in the ranking will be submitted to pelotilya until God chooses a name. The process is repeated for General Secretary, General Treasurer, and General Evangelist.

It is our faith that God chose the name of our Church and also have chosen the leaders of the Church since 1932 up to the present.

BACLARAN UNIDA CHURCH is one of the original congregations of the churches that became ONE. And since then, it has contributed five bishops to the leadership of the church. Only those chosen by God to be General Superintendent can become a Bishop. And BUC to-date has five of them.

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IGLESIA EVANGELICA UNIDA DE CRISTO

VISION STATEMENT
A serving and caring church faithfully proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and commissioning every believer to make disciples of all nations.

MISSION STATEMENT
Glorify God by equipping the church in reaching and serving people with the Love of Jesus Christ by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

UNIDA CHURCH has a distinctive name and a place in the history of the Philippines. It followed the prophetic observation in 1903 by Rev. John Bancropt Devins “that Filipino Protestants will be self-supporting”: (Wikipedia Encyclopedia) “In 1932, six of the smaller indigenous denominations formed the Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo.”

UNIDA dared to declare economic independence by turning down American dollars to become self-supporting. It was hard going for them because their pastors did not receive anything from the church and the members built churches on their own without aid from the Americans. But with so much faith in God’s provisions they did. Unida is now 77 years old and going strong.

Jose Rizal dreamed of an economically independent Philippines but that remained a dream. For the country, that is. But for 77 years Unida was free from foreign intervention because they were economically independent.

The IGLESIA EVANGELICA UNIDA DE CRISTO or UNIDA CHURCH, the truly Filipino Protestant Church, was born on January 3, 1932 but the seeds that gave birth to it were sown at the turn of the century. It was preceded by the birth pangs of an independent Filipino Nation and emboldened by the coming to the Philippines of Protestantism and consequently the right to read and own a BIBLE. (For more please click for older post "UNIDA: A TRULY FILIPINO PROTESTANT CHURCH"