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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

The treaty of Paris in 1898 ended the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Pacific.  It also marked the beginning of the American Empire.

After defeat of the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines-its colony from 1521 to 1898-to the United States for US$20 million.

In the same year , President Mckinley issued a Proclamation of Benevolent Assimilation and began the colonization of the Philippines.

The assimilation process began, but not without resistance.  Remnants of the revolutionary movement waged a guerilla  war against the new colonizer.  This was met with an even fiercer American military campaign, which forced the Filipino revolutionaries to surrender.

As Spanish colonization brought about Roman Catholicism in the Philippines, American “benevolent assimilation” also in traduced Protestantism in the country.  Missionary zeal and anti-Spanish sentiments of Filipinos both contributed to the expansion and growth of Protestantism in the Philippines.

Comity Agreement

In 1901, upon  the initiative of the Presbyterian Church, representatives from the Methodist Church, United Brethren in Christ, Disciples Church of Christ, Baptists, Congregationalists, and the Christian Missionary Alliance met in New York.  The signing of the Comity  Agreement established the geographical division of the country.

• Methodists (most of lowland Luzon, north of Manila)
• Presbyterians (Bicol, Southern Tagalog, parts of Central and Western Visayas)
• Baptists (Western Visayas)
• United Brethren (Mountain Province and La Union)
• Disciples of Christ (Ilocos, Abra, some Tagalog towns)
• Congregationalists (Mindanao except the Western part)
• Christian and Missionary Alliance (Western Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago)

The different mission boards pursued their evangelization and expansion programs through religious and secular education and evangelistic campaigns.  Given the philosophy of missions at the time, their endeavors included the building of churches, schools, dormitories and hospitals.

In 1901, the Presbyterian established the first American school in the Philippines;  Silliman Institute, now Silliman University.

Union of churches

As a minority religious tradition in the Philippines, Protestant evangelical churches had sought organic union among themselves at various points in history.

• In 1901, in the meeting that resulted in the comity agreement, the representatives from various Protestant denominations in the United States also agreed to form themselves into an Evangelical Union.

However, significant splits occurred within the churches.  The most notable of these involved the Methodist in 1909 when Nicolas Zamora broke away from the Methodists and founded the Iglesia Evangelica Methodista en las Islas Filipinas (IEMELIF), eventually becoming the first indigenous evangelical church in the Philippines.

Also, internal migration e.g., Methodist from Northern Luzon to Mindanao and Baptists from Iloilo to Central Cotabato obscured the boundaries set in the comity agreement.

• In 1929, a Basis of Union was adopted by the Congregational, Presbyterian and United Brethren churches which brought into existence the United Evangelical Church.  Rev. Enrique Sobrepena of the United Brethren was elected as the Moderator of the General Assembly.
• In 1943, the Japanese Imperial Forces directed the formation of the Evangelical Church, the Church of Christ (Disciples), the Iglesia Evangelical Church of the Philippines, which consisted of the United Evangelical Church, the Church of Christ (Disciples), the Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo, the (IEMELIF) the Philippine Methodist Church, the Seventh Day Adventists and other evangelical churches.

After World War II, the former Presbyterians and the Congregationalists reconstituted the United Evangelical Church of the Philippines.  Because the Seventh Day Adventists were forced by the war to join the merger, they immediately left the Evangelical Church of the Philippines after the war.

• In 1948, representatives of the United Evangelical Church in the Philippines, the Evangelical Church in the Philippines and the Philippine Methodist Church) gathered at the historic Ellinwood Malate Church, signed the Basis of Union, and together formed what is today the UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST IN THE PHILIPPINES.

The uniting churches signed the Basis of Union, which provisions include.

We do preserve all the heritage of faith brought into the union by each of the constituent churches and hereby declare as our common faith and message.  Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, our Lord and Savior.

By its very nature, UCCP is at once evangelical, ecumenical, and prophetic.  As its faith confession, the UCCP continues to broaden its efforts to deal with the roots of injustice and unpeace, and is strengthened by a sense of spirituality that is renewed by its consistent immersion with the peace.

Simultaneous to its historical institutional development, the UCCP has maintained a commitment to and participation in the ongoing transformation of church and society.  Inevitably, people’s movements have been integrated into its new expressions of church, mission and ecumenism.

This orientation and perspective is inherent in the UCCP life and work.

The UCCP is generally known for its faith and praxis manifested in, among others

• The authority of the Scripture on matters of faith and doctrine
• The autonomy of the local church
• The firm commitment to justice, peace and human rights
• The ministries with marginalized sectors and communities
• The active involvement in ecumenical endeavors
• The participation of women and youth in decision-making processes