Manila, Philippines …. [Jonathan Catolico/ANN Staff]
Seventh-day Adventists in the Philippines — numbering more than 1.3 million people — celebrated the centennial of the church in the 7,100-island republic on March 2 to 5. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo greeted Pastor Jan Paulsen, Adventist world church president, and commended Adventists for their commitment to social service and advocacy for good government.
“Without the shield of faith, we are vulnerable. As solitary individuals it is terribly difficult, but as a community we are stronger,” Paulsen told a crowd of more than 30,000 at Rizal Park. It was at this event, which began with a parade from the oldest Adventist congregation, the Santa Ana church, where the state president joined him.
Pastor Paulsen commended the local church for having selected a theme of “Celebrating the Goodness of God,” which focuses attention on the source of Adventism’s strength.
“As a worshipping missionary movement celebrating our life and experience must never be a ‘didn’t-we-do-well’ celebration, which is self-congratulatory, but [rather as] an act of worship, which celebrates by looking forward, even as we remember how we have been led in the past,” he said. “We live, think, plan, set goals and priorities, and make decisions for what we shall do once the celebration is over.”
Church member Rose Salazar was among those who responded to Paulsen’s remarks.
“[His] message says that we never walk alone. We must continue our walk and be assured that God is always there,” Salazar said.
Added Don Leo Pepito, “I have set my priorities straight, to do …
what the Lord wants me to do … that is spreading the Gospel.”
And member Myjiley Namoyes summarized the day’s message in a direct
fashion: “We must make a double effort on winning souls for God.”
Earlier, Paulsen said at a Manila news conference that Adventists share the concern of Christians worldwide for those who are poor.
“I think Christians all over the world should emulate Christ who suffered so much and died for the poor,” he said, according to a report in The Manila Bulletin. “Filipinos have the capacity to help the poor and the power to address this plight,” he added.
Simultaneous celebration activities were held in the three largest islands of the nation: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Ted N.C. Wilson, a general vice president of the Adventist world church, led celebrations in Cebu City in Central Philippines. There, Wilson lauded the church for continuing to live by the pioneers’
selfless sacrifice.
In Mindanao, at Mountain View College, a crowd of 15,000 joined in celebration with Adventist world church vice president Lowell Cooper and associate publishing director Howard Faigao as special guests.
Pastor Cooper challenged his audience to celebrate God’s goodness. He said, “100 years is an undeserved gift from God. Through the pioneers [and] their selfless service, we are now reaping the victory of the message.”
The Adventist Church was first introduced in the Philippines in 1905 by an Australian, and American missionaries, of which Robert Caldwell was the first, distributed Adventist literature in Manila and gave home Bible studies.
On March 6, a centennial banquet was held for church leaders and workers. Filipino evangelists from abroad who conducted their evangelism meetings here for the centennial were among honorees and received plaques. Literature evangelists who achieved top sales also were given awards. The banquet capped the three-day event, but centennial celebrations continue.
In its 100 years of work in the Philippines, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has established 4,190 churches, seven hospitals, hundreds of schools, including a university, making it the largest Protestant educational system in the Philippines.
One of its leading medical institutions is the 75-year old Manila Adventist Medical Center, formerly the Manila Sanitarium and Hospital, in Pasay City, which is in the forefront of preventive and alternative medicine.
Copyright © 2005 by Adventist News Network.
