Thursday, December 29, 2011

STEP UP


UNIDA
DEKADA OTSO
“Step Up”
By Rev. Gamaliel B. Filio

UNIDA. Baclaran Unida Evangelical Church of the Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo, 1932. We are, admittedly, a small church. That is, small in numbers but BIG in Faith. We do not play the numbers game but aim for Quality of Faith through Teaching and Preaching the True Gospel of the Saving Grace of Our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST.

We have reached our 8th decade. No small deal for a church initially ridiculed for being small and penniless at the start.

But this is a church that stood its ground on our faith that God will provide all our needs as He did the apostolic churches that sprouted in the first century of Christianity. UNIDA CHURCH was forged with the fire of Filipino Nationalism that raged at the turn of the 19th century FILIPINAS. This translated into a “Monument of Church Nationalism” that was awakened in the hearts of our forefathers in their struggle to free themselves from the fetters of the Church of Rome.

This “monument” is enshrined in the hearts of the pioneer Unida Pastors who served without remuneration during the first decades of the Church. “Naglingkod sa Dios at hindi sa Piso.” We have produced a Teleplay proclaiming this, titled “DEKADA OTSO” where we pried into the struggles of a Unida Pastor today. The fictional character Pastor Daniel Garcia embodies a composite of a current young Unida pastor.

Si Daniel Garcia. Isang bagong pastor. Inakala niya na ang
pagpapastoR ay ganun-ganun lang. Hanggang sumuong siya sa mga
pangyayaring sumubok sa tatag ng kaniyang pananampalataya sa
Panginoong Jesu-Cristo. At sa iglesiang kaniyang nilakhan at kung saan kinatagpo siya ng Dios. Tunghayan… Ang tele-dulang
ito ay batay sa kasaysayan ng Iglesia Evangelica Unida de
Cristo.

Baclaran Unida Evangelical Church, a “kapilya” where I grew up, is steeped in a tradition of Christmas Stage Plays, begun by my father, Pastor Genio, followed by Paying Garcia, then by this author, and today by my youngest son Lance. We begin practices in October and by December 23, we erect the stage at the side of the Kapilya. Even during those early years when I was one of the actors we already had musical scoring using long playing wax 45 rpm records played on turntables.

But now we have STEPPED UP from stage plays to Video Plays called nowadays Telenovela. When we produced our first Teleplay titled ‘ANG APAT” and our second one titled “SALVACION”, we used only one video camera. Today for our first full-length Telenovela titled “UNIDA, DEKADA OTSO”, we used five video cameras, have shoot a lot of footages and you can just imagine the post-production work that had to be done. And the cost skyrocketed. Because it has to be PROFESSINALY accomplished. Hindi basta-basta lang. This is for God!


Lance is making a limited copy of this Telenovela. Wait for it. It is worth it.

On January 8th 2012 our kapilya will celebrate its DEKADA OTSO. The theme is “MIGHTY AT EIGHTY” and permit me to add “FOR GOD ALMIGHTY”. Their shout is UNIDA AKO, PROTESTANTE, EBANGHELIKO, FILIPINO. We are self-sustaining, self-governing, and self-propagating. No foreign money and no foreign concept.

Plus, our Baclaran Unida Multi-Media Arts for Christ (BUMAC) is set to inaugurate its initial PODCAST of “ANG TINIG NG UNIDA” with this Intro:

Mula pa nuong 1932, pinag-isa ng Dios ang anim na iglesiang protestante, ebangheliko at pilipino at tinawag itong UNIDA. At humayo ang mga lalaki't babae nang kanilang panahon na hawak ang kanilang mga bukas na bibliya at wala silang ibang ipinakilala kundi ang ebanghelyo ni Kristo bilang tagapagligtas ng buong mundo. Ito ang tinig ng UNIDA na aming ipinapahayag ngayon: makasaysayang pananampalataya para sa nagbabagong mundo. Ito ang “TINIG NG UNIDA”. Pananampalatayang Unida para sa Mananampalatayang Unida.

We invite you to look at three videos, one at www.bagongunida.blogspot.com and two at our Youtube Channel, www.youtube.com/PastorGalying. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

UNIDA IN SONGS THROUGH THE YEARS



IGLESIA EVANGELICA UNIDA DE CRISTO HAS GROWN THROUGH THE YEARS. And this no more apparent than in the anthology of its music and songs. At the turn of the century its legacy of nationalism and faith in the One True God evolved into what it is right now.

It is truly self-sustaining, self-propagating and self-governing. No foreigners in its fold of leaders. It followed the example of the apostolic churches that spread in the first centuries of Christianity.

Friday, December 09, 2011

BUEC REACHES DEKADA OTSO


ON January 8th 2012 Baclaran Unida Evangelical Church celebrates DEKADA OTSO. The event starts with their declaration: UNIDA AKO, PROTESTANTE, EBANGHELIKO, FILIPINO and their theme is "MIGHTY AT EIGHTY FOR GOD ALMIGHTY."

A PIVOTAL DECADE


Deuteronomy 7:7-8
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. KJV


We now live in a pivotal decade. We have come to a fork in the road. SANGANGDAAN. Right or left? Or should we blaze a new trail straight forward?

It was inevitable. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The one He established in Caesaria Philippi. His body, of which he is the head must make a decision. And after doing it, there is no turning back.

It is not easy in our times when a lot are calling our attention, beckoning for us to come and seeing a lot of people answering the call. Leaving only a few behind. With Unida perhaps being the fewest. We live in a generation where definitions are blurred, where meanings have become ambivalent if not turned-around 180 degrees. Where it is so hard to distinguish what is right and what is wrong. Where the church is seemingly traipsing with the world in order to be relevant; so that a lot of people can “ease in” and we can be more in number. But the True God loved the few over the more. That is inescapable.

It is now therefore no longer a wonder that the First of the Ten Commandments is: "I am the LORD your God, You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:2-3

Because right now there are so many gods that men are elevating to Godship, yes, to the top of the mountain. And many are being deceived and misled. But God said I AM, you shall have no other before me. He was emphatic and we should listen.

But when only a few is left behind, do not be distressed nor dismayed. What you must struggle for is to be God’s Own through His Covenant of Grace by the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Since time in memorial men have tried to reach God by their own efforts, they even invented a Queen of Heaven in Semiramis to intercede for them. They did not reach the TRUE AND ONLY GOD because they also invented their own God in Baal. But there is only one God.

We live in a decade where growth is measured in numbers. Their logic goes like this: Unida has been around since 1932 but it has not shown BIG NUMBERS, therefore Unida has not grown as the scriptures said it should. But I say: through the years the Unida Faithfuls, though small in numbers, had been put through the grinder and they went through it with flying colors for 8 decades. Surviving alone without money is grinder enough but we are still around. Why? Because we are children of a great God.

Growth IS measured in the collective Faith of the individual Christians who are part of the Body Of Christ. Growth is measured in the Faith of the Church. So that when it comes to a pivotal decade, a fork in the road, a sangangdaan, it knows what to do. PUT ITS FAITH IN AN ALL-KNOWING GOD and HIS COVENANT OF GRACE. NO OTHER GOD.

We are commanded to make DISCIPLES of NATIONS. Because within those nations are God’s own people. We must seek and reach them to preach and teach them God’s words and commandments. Lest they hear these they cannot know what God had done for them; that he died for them and that God’s own blood was shed to save them. Because they are incapable of saving themselves by the Covenant of the Law, God had made a New Covenant by His blood. Lest they hear this and have faith they cannot be saved.

For there is only One God. There is only One Lord. There is only One Saviour. There is only One Name given for man’s Salvation. JESUS. Believe.


Pastor Galying
Sunday, November 27, 2011