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The Philippine Church: The Lay of the Land. Echoes of Faithfulness, Seeds for the Future

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The following is the text of a talk I gave at the 2026 Biennial Conference for the Baptist Conference of the Philippines, 30 July 2026. There is a video version. A PDF version can be found at the end of this article.

1. Introduction

Good morning. My name is Dr. Michael Fast, and I’ve been asked to give the opening presentation for our sessions over the next two days: The State of the Philippine Church: The Lay of the Land – Echoes of Faithfulness, Seeds for the Future.

This morning I’d like us to zoom in together. We’ll begin with the Philippines as a whole. Then we’ll focus on evangelicals. Finally, we’ll look at our own family – the Baptist Conference of the Philippines.

2. Religion in the Philippines

I’d like to begin by looking at religion in the Philippines. The following statistics are drawn primarily from the Pew Research Center and Social Weather Stations.

Christianity continues to dominate religious life in the Philippines. Approximately 92% of Filipino adults identify as Christian, including Roman Catholics, Protestants, and members of other Christian traditions.

The Philippines is also home to the third-largest Roman Catholic population in the world, so it is no surprise that religion remains central to Filipino society.

According to Pew Research, 99% of Filipinos believe in God, and 79% pray every day. These are among the highest levels of religious belief and daily prayer measured anywhere in the world.

Faith also shapes public life. Eighty-two percent of Filipinos say that the Bible should have either a great deal or a fair amount of influence on the laws of the Philippines.

When biblical teaching and public opinion come into conflict, 63% of Protestants say that the Bible should have greater influence than the will of the people, while 49% of Roman Catholics say that the will of the people should prevail.

In practice, however, weekly worship attendance has declined over the past several decades. During the early 1990s, approximately 60% of Filipino adults attended weekly worship services. By 2017, that figure had declined to 46%. Among Roman Catholics, weekly attendance fell from 56% to approximately 40% over the same period.

Even so, personal devotion remains remarkably strong. Approximately 69% of Catholics pray every day, 93% reported attending an in-person worship service during the previous three months, and only 3% said they never attend religious services at all.

These statistics provide a broad picture of Christianity in the Philippines. At this point, I am not addressing other religious communities, such as Islam or Indigenous religions. Instead, I’d like us to narrow our focus.

3. Evangelicals in the Philippines

So, what about evangelicals?

Some of you may already be thinking,” Yes – but we’re not Roman Catholics. We’re evangelicals!”

That’s true. So, what does the state of the evangelical church in the Philippines look like?

According to Philippine Challenge (2018), the Philippines had a population of approximately 101 million people. Today, that figure is closer to 120 million.

The country has roughly 42,000 barangays. Just under half of them remain unreached, meaning there is no evangelical church present in those communities.

At that time there were approximately 65,000 evangelical churches, serving about 7.8 million evangelicals – roughly 7.8% of the population.

The average evangelical church had approximately 121 members.

We’ll return to that figure in a few moments.

So, we’ve moved from looking at the Philippine population as a whole to evangelicals. Now let’s narrow the focus even further.

4. How Large is the Baptist Conference of the Philippines?

What about the Baptist Conference of the Philippines (BCP)?

Here we find some interesting statistics.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), approximately 274,000 people identify themselves as members of the Baptist Conference of the Philippines.

These are self-identification statistics. In other words, when census workers ask,” What is your religion?” these individuals respond,” Baptist Conference of the Philippines.”

These figures differ somewhat from the membership statistics available through denominational sources.

The membership figures reported by the Baptist World Alliance and cited on Converge materials reflect data collected during the tenure of General Secretary Boy Alfafara. Those reports indicate approximately 35,000 members worshipping in 430 to 450 churches.

I’m not certain where those numbers stand today. Perhaps, as a result of this Biennial, we’ll have an even clearer statistical picture.

These two sources are measuring different things.

One measures identity – how people identify themselves.

The other measures church membership.

Taken together, however, they portray a denomination with broad national recognition, thousands of committed members, and a church-planting movement that has faithfully served communities across the Philippines for generations.

5. The State of the Local PHP Church

So, what about the local church?

We’ve moved from looking at the Philippines as a whole, to evangelicals, to the Baptist Conference of the Philippines. Now let’s consider our local churches.

When we think about churches, we often focus on numbers. We ask questions like: How many? How much? How large?

Sometimes we even assume that a healthy church is a large church, and a large church is a healthy church.

But the evidence suggests otherwise.

According to Philippine Challenge, the average evangelical church in the Philippines has approximately 121 members. Internationally, the average evangelical church often falls somewhere between 60 and 120 weekly attenders, depending on the country and denomination.

If our estimate of about 80 members per BCP church is reasonably accurate, then we are well within the range of what is typical for evangelical churches around the world.

In other words, our churches are not unusually small.

More importantly, church health cannot be measured by attendance alone.

Healthy churches are measured by something much deeper than size.

That brings us to an important transition.

Rather than continuing to focus on statistics, I’d like us to turn our attention to stories. Our Biennial theme, after all, is Harvest Echoes: Voices from the Field. So, what do these stories tell us about the health of the Philippine church?

I would suggest that they tell us something very encouraging: Filipino churches are healthy churches.

Why do I say that? Because, in my experience serving and visiting churches around the world, Filipino believers consistently strengthen and revitalize churches by faithfully practicing what I call the Four Marks of the Church.

First, Worship. We gather together to exalt God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

Second, the Word. We are shaped by God’s Word and by the gospel (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Third, the Ordinances. Through baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we remember and proclaim the saving work of Christ (Matthew 28:19–20; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

Finally, Governance. The church is led through godly oversight, accountability, and spiritual discernment (Hebrews 13:17; Acts 20:28).

These four marks help form healthy churches. They prepare and equip the church so that we can then be scattered into the world as God’s people.

We’ll return to that idea later.

As we listen to the stories shared throughout this Biennial, I believe we’ll hear repeated evidence of churches faithfully living out these four marks.

Now, I know some of you may already be thinking, “But what about our weaknesses? What about the challenges we face?” Those are important questions. We’ll acknowledge them in due course. But before we talk about what we still lack, I think it’s important that we first recognize who God has already made us to be.

6. Transmission & Appropriation Framework

As we reflect on the stories we’ll hear throughout this Biennial, it’s helpful to step back and consider the larger story of the Baptist Conference of the Philippines.

When we look at the history of Christian mission—not only in the Philippines, but around the world—we often see a similar pattern unfolding.

I describe that pattern in three movements: Transmission. Appropriation. Participation.

Together, these describe the journey of the gospel within the Baptist Conference of the Philippines.

First, the gospel is received.

Then, the gospel becomes our own.

Finally, the gospel is shared with the world.

The first movement is Transmission.

This is the season in which the gospel is proclaimed by missionaries. Churches are planted. Scripture is taught. Leaders are trained. Bible translation, theological education, leadership development, and church planting all become part of establishing the church.

We’re honoured that Ma’am Joyce is with us today. She represents many missionaries who faithfully served the church in the Philippines over many decades. Their work laid important foundations upon which we continue to build today.

The second movement is Appropriation.

In many ways, this begins almost immediately. As Filipinos hear the gospel, they naturally begin asking, “How does this become our story?”

The question is no longer simply, “What have we received?” but “How do we faithfully embody the gospel within our own culture and communities?”

Years ago, while teaching in Vietnam, I asked a group of students how people in their country perceived Jesus. One student replied, “Jesus is a foreigner.”

I’ve often reflected on that conversation. I don’t believe most Filipinos think of Jesus as a foreigner. Rather, Filipino believers recognize that Christ identifies with them, speaks into their lives, and calls them within their own culture.

Appropriation is never a one-sided process. It involves dialogue between missionaries and Filipino believers. It involves learning from one another. It requires mutual respect.

At times, it also involves misunderstanding and tension. That is a normal part of every missionary movement. Yet through God’s grace, those tensions can give way to reconciliation, healing, and deeper partnership. The gospel becomes embodied through Filipino pastors, Indigenous expressions of worship, church planting, community transformation, and ongoing theological education.

The third movement is Participation.

Now the gospel is not merely received. It is shared. Filipinos become not only recipients of mission but participants in God’s global mission. Those who once received the gospel now become those who send others.

According to the Baptist World Alliance, the Baptist Conference of the Philippines has commissioned more than forty missionaries serving in various parts of the world. While I may not know every country where they serve, we know of ministry taking place in places such as Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Canada, and the United States, along with many other contexts. Filipinos are planting churches internationally, serving immigrant communities, and participating in God’s mission far beyond the Philippines.

This Biennial also marks an important milestone. It is our first Biennial in this new era of participation. At our previous Biennial, Dr. Jenkins, representing Converge, formally recognized the Baptist Conference of the Philippines as a sister organization – an equal ministry partner, serving together in God’s global mission.

That recognition symbolizes something much larger. It reminds us that the Baptist Conference of the Philippines has matured from being primarily a mission field into becoming a missionary movement.

That is something worth celebrating.

7. Stories of Transmission by Early Missionaries

So, what does this look like in practice?

One way to answer that question is to look back at the stories of those who came before us.

As I worked through the missionary prayer letters preserved in the BTC Archives, I was struck by how familiar many of those stories felt. Some of the missionaries represented there are connected with families who are with us today—the Esplands, the Chalmers, the Osbrons, the Nelsons, and many others. Their names remind us that the story of the Baptist Conference of the Philippines has always been a shared story.

Those prayer letters tell stories of churches being planted, lives being transformed, and communities encountering the hope of the gospel.

Those are wonderful stories. They’re also our stories. Over the next two days, we’ll hear many similar testimonies from churches across the Philippines.

But those missionary letters tell another story as well. They speak honestly about struggle. They describe cultural misunderstandings, natural disasters, disappointments in ministry, conflict within churches, and seasons when hearts were not yet ready for what God was doing.

Those are our stories too.

Every generation of God’s people experiences both joy and difficulty. Yet despite those challenges, the missionaries left an extraordinary legacy. They helped establish churches. They invested in leadership development. They modelled partnership. And perhaps most importantly, they helped nurture a movement that became increasingly Filipino-led, Filipino-governed, and Filipino-supported, while continuing to enjoy healthy international partnerships.

That is a remarkable testimony to God’s faithfulness.

8. Appropriation In the Baptist Conference of the Philippines

Our work of appropriation did not end with the first generation. It continues today. The gospel continues to take deeper root as Filipino churches faithfully live out their calling within their own communities.

I see at least five enduring expressions of that legacy.

Church planting continues to be one of the defining strengths of the Baptist Conference of the Philippines. SEATS, where I serve as Academic Dean, has partnered with districts and local churches for many years. Through these partnerships, participating churches have developed intentional church-planting strategies. In that one sub-district alone, the number of churches doubled as a result of that initiative. That is only one example among many. Throughout the Baptist Conference of the Philippines, God continues to raise up new churches.

Leadership development also remains central. Baptist Theological College continues preparing pastors, teachers, and Christian leaders for ministry across the Philippines. BTC extends theological education through modular and distance-learning programs, making training accessible to pastors serving throughout the country. Local churches continue identifying and developing leaders from among their own members.

Together, these ministries demonstrate that leadership development remains one of the great strengths of our movement.

The gospel is also demonstrated through compassionate ministry during crises. BCP churches faithfully respond to typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other crises. Relief ministries have increasingly developed into long-term community ministries, showing that compassion is not merely an emergency response but an ongoing expression of the love of Christ.

Leadership multiplication continues at every level. Many pastors are trained within their local churches, while seminars, mentoring relationships, and ministry training continue to equip believers for service. Older and younger generations serve together, ensuring that leadership is reproduced from one generation to the next.

Finally, our movement continues to value partnership. Di naman tayo madamot sa ating faith. Training opportunities are often shared with churches beyond the Baptist Conference of the Philippines. Relationships across denominations strengthen the witness of the gospel throughout the nation. The gospel is never diminished by partnership. It is multiplied.

9. Filipinos by Nature: Redefining what it means to be Religious, Relation, Restorative, and Present.

As we think about the future, I believe God has uniquely prepared Filipino believers for ministry. The gospel has not simply been translated into Filipino culture. It has been deeply appropriated. I see this reflected in four cultural strengths that continue to shape the health of the Philippine church.

First, maka-Diyos. Filipinos have a deep desire to live in right relationship with God. Maka-Diyos is much richer than simply being religious. It is more than attending church. More than believing certain doctrines. More than following moral principles. It reflects a holistic orientation toward God that is expressed through loving one’s family, caring for one’s neighbour, and faithfully serving the Lord.

Second, kapwa. Mission grows naturally from a shared identity. Kapwa reminds us that we are not isolated individuals. We belong to one another. Relationships matter more than transactions. We are called to care, to share, and to stand together. Because of this, compassion and mission often flow naturally within Filipino communities.

Third, pagbabalik-loob. A return to our authentic self. The gospel restores what sin has broken. Filipino culture places great value on restoring relationships, and this resonates deeply with the biblical story. Genesis reminds us that humanity was created in God’s image, living in harmony with God, one another, and creation. Through Christ, God begins restoring that wholeness. The church becomes a community where reconciliation is not merely preached – it is practiced.

Finally, kairos. We often joke about “Filipino time.” Yet beneath those jokes lies a deeper cultural insight. Filipinos often live with an awareness that not every important moment can be scheduled. Alongside Chronos – clock time – we also recognize Kairos – God’s appointed time or ang takdang panahon. Chronos teaches planning, organization, and stewardship. Kairos teaches discernment, presence, and responsiveness to the Holy Spirit. Healthy ministry requires both. Planning without discernment becomes mechanical. Discernment without planning becomes ineffective. The healthiest churches learn to hold both together.

How does each of these redefine church?

Maka-Diyos defines how to have a Holistic relationship with God. This is a deeper, more holistic understanding of God and our lives. It flows from love of family, neighbour, and faithful obedience to God.

Kapwa defines how mission grows from shared identity. This is one reason why mission is so important to Philippine churches. We naturally reach out because we see others as fellow persons, not strangers.

Pagbabalik-loob defines reconciliation restores relationships. This emphasizes the relational aspect of culture and connects it with God—He is not a stranger, but we are reconciled to Him.

Chronos and Kairos times define how planning meets discernment. We balance careful planning (Chronos) with sensitivity to God’s leading (Kairos). This allows Philippine ministry to be both intentional and responsive.

So where do we go from here?

10. The Way Forward

Why does the Philippine church matter—not only to the Philippines, but to the world? I believe there are several reasons.

First, the Philippines is a growing nation. By the middle of this century, the Philippines is expected to be one of the countries contributing most significantly to global population growth.

Second, Filipinos are a global people. More than 10 million Filipinos live and work outside the Philippines, forming one of the largest diaspora communities in the world. That means the Philippine church is already present in nearly every region of the globe.

Third, Filipinos are becoming a global missionary force. Whether serving as pastors, professionals, overseas workers, or students, Filipino believers are faithfully bearing witness to Christ wherever God has placed them. We’ve seen this throughout the Middle East, across Asia, in Europe, in North America, and in many other parts of the world.

In Canada, for example, Filipino believers have played a significant role in revitalizing existing churches and planting new ones. As Pastor June Torres has observed, among BGC Canada churches, Filipino congregations are among those most consistently planting and sustaining new churches. Those are remarkable gifts that God has entrusted to us.

The question is: Ano ba pang pangangailangan natin para sa kinabukasan? [What do we need for the future?]

11. Functional Church Scorecard

We need to begin by looking Beyond the Four Walls of the church. Perhaps one of the greatest opportunities before us is to remember that the church exists for more than what happens on Sunday morning. Sunday worship is essential. But worship also prepares us to be sent into the world.

Rather than asking only, “How large is our church?” or “How many people attended?” perhaps we should also ask, “Is our church faithfully fulfilling God’s purposes in our community?” That question changes everything.

A healthy church is not simply one that gathers well. It is a church that is faithfully scattered.

We are called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We are called to reveal the joys of God’s Kingdom. We are called to demonstrate God’s love through mercy, relief, rehabilitation, community development, and compassionate service. And we are called to speak prophetically into society with biblical truth, humility, and courage. Those are the functions of a church living faithfully in God’s mission.

12. Reflections for this Week

That brings us to a very personal question: “Where does my story begin?”

Throughout these next two days, you’ll hear many stories – stories of faithfulness, sacrifice, perseverance, and hope. Listen carefully. Listen for what God has done. Listen for what God is doing. And perhaps most importantly, listen for what God may be saying to you.

As you listen, reflect on the story God is writing in your own church. Where have you seen His faithfulness? Where is He calling you to grow? What new chapter might He be inviting you to write?

Because today’s reflections become tomorrow’s harvest. The stories we celebrate during this Biennial are not the conclusion of God’s work. They are an invitation to participate in what He is doing next. May God give us ears to hear, hearts to respond, and the courage to write the next chapter of the Baptist Conference of the Philippines together.

Thank you.

Good morning. Magandang umaga, and may God bless us all.

13. References

Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogical imagination (M. Holquist, Ed.; C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Trans.). University of Texas Press.

Bakhtin, M. M. (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics (C. Emerson, Ed. & Trans.). University of Minnesota Press.

Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays (V. W. McGee, Trans.). University of Texas Press.

Baptist World Alliance. (n.d.). Baptist Conference of the Philippines, Inc. Retrieved June 24, 2026, from https://baptistworld.org/member/baptist-conference-of-the-philippines-inc/

Chalmers, G. W. (1969, November 22). Tell it like it is… [Missionary prayer letter from Cataingan, Masbate, Philippines]. Board of Foreign Missions, Baptist General Conference.

Chalmers, G. W. (1985, July). Turning from Fear [Missionary prayer letter from Calbayog City, Western Samar, Philippines]. World Missions, Baptist General Conference.

de Mesa, J. M. (1988). Re-thinking the faith with indigenous categories. Inter-Religio, 13(Summer), 18-29.

de Mesa, J. M. (2003). Why theology is never far from home. De La Salle University Press.

de Mesa, J. M. (2004). Mga aral sa daan: Dulog at paraang kultural sa kristolohiya. De La Salle University Press.

Espland, H. W. (n.d., May 22). Day of Rejoicing [Missionary prayer letter from Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines]. World Missions, Baptist General Conference.

Espland, H. W. (1982, July 10). Dear Prayer Partners [Missionary prayer letter from Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines]. World Missions, Baptist General Conference.

Evans, J., & Lesage, K. (2026, June 30). 5 facts about religion in the Philippines. Spring 2024 Global Attitudes Survey, PEW Research Center. Retrieved July 24, 2026, from https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/06/30/5-facts-about-religion-in-the-philippines/

Pew Research Center (2011). Global Christianity: A report on the size and distribution of the World’s Christian Population. https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf

Maggay, M. P. (2013). A religion of guilt encounters a religion of power: Missiological implications and consequences. In M. P. Maggay (Ed.), The gospel in culture: Contextualization through Asian eyes. OMF Literature Inc.

Marshall, A. (2014). Bayanihan and belonging: Filipinos in Manitoba. Manitoba History, 76, 2-12.

Marshall, A. (2015). Stories of bayanihan and belonging: Filipinos in Manitoba, Part 2. Manitoba History, 77, 2-12.

Nelson, R. K. (1968, December 9). Typhoon Sinyang correspondence [Missionary prayer letter from San Remigio, Cebu, Philippines]. Board of Foreign Missions, Baptist General Conference.

Osbron, J. (1981, December 28). Dear friends: The taming of Mike Escalante [Missionary prayer letter from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines]. World Missions, Baptist General Conference.

Philippine Statistics Authority. (2020). Household Population by Religious Affiliation, Region, Province, and Highly Urbanized City: Philippines, 2020. 2020 Census of Population and Housing.

van Engen, C. (1991). God’s missionary people: Rethinking the purpose of the local church. Baker Academic.

Varberg, R. (2009). Why didn’t you come sooner? Stories from My Life as a Missionary in the Philippines. William Carey Library.

Vencer, A. B. (2004). Towards a functional church in society. DNA Discipling a Whole Nation, n.p.

Vencer, A., Punzalan, C. V. P. III, & Fast, M. J. (Eds.). (2020). The functional church (Faculty Working Paper, Discipling a Whole Nation). South East Asian Theological Schools, Inc.

Walls, A. F. (2002). The cross-cultural process in Christian history: Studies in the transmission and appropriation of faith. Orbis Books.

Zurlo, G. A. (2026). How many evangelicals in the world? A new assessment from the World Christian Database. Review of Religious Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034673X261447046

Fast – 2026 – The Philippine Church- The Lay of the Land Echoes of Faithfulness, Seeds for the FutureDownload

BCBC Improving your Serve – Abide to Thrive: Exploring the Church’s Identity in Christ & its Outward Function in the World

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I recently had a chance to speak at the British Columbia Baptist Conference’s annual equipping session entitled Improving Your Serve. The theme this year was Abide to Thrive. In the seminar and subsequent reflection and discussion sessions, we reflected on how understanding our church identity informs community actions. We also considered how the good news, kingdom values, serving others, and truthtelling shape our identity. Then we explored where churches may need to realign their focus to be more present in today’s cultural conversations. All in all, we examined how abiding in Christ can lead to a more fruitful and impactful presence in the world.

If you missed the seminar, a video version of my talk can be found here, and a livestream here, but for those who are interested in getting the text of what I said here it is in its complete form.

Personal Story

When I was a kid, joining the church wasn’t just a formality – it was a process with theological requirements. Part of that process involved sharing my testimony. First, I had to present it to the church board. Once they approved, I had to stand before the entire congregation. Both groups had to vote before I could officially become a member. 

I remember envying those who had dramatic testimonies – stories – of being saved from lives of obvious, even salacious sin. My story wasn’t like that. It felt ordinary. I hadn’t strayed far or hit rock bottom. I didn’t have a before-and-after moment that felt remarkable. 

For a long time, I wrestled with the idea that my testimony wasn’t enough – that it didn’t measure up. But more recently, I’ve been struck by Connie Duarte’s words: ‘We are not called to be believers but disciples.’

That statement has challenged and reshaped how I see my journey of faith. It’s not merely about believing the right things or about meeting theological checklists. Nor is it about the level of initial transformation from darkness to light. Rather, it’s about abiding in Christ every day – submitting to Him, walking with Him, and letting His life flow through mine – journeying with him on a lifetime of being transformed. Being a disciple isn’t about how dramatic my testimony is; it’s about how deeply I abide. 

This shift in understanding has led me to see the gospel – and my place in it – in a whole new way. The gospel isn’t just something to believe; it’s something to live out daily. And abiding in Christ, particularly in His proclamation is at the heart of that.

The Vine Metaphor: A Living Metaphor

The title of our seminar is Improving Your Serve: Abiding to Thrive. When discussing the concept of abiding, there’s no better passage for us to examine than John 15. Here Jesus talks about us being the branches and he’s the vine. There’s lots and lots of rich imagery in this metaphor that we will spend some time looking at today. But if we want to get down to brass tacks, the basic message of this story is that whether we like it or not our lives are organically bound up in God’s and in each other’s – I like the fact that Jesus’ use of an organic example here shows that abiding is dynamic, not static. Adding to that, a vine is communal rather than singular: Fruit comes in clusters, and not in isolation; Pruning is necessary for the entire plant to both grow and produce fruit.

It’s this organic story of connection, care, growth, and production that’s a fabulous story of our identity. But we often stop here and say, “Okay, I can live my life now in satisfaction because I’m connected, and I’m identified with who I am.” Once we identify ourselves, we remain satisfied with that identity.

Identity is important. Let’s look at the church, for example – especially since that’s why we have gathered today. In the church we have a series of things that identify us for who we are.

Debie Thomas, in her Into the Mess and Other Jesus Stories: Reflections on the Life of Christ, says, “If God is the vine grower, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches, what should we do? We have only one task: to abide. To tarry, to stay, to cling, to remain, to depend, to rely, to persevere, to commit. To hang in there for the long haul. To make ourselves at home.”  

Our seminar is entitled Improving Your Serve. And each of these three words in the title are significant for today’s conversation. That’s why, when speaking of identity, we will begin with the centre word: “Your.” So, let’s get into the nitty gritty of John 15!

ABIDING AS IDENTITY

The story starts with Jesus declaring “I AM.” This is God’s identity word – the name he uses when he introduces himself. Jesus’ ultimate identity, and we see this throughout the book of John, is his constant referral back to who he really is. He uses the technical term “I AM” to indicate that he is declaring that he is the same as the God who saved Israel from Egypt.

What’s interesting to note in John 15 is that Jesus does not simply say, “I AM.” Much like God’s declaration of who he was to Moses at the burning bush was not simply saying, “This is who I AM, period.” Jesus identifies himself as “I AM the vine.” I AM is connected to his creation – which is really how God initially identified himself in Exodus isn’t it? God made himself known to Moses at the burning bush, in response to hearing cries for help from his people!

YHWH exists for more to happen than mere existence – he exists also to save humans! We, too, are called to make this same movement from one thing to the next. And this progression starts with identity – Who are we? Who is God? – but then moves into ideas of purpose. It moves from merely being a vine and branches towards bearing fruit.

1. Worship as Identity

For example, we all engage in worship of some kind or another.  Every now and then we decide, “Hey, let’s worship without singing,” Matt Redman-style, but in all reality, singing forms the core of how we see worship. There’s all of this kind of stuff that we do that helps us identify who we are and the kind of church we are – and all of those things are music-related: Are we going to sing praise and worship songs? Are we going to sing from the hymn book? Are we going to use instruments? Are we not going to use instruments? Is there going to be a worship team in a band on the front or is it just going to be a guy in a toque playing a guitar with a candle burning? Years ago, at Missions Fest one church advertised “a massive wall of sound.”

All of that to say that sometimes rather than identifying ourselves as those who worship, we instead identify ourselves as those who worship this way.  

2. Word as Identity

We also identify ourselves through how we approach the Word of God. The Word of God – is it a significant part of our time when we gather, isn’t it?

Sermons, children’s songs such as “read your bible pray every day, and you’ll grow, grow, grow,” bible verses hanging on the church wall, arguments over bible translations, etc.

One of the churches I serve in the Philippines thought long and hard and eventually came up with the name, Metro Manila Bible Community – because for us as Bible believing Christians, the Bible is our sole source for faith and conduct. So much so that it becomes our identity.

But word is more than these things.

But then again, we often attach identity to the length of sermon – or bible translation used, or the place where the sermon is preached from, or whether or not we read through the bible in a year or not – rather than the fact there is a bible.

3. Sacrament as Identity

We have a third identifying mark. I have used the word “sacrament” here but some of you may be squirming in your seats because we generally avoid using that word. We say, “No, no, no, we’re Baptists. We don’t have sacraments; we have ordinances!”

In the long run, it doesn’t really matter what word we use. Rather what’s important is that we do have these things that are a significant part of how we identify ourselves. It’s right in there in our name: We are the BC Baptist Conference. Other groups don’t centralize baptism as much as we do, but rather they centralize the Lord supper. As members of BCBC, both of these are fairly intense processes for us.

I already told you my baptism story. There was a similar process when I wanted to participate in the Lord’s Supper. Mind you I didn’t have to convince the board. Rather, before I could take Lord’s Supper, I had to convince my dad that I understood what was happening so that I wouldn’t “partake in an unworthy manner.”

It’s different in the Philippines. Here children go through First Communion where they’re formally introduced into the rite. Why all the process? Because we have these things that we identify as being important, so much so they identify us with who we are.

4. System as Identity

A fourth identifying feature is system. I actually struggled with what word to use here. We could use governance. We could use discipline. We could use polity. But regardless, it’s the way we make sure that everything is orderly in our worship and our organization. How do we organize ourselves? We all have some kind of organizing system – whether we’re organized to attend church at a specific time, whether we’re organized into having a corporate worship and then a small discipleship or small group or Bible study, whether we have a Sunday school, whether we have a board of trustees or board of elders or board of directors, whether we have a pastoral team or not whether we agree that pastors are only male or can they also be female – all of this stuff is part of our discipline. It’s our way of addressing what’s in 1 Corinthians 12 to having an orderly experience and that’s also how we identify ourselves.

And of course we joke about this, right? Whenever you have two Baptists, you have three opinions!  Maybe we have an organizing system but maybe it’s not always that great.

ABIDING AS THRIVING

Now that we’ve looked at identity, let’s come back to abiding. Sometimes when we think about abiding, we think about abiding as identity – I’m connected to the Father, I’m connected to the vine – who is Jesus – because I’m one of the branches connected to this vine and I’m happy with that. But if we take the vine motif to its very end as Jesus does in his passage, we realize that this vine motif is more than merely identity and there’s this transition that happens as we transition from “being” to “doing.”

If we return to our title – Improving Your Serve – we’ve moved beyond Your to the Serve portion of the conversation.

When I was younger, we tried to avoid talking about doing largely because of Bible verses that say things like “We are saved by faith not by works.” We internalised this so much that when we came to other verses that seemed to value good works – such as James’ “faith without works is dead” – we struggled.

Another struggle with is avoidance of doing checklists as followers of Jesus Christ. And we have lots of checklists don’t we. When I was a kid, it was “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew, or go with them that do.” Another checklist might be

  1. go to church every Sunday – & invite your friends,
  2. read your Bible and pray every day,
  3. share the gospel with whoever comes across your path,
  4. be involved in the church through other things, such as teaching a Sunday school class or singing in the choir.

We even found biblical support for this. We looked at the story of Mary and Martha, and we interpreted Jesus words to imply that we should simply be sitting at the feet of Jesus and not be so busy doing the things that need to be done.

There’s a pushback against checklists in part because we don’t want to turn our relationship with Jesus into some kind of a cosmic game of Good Manners and Right Conduct. We’re looking for something more authentic than that. We’re looking for something more organic than that.

What we realize is that these checklists are in fact ways for us to engage in discipleship. We are confronted by two questions: How can we be disciples of Jesus Christ? Is it possible to be disciples of Jesus Christ without doing the things Jesus Christ wanted us to do?

This adds a different nuance to the checklist. Instead of checking off things on the list we evaluate each situation we came to in life. You may have heard of this phrase that has actually appeared over the past hundred years of the church at least – It was illustrated by an acronym WWJD? meaning What would Jesus do? It was a question we asked ourselves when confronted with a situation we needed to evaluate. An area perhaps that wasn’t directly spoken about in scripture but was an area where we needed a make a decision. With no to pull out of scripture to serve as our guideline, we rather tried to understand the mind of Christ and applied that our situations.

The story of the vine and the branches has some troubling features to It. It talks about a gardener. It talks of being proved. And it talks about bearing fruit. These things are troubling to us because it seems to imply there are actions associated with our abiding. There’s an expectation of care, discipline, & fruitfulness.

Which is why Jesus spoke about this as a gardener-vine-branches-fruit process. It helps us understand this as something that’s natural and organic rather than something that’s forced and required.

Debie Thomas again:

“But ‘abide’ is a tricky word. Passive on the one hand, and active on the other. To abide is to stay rooted in place. But it is also to grow and change. It’s a vulnerable-making verb: if we abide, we’ll get pruned. It’s a risky verb: if we abide, we’ll bear fruit that others will see and taste. It’s a humbling verb: if we abide, we’ll have to accept nourishment that is not of our own making. It’s a communal verb; if we abide, we will have to coexist with our fellow branches.”

Gardening is all about growing a garden that produces delicious fruits. There are so many different kinds of fruits, and they come from all sorts of plants. Right now, I can see a bunch of fruits hanging from the trees outside my window. Some of them are picked for their leaves and used in soups, while others are eaten right off the tree, like coconuts, mangoes, avocados, and papayas. And let’s not forget the beautiful gardens themselves! We love looking at them, which is why there’s a magazine called Better Homes and Gardens. It shows off all these amazing gardens and tells us what makes them so special.

The parable of the talents tells of one of the servants who hid his money in the ground because he fundamentally misunderstood his master’s desires. The purpose of investment is the same as the purpose for a garden – to bear fruit. Do you know you do if you have money? Invest it. Do you know what you do if you have a garden? You prune and cultivate it, so it bears fruit. Do you know what you do if you have a family? You want the outcome of your kids’ lives to be better than your own.

So, what about the church? Do we know what we do if we have a church? We have seen what the church is. Now let’s look at what the church is all about. This means moving beyond checklists and identity and transitioning into thriving and fruitfulness. What does thriving and fruitfulness look like as the church abides in the vine? This is an important question because without asking this, we tend to focus on checklists and end up making statements such as, “Oh you’re not a part of us because you don’t keep the right lists you haven’t done everything haven’t checked everything off enough.” It leads to us creating lists that we argue about – lists to determine whether someone is in or out or not. But what Jesus really wants us to do in the church is to bear fruit. This is because fruit bearing is a natural outpouring, the organic result of what we do. As Jesus followers we bear fruit.  

How do we get to that thriving point because mere identity is not thriving unless there’s fruit that is borne. It means while we keep our identifying features – while worship God in spirit and in truth, while we focus on the word as the sole standard of faith and conduct, while we continue to see the significance of the sacraments in our lives, and while we continue to maintain orderly worship – we also go beyond that and ask ourselves, “How does all of this help me bear fruit?”

A. From Worship towards Promulgating Kingdom Values to Those Outside the Church’s Four Walls.

The first level of this interconnectedness is with the vine himself. Verse 1 says, “I am the vine, my Father is the vinedresser,” and a few verses later, “remain in me, as I remain in you.” There’s a mutuality to our connection with God and with the other parts of the vine. None of these branches grow in isolation from either the vine or the other branches; together they bear fruit.

The values of the kingdom are so important that we should share them with others. We want to worship God and live according to these values, but we also realize that they’re not just personal; they’re values we incorporate into our lives and should share with the world. We enjoy being one with God, imitating Christ, and being Jesus-followers. But how do we connect with others? Understanding kingdom values, bearing fruit, and being part of the vine requires a shift from individual to communal understanding. True worship creates genuine community through mutual transformation in Christ’s presence. Christ’s work in us produces fruit, which isn’t just food but a seed that sprouts and bears new vines and plants, spreading around the world.

The most explicit description of these values is found in the fruit of the Spirit and includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fact that they are fruit means they are obvious in the lives of Jesus’ followers.

We can work at revealing the joys of the kingdom of God to people outside of our faith community through active participation with like-minded faith communities, active cooperation with like-minded groups, and active accountability in both the religious and secular world. All this is typified with the Christian attitude of unity in matters essential, liberty in matters non-essential, and charity in all other matters.

B. From Word towards Proclaiming Jesus Christ’s Role as Shepherd-Lord to Those Outside the Church’s Four Walls.

One could be forgiven for assuming when reading v7 – “If you remain in me and my words remain in you” – that this means that all we need to do is remain connected to Christ. He’s with us and we are with him. But the story doesn’t stop there because in the very next verse, we read “you will bear much fruit.”

There is good news – we are connected to Christ – but that good news extends beyond the salvation moment, and into our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.

The Good News of Jesus Christ is that Jesus Christ is not only our Savior. He is also the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus connects him with humanity, Christ connects him with being God’s plan for the salvation of all peoples, and Lord connects him with being the one in charge of the universe – the One ultimately responsible for ensuring we have peace and order, economic sufficiency, public justice, and national righteousness. We know he was responsible for this because of the way he introduced himself to the world laid out his terms of engagement with humanity. And what are these terms of engagement? We see them in Luke 4:18-19:

“The Spirit of the Lord is with me. He has anointed me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to announce forgiveness to the prisoners of sin and the restoring of sight to the blind, to forgive those who have been shattered by sin, to announce the year of the Lord’s favor.”

To see the gospel being limited to merely the salvation moment is to do it a disservice. While the salvation moment holds significance, it is not confined to that single event. Traditionally, the gospel has been understood as a one-way transaction, flowing from those who possess knowledge to those who lack it. However, the gospel transcends this notion and becomes a shared journey among all who seek the fulfillment of this message. Our journey through salvation extends beyond that, encompassing discipleship and a deeper commitment to following Jesus. We are not merely labeled as “Jesus people,” but as “Jesus followers,” embodying the essence of our faith.

If Jesus terms of engagement includes these things – if his presentation of what the good news is is described in this way – then we too must engage in more than merely the salvation moment but rather join into the salvation journey with our neighbors.

We see that in the book of Acts. In the city of Antioch the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Now I don’t want to talk about Greek, but I’m going to talk about Greek. The word Christian is a grammatical construction in Greek; it’s a diminutive form of the word Christ. That means when people saw those who proclaimed Jesus walking around them, they identified them as being “little Christs.” There was something about these people that move beyond merely Jesus people, but people who followed Jesus and imitated him so much so that they became little Christs themselves.

I am reminded of Oscar Romero’s 1978 sermon where he says,

A community is a family that believes; it is a group where each member accepts God and feels strengthened by the others. In their moments of weakness, they help one another and love one another; they shed the light of their faith as an example for others. When that happens, the preachers no longer need to preach because there are Christians whose very lives have become a form of preaching.

Even though we have this authentic identity as Bible followers, this authentic identity leads us to proclaim the truths that we find in the bible. This is because, to abide is to remain connected for the purpose of bearing fruit. The thriving is bearing fruit through being connected to the vine.

Practically, this could look like declaring the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people. We declare Jesus as Lord and Saviour of our community and we recognise His central role in transforming the world through intentional evangelism, communicated effectively in a culturally relevant way by people who have themselves experienced the transforming power of God.

C. From Sacrament towards Serving God and Serving Those Outside the Church’s Four Walls.

If the sacrament is a way to be reminded of grace in our lives, how can we be grace to our community through this natural outflowing from sacrament to serving God, neighbor, and others?

In verses 4 and 5, the importance of connection is highlighted, saying that “no branch can bear fruit by itself” and “bears much fruit.” This shows how our relationship with the vine and the natural flow of that union into producing fruit are connected.

This connection starts fruit bearing, but it also means we can’t stop bearing fruit when we’re with the vine. This is because being with the vine naturally leads to the showing of fruit.

If we follow the vine and bear fruit, it changes us. Other people who follow the same path and bear fruit also have rituals that set them apart. Our rituals help us reflect, mourn, confess, and be restored. This reality, shown in our organization and how we’re run, can sometimes make us feel like we’re not in the world. But we need to move beyond these rituals and live a real life where we actively serve, love God, and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Sometimes, this emphasis on the daily details can be reduced to a checklist, focusing only on feeding, distributing, and doing enough. But the real meaning is being a real presence in our world.

Our connection to Christ is the foundation of this journey. By copying His example, we don’t necessarily mean sacrificing ourselves like Jesus did on the cross. Instead, we try to keep His life and teachings. Jesus was really interested in the everyday things of life, which is why He used parables, healed the sick, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and comforted the grieving.

Practically, this could look like showing the love of God to people both inside and outside of our faith community though acts of mercy, relief rehab and development. We will be engaging in educational ministry services such as establishing schools of all levels. We will be delivering free medical-dental clinics. We will be conducting livelihood programs for the poor of our communities.

D. From Systems towards Testifying to Our Experience with the Truth to Those Outside the Church’s Four Walls.

The story starts with the Father’s role as a gardener, but it goes beyond that. We see that the whole purpose of the gardener is for us to show ourselves to be his disciples. This is evident from the beginning, where we read, “He cuts off… he prunes” all the way to the end, where we read, “showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

We’ve been so caught up in defining ourselves and setting rules that we’ve forgotten why we’re doing it. We need to go beyond just having clear terms and start living out our faith. Our goal is to become disciples of Jesus Christ, not just to have a well-defined identity.

The church has a problem: we’ve pulled away from engaging with the world. And guess what? That’s actually changed the world and made it more secular. We’ve been so caught up in the rules and systems of our churches that we’ve forgotten about the world around us. But Jesus’ story of the vine and branches is a wake-up call for us. It’s a reminder that we’re meant to be part of the world, not separate from it. We’re Christ’s body, and the gardener is taking care of us. We’re connected to the vine, so we can re-engage with the world from a place of authenticity. And when we do, our witness and our call to truth come from a genuine connection to Christ. That means we can connect with others on a deeper level and share our faith in a meaningful way.

Practically, this could look like being prophetic voice by engaging society with biblical truth through participation in public advocacy, social justice, value transformation, promotion of freedom, engagement in the public square, involvement in marketplaces, and the transformation of public perception through education, evangelism, church planting, intercessory prayer, and discipleship.

Momentary Conclusions.

The brilliance of the vine metaphor lies in its ability to portray fruit bearing as organic and natural, rather than programmatic. Identity isn’t merely a state of being; it’s not just about being connected to the vine, which would imply that our identity is solely determined by that connection. The very purpose of a vine, as well as all plants, animals, and organic processes in the world, is to bear fruit – and their identities are tied in with the fruit they bear. Therefore, our identity cannot be reduced to a mere connection with “being” – there must also be a “doing.”

However, it’s crucial to emphasize that this “doing” is not merely a means to an end; it’s organic and natural. It’s an inherent expression of our connection to the vine. Bearing fruit is an essential aspect of the nature of a vine. Without this bearing of fruit, there’s a sense of incompleteness, as our being is intrinsically linked to our actions. This is the essence of the Thrive aspect of our topic for today.

Where are we headed with all this? What does it mean for us in the BCBC as we strive to Improve our Serve, and Abide and Thrive? We must not only assert our identity but also become present wherever we are. We are integral to what we engage with, as Jesus became one with the world when he descended from heaven in Philippians 2. By this, he declared his intertwined future with the world’s. Similarly, our future is connected to the world’s. How can we unite our futures to connect with God? It’s a call to re-enter cultural spaces and engage authentically with the world as we strive to abide but thrive.

Debie Thomas, again:

“If only we would consent to see reality as it truly is. ‘I am the vine,’ Jesus tells his disciples. ‘You are the branches.’ It’s a done deal. Whether we like it or not, our lives are bound up in God’s and in each other’s. The only true life we will live in this world is the life we consent to live in relationship, messy and entangled though it might be. The only fruit worth sharing with the world is the fruit we’ll produce together.”

So, we’ve covered two of the three words in the name of our seminar improving your serve. We talked about Your which is our identity, we’ve talk about Serve, which means the responsibility we have to wear fruit, and now we get to the Improving part.

We’ve prepared a series of questions that you can discuss and there’s a panel discussion as well after this to help us as we think about how we can move onto the next step and Improve our serve.

So, from Quezon City, Philippines, this is Michael Fast greeting you a Magandang Araw! God bless you.

Debie Thomas, Into the Mess and Other Jesus Stories: Reflections on the Life of Christ (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022), 144-146. 
Óscar Romero, “The Church: A Communion of Life, Love, and Truth for the World’s Salvation,” homily, October 29, 1978.

If you enjoyed this post, why not share it with your network? After all, sharing is what friends do!

On anniversaries, weather, and what’s really important in life.

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You probably don’t remember when your church’s anniversary is, do you? Unless of course you are from the Philippines. Filipinos know how to do celebrations — birthdays, going away parties, anniversaries. No one does it better than they do. Which is why I suppose church anniversaries are such a big deal. Tonight we will be celebrating the sixth anniversary of Pingkian Family Worship, the small community of faith that shares a name with our community in Quezon City.

Preparations have been going on for quite a while. Yesterday the decorating began. Because we are anticipating some guests we decided to rearrange the layout so the front will be at the side. A local politician loaned us a stage that she has in her storage room. The size of two sheets of plywood it stands along one side of the space. We have several benches the we placed in two rows right in front of the space. That leaves about 1.5 metres for the dancers! The theme is Simbalay, which is loosely translated as Worshipping at Home, so the decorations are based on a native house called a bahay kubo. The backdrop is a series of curtains and bamboo decorated with colourful native fans.

Each sub-group within the church will play a role: The women’s group will dance, the men’s group will sing, the youth will dance, we will have a couple of testimonies of thanksgiving to God, and a couple of families will sing. All of this, of course, will happen after the usual church service is finished. Our usual services follow a simple liturgy: Greeting, three or four praise & worship songs in either English or Tagalog, a time of corporate prayer, Pastor Renz will preach, and we’ll have a response song. Then the celebration will begin.

Right now I am hoping that the rains will stop. It’s really coming down. That’s the disadvantage of having a July anniversary in Manila — it’s rainy season. Earlier this afternoon, I was carrying our portable sound system down to where the service will be held. I had assumed the rain was finished but when I was halfway there the rains started again. Fortunately a local eatery has an overhang in front of it that I was able to use for cover. I only had to wait about 5 minutes before heading on my way again. The sun came out. The water started to dry up. And we were ready for the rest of the day. Then the rains began again. The thing about rain in Manila is that it comes hard for a short period of time and then is done. That’s what we are hoping for today too 🙂

Rain has messed with our plans in the past. A number of years ago, before we had our current facility, we had a rather elaborate setup using a tent. However, the rains meant we needed to move at the last minute. We ended up using our garage and the garage across the lane. We had chairs all the way across the street that needed to be moved in the middle of the service when one of the neighbours came home. It was reminiscent of the Christmas program we held one year where the neighbour carried a squealing pig past our setup because someone had bought it. It pays to not be too invested in make sure everything goes right 🙂

In the end it’s not the smoothness of the program that counts but rather the joy that we all shared in together as we prepared. God after all isn’t an event-based God but one that wants to meet us where we live everyday!

Remember sharing is what friends do!

Image is mine.

The church post-pandemic will need to pivot, but sometimes pivots don’t work.

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That all plants need water is something I have known my whole life but haven’t really experienced until this past few months. Saskatchewan is currently experiencing drought-like conditions and since we are staying at a farm we can see the effects first-hand.

Fortunately the farm has a pivot. A pivot is a large, elevated irrigation system designed to provide water to crops. A pivot is huge! It consists of a large 6-inch pipe about 6 metres off the ground. A series of wheels slowly move the pipe across the field, each rolling at a slightly different pace as it follows an arc across the field. It’s called a pivot because on end of the pipe is fixed to the ground and acts as the point around which the whole thing pivots. A large, elaborate pump supplies water to the pivot from a nearby lake. In the above picture, the white line extending across the field is the pivot. The darker curved lines are the tracks the wheels leave in the field.

Unfortunately the pivot hasn’t been working all that well for the past few years. It has a tendency to shut down automatically for mysterious reasons. After checking everything out multiple times the likely culprit is a problem in the electrical system. So while the pivot is a great idea, especially during times of drought, sometimes it doesn’t work all that well.

Pivot is a word we have seen a lot lately in the realm of ecclesiology. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of churches to evaluate how they deal with crises. Many say that churches need to learn how to pivot during times like this in order to survive. Churches that have a hard time with the pivot have a harder time adjusting to the changes.

Just as an irrigation pivot makes sure water gets to the whole field, so also a church that pivots makes sure the gospel gets to all of society. But sometimes adjustments need to be made. Which raises an issue when it comes to pivoting. Sometimes we need to change a part for it to work. What parts do I need to change or to switch out for something better?

I attended church for the first time last Sunday where there were no more restrictions. The government of Saskatchewan has decided that they will combat COVID-19 exclusively through vaccination. While there, I noticed a couple of pivots:

  • The pivot towards a paperless church that began with the pandemic has been maintained.
  • The pivot towards those little pre-packaged communion wafer and juice sets has now been pivoted away from back to real bread and those little plastic cups.

But I will say one thing. In spite of all my advocacy over the past months for embracing the virtual church, there are some things that are better done together. Specifically, not once while I was singing in the privacy of my own home, sitting in my comfortable easy chair, did I feel the urge to raise my hands but I certainly felt that while singing with the congregation on Sunday.

What things have you changed over the course of this pivot?

Feedback is always welcome.

Sharing is what friends do.

Image from Google Maps.

Church and Crisis Today: How Philippine Religious Consciousness can better inform how the rest of the world does church

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So, let’s talk about the church. What does church really mean? When it comes down to the idea of how we respond to COVID we have to realize that we’re talking about different aspects to church. We can look at the church as both gathered and scattered. Sometimes the church gathers together and sometimes the church is scattered and spread apart. Sometimes the church has both gathered and scattered aspects existing simultaneously. For example, sometimes a church has a Sunday-morning gathering, a weekly small group – known by various names including cell church, small group, Bible study, the life group, discipleship group, and more – as well as members who spend most of their time in their respective physical communities as well as their workplaces, homes, and selected third spaces. Sometimes the concept is explained using cells with single shell churches meeting Sunday mornings but multiple cell churches meeting anytime throughout the week. What all of this means is that there are multiple ways of understanding the concept of church.

But perhaps the most traditional model is the single cell model of a church that gathers on a Sunday morning in what is often called a congregation. This is actually not a traditional Philippine way of worship. Spain’s introduction of the concept of church to the Philippines involved a lot of reengineering of Philippine society. Spain used a colonial system called reducciones where they would gather scattered people into communities, called Poblacion or plaza complex in the Philippines. Here you have the church, the municipal Hall, and the market with people living in the surrounding blocks. The distance that you could be away from the church was restricted by the sound of the church bell. This is called baja de campana, or under the bell. If you could hear that bell ringing that would call you to mass then you were baja de campana. This identified you as a person submissive to the system. While the term baja de campana isn’t used as much today, this concept is still seen in the Parokya or parish where the church bell and mass are broadcast to the community on loudspeakers.

A New Normal, 500 Years Ago!

While this is normal in the Philippines today, 500 years ago it was a new normal. Prior to this, people lived wherever was convenient to them: Fishermen lived near their favorite fishing cove and farmers lived near their fields.

Spain came in and brought their system for not only colonization but also for evangelization, because the two are not much different.[1] Today we have other issues coming in, including public health concerns such as the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. These issues are creating a new normal that governs how society operates. Because of the public health crisis, we have developed this idea of virtual or online or live stream churches, whether these are services that we’re broadcasting, whether it’s praise and worship, that we’re broadcasting, whether it’s a new way of doing church online, or whether we’re just doing the same thing and recording it and broadcasting it, whether we’re using Zoom, Facebook Live, YouTube, Vimeo, or other things, and there’s a variety of other ways to interact where does this fit this virtual online church? Is this the church gathered? Is gathering a part of this online community when we’re gathered together on zoom? Is that a gathering? When we’re all watching doing a watch party together? Is that gathering? Is that scattered? Because the church can be gathered scattered? Is this cell a single cell or is it multiple cell? How does this all interact and work with each other? What does it all do?

Then you get to COVID-19 times where people can’t gather together. And we love to gather together. And it’s the gathering together in a sense that it’s the community of believers, in a sense, makes up the church, but we’ve conflated that with the facility within which we gather.

And so, when it comes to the point of gathering together, not being able to gather together for COVID, all of a sudden, the discussion goes to “Oh, well it’s religious persecution,” or some other kind of an issue. As if the only way that we know how to connect with God is inside a church building. But if we look at biblical and church histories of the way people have gathered, we realize that that’s not entirely the case.

It just means that our way of doing things may go through changes, just like the change from walking in the garden, to having to build an altar, to having to go to a tabernacle, to then having to go to a temple, to then doing a synagogue or a church. It’s just part of the transition and there’s been lots of “new normal” over time.

Philippine Religious Consciousnesses and Crisis Today.

Religious Space.

There’s no concept of religious space in the Philippines system because all space is religious space. This helps us particularly when we talk about issues of issues of religious liberty. Do I have the right to practice my religion and if the government tells me not to meet together, does that mean I’m not being able to practice that? these issues are sort of put aside, because there is really no specifically religious space. We’re used to worshiping in a church, but quite often in society, you’ll see a variety of different religious spaces that are used. You know, whether it’s a procession, where you’re going down the street and so the street becomes a religious space as you bring your as you bring your statue around the community. Even there’s what’s called the pabasa. During Holy Week. When the, the story of Jesus passion is, is, is, is sung in various parts of the community and so these homes and these different places become religious space because of the usage. There’s even the Stations of the Cross where religious spaces are temporarily set up in various parts of the community as people go around and pray as they remember Jesus’ passion. So religious space in the sense of here’s where we do religious activities and this space we don’t is not a concept that exists in the Philippines.

The first point we need to remember as we as we try to create a theology of crisis is that any space can be religious space — we don’t need to be fixated on a church building.

Church Leadership and the Filipino Family.

I guess the second point is that typically the pastor is seen as being in charge of the church. They provide leadership there, but what about inside the home? Who is the one who provides leadership there? It certainly isn’t the pastor.

As the story goes, the pastor visited a home at lunch time. In an effort to honour him they mother invited him in to eat. She had prepared a fish for lunch and the kids worriedly watched the pastor through the window as he tucked in to the meal. All of a sudden one of the kids yells, “Mom, he flipped the fish over!”

While the pastor may be a visitor to the house really the leadership of the home is provided by the father and the mother. And this leadership extends not simply to who feeds the kids and who does the laundry but it goes beyond that. Ultimately it is Who sets the rules? and Who shapes the future for the family? It’s the parents.

One way forward in the midst of crisis is to encourage, train, and empower parents to be the spiritual leaders of their families.

Dambana, or the family altar.

The third aspect would be the idea of dambana. Dambana is a is an old Filipino word that talks about a place where you encounter the divine, you know whether this is whether this is a space like a, like a building, whether this is an altar. But, but typically within a house, you know a lot of houses have the altar inside their house so there’s this religious space inside the house, that is that is devoted towards the worship of God and the connection proper connection and relationship with God. Quite often, of course in Filipino homes you’ll have a, you’ll have a, an image that’s that is in that spot, but you’ll also notice in many homes you’ll have other religious artifacts such as Bibles and other things that are there. And these are these are just to remind everybody that God is always present with us. And so within, within each house you have this religious space.

We can use these concepts. As we move towards developing a theology of crisis, a theology of lockdown a theology of pandemic. Rather than trying to find theological reasons for convincing the government to let us reopen our church buildings, we can help encourage and empower families to be responsible for their own spiritual development inside of their homes. During this time, and maybe this will expand them beyond that into the time after the pandemic whatever it will look like.

Notes:

1 Vince Rafael talks about this at length in his Contracting Colonialism.

Image by Varun Gaba on Unsplash.

Church, modified.

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Church.

It doesn’t matter what you add to the word or how you modify it, it still means the same basic thing.

  • Underground church is a church that remains as hidden as possible due to persecution.
  • Local Church is a church in one community.
  • House church is a church that meets in someone’s house (or office, or third place).
  • Universal church is the church that has existed, exists today, and will exist in the future.
  • Indigenous church is a church that is contextualized to a certain society.
  • Persecuted church is a church that is being persecuted by another religion or by the government.
  • Mega Church is a really big church.
  • Cell Church is a really small church.
  • Online church is the online portion of a local church, whether live or prerecorded.
  • Virtual church is where every aspect of the church exists in the virtual world.
  • Live-streamed church is when a church broadcasts it’s Sunday morning services live online.
  • In-person church is when people gather for face-to-face meetings.
  • Church at home is when families worship at home.

But guess what? It’s all still church.

So what does that mean?

We should continue to be the church regardless of which modifier we pick.

  • We should continue to proclaim the good news the Jesus is our king.
  • We should live out the values of the Kingdom of God.
  • We should love God and love our neighbour.
  • We should bear witness to the truth.

How will you be the church today?

Feedback is always welcome!

Image by Skull Kat on Unsplash.

What makes virtual meetings more like face-to-face meetings? The “Seen Zone”

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Do you know what the “seen zone” is? 

The “seen zone” is a way for virtual gatherings to approximate face-to-face gatherings.

Facebook has a feature on their messenger app that allows people to see if messages have been sent, received, and read. Simply by looking at the small circle under your message on the right side of the screen will tell you this. An empty circle means the message is sending, a clear blue circle with a checkmark means that the message has been sent to the Facebook server, a filled-in blue circle means the message has been delivered to the intended recipient, and a circle with a tiny profile pic means that your message has been seen by the intended recipient(s). 

Maybe you haven’t even noticed these small circles but they do teach us an important lesson about gathering and community. 

What is a simple and helpful tool takes on special meaning among certain demographics. Because, you see, what happens after a message has been seen is also important. If the message has been seen but there is no immediate reply forthcoming the sender is now in what is called the “seen zone.” Depending on the seriousness of the conversation this can either fill you with joy — ala “They saw my message” — to anger  — ala “Why haven’t they replied yet?”

While this may be annoying — sometimes after all you want to remain anonymous — it is a way for virtual conversations to imitate face-to-face conversations more closely. After all, keeping a message in the “seen zone” is akin to not talking to someone in a face-to-face gathering. In either case, the social implications can be huge. 

What aspects of virtual interaction make you feel more comfortable? Less comfortable? What make you feel like gathering has happened?

Image Source: https://www.techlicious.com/tip/how-to-tell-if-your-facebook-messages-have-been-read/