The Church of the Nazarene in the Philippines celebrated its 75th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary this year. A worship celebration was held at the Philippine International Convention Center on 8 May 22 and was attended by over 3,000 Nazarenes, both physically and online from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. 

The three-part program, themed “Rise Up and Go Philippines!” started with a worship celebration and was followed by the honoring of pioneer churches and members in the country. The celebration culminated with an ordination service for 18 ministers.

The worship celebration was opened by praise and thanksgiving songs led by the talented young people of the Metro Manila District. New Hope Church of the Nazarene and children from six different child development centers gave cultural presentations. The theme song, “Tumayo Humayo Pilipinas,” was sung by Rommel Bonus and Hannah Morales together with a group of young pastors from the Metro Manila District.

Mark Louw, Asia-Pacific regional director, shared the anniversary message and challenged the Philippines church to participate in the Great Commission, and rise up and go.

“While we celebrate the work of the Church and its servants these past 75 years, we also need to confess that we have not reached our full potential,” Louw said. “At times, we have missed opportunities to impact, and at times we’ve allowed comfort and a desire for calm to override the need for sin to be confronted in love and issues to be dealt with.”

Louw closed the celebration service with a prayer for the people of the Philippines church, that they be God’s hands at work in their nation and for God to fill them, form them, and send them to fulfill the Great Commission.

The second part of the celebration focused on honoring the people who pioneered the work in the Philippines. These are the men and women who committed their lives to spreading the gospel, planting churches, and making disciples. Axa Jane Encarnacion, daughter of the founding minister in the Philippines, Marciano Encarnacion, gave an inspiring video message. 

Arnel Piliin, Philippines-Micronesia field strategy coordinator, also presented the vision and goals for the Philippines Church of the Nazarene. He challenged the members, pastors, and district superintendents to work together to achieve the goal of planting 587 new churches and welcoming 74,000 new members by 2030. He emphasized that this can only be achieved through the power of the Holy Spirit and by everyone working together — each person discipling another one, each local church planting a church, each district sponsoring a new district.
The final part of the celebration was the ordination service led by David Graves, jurisdictional general superintendent for the Asia-Pacific Region. Graves ordained 17 pastors during the Jubilee celebration and another 9 pastors in Cebu City on 10 May 2022.

Graves gave an inspiring and challenging message to the ordinands and everyone who attended the celebration. 

“I think it’s good for us occasionally just to stop and to look back at the past,” Graves said. “In fact, I think it’s really good for us spiritually to stop once in a while and look back at the past and see how faithful God has been to us.”
The Jubilee celebration is not just a one-day event. Organizers hope it will continue to make an impact as the church raises funds for the Diamond Project — the construction of a retirement home for Filipino pastors and a mission training center.
The field also launched a book, Holy Fire: The Diamond Jubilee History of the Church of the Nazarene in the Philippines, written by Jason Hallig, Floyd T. Cunningham, and Ernesto Rulloda. Proceeds from the book sale will go to the Diamond Project.

--Church of the Nazarene Asia-Pacific