Pastoral Letter of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) to its members in Japan

NCCP statement on the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

 

March 12, 2011
 

We reach out in solidarity to the sisters and brothers in Japan at this time of unfathomable grief, sorrow and anxiety. May God's providence be cast upon them all. May those involved in rescue and clearing out operations be spared from any injury.

Even as we grieve with the people of Japan, we yet give thanks that many countries, including our own, were spared from the devastation of tsunamis. We also wish to express our elation at the way the men and women of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology worked with dispatch to inform potential target areas of any tsunami and the way local governments responded to the alarm. We hope that our consul in Japan will exert every effort to secure Filipino citizens in Japan not only to respond to their needs but also to ease the anxiety of their families here.

We urge everyone, especially the constituency of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, to be fervent and unceasing in prayer for the people of Japan and all other nationals working therein. In our churches, in our homes, at work and with friends, may we find brief moments to intentionally reach out to them in prayer and commit them to God's mercy and protection.

signed

Padi REX RB REYES, JR.

NCCP General Secretary

signed

Bishop NATHANAEL P. LAZARO

NCCP Chairperson

A letter from the NCCP EEN Program Secretary on SIP 2011

March 1, 2011

Grace and Peace!

This year’s Summer Internship Program (SIP) of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) has been set on April 12 - May 14, 2011. This year’s theme takes inspiration from the quadrennial theme of the Council: “Ecumenical Learning: Weaving the Patchwork of Justice and Peace in a Broken World”.

The SIP is an intensive immersion program of experiential ecumenical learning of the NCCP.  It links seminarians of NCCP-related theological formation institutions with community-based development-oriented programs.  It seeks to provide venues for theological action-reflection, expression of ecumenical commitment and sharpening of mission perspectives.

We would like to invite you to send your students to participate in this program as we seek to provide opportunities for students to live and walk with the least of our sisters and brothers while developing their theologies that are grounded on the people’s experiences and struggles.

May we also inform you that since part of the SIP period will cover the Holy Week, we intentionally made it a part of their SIP experience to be exposed and participate in the yearly Easter Sunrise Service organized by the Council.  Thus, they are all required to be part of this Easter activity.

Attached herewith is a copy of the registration form for the students.  We are expecting all accomplished forms to be returned to us via e-mail: diwa_malaya72@yahoo.com  (cc: katdlc@nccphilippines.org) or fax (02 926-7076) on or before March 25, 2011.

As practiced by the NCCP in the past years, we request the seminaries to provide adequate budgetary allocations for the students they send to attend the Summer Internship Program as a manifestation of your co-ownership of SIP.  Financial obligations for SIP are therefore broken down, thus:

Seminaries (per intern):

• Transportation to and from NCCP Headquarters
• Immersion allowance (including food and travel at immersion site)

Seminarians:

• Personal expenses (i.e., medicines, cell phone load, etc.)

NCCP:

• Board, lodging and materials for Orientation and Evaluation Phases
• Honorarium for host communities, people’s organizations, resource persons

This year, the immersion allowance is Five Thousand Pesos (PhP5,000.00) per intern. This has been increased from the last 3 years’ previous rate of Php 4,000.00 due to rising costs and expenses of the whole program. Please send this amount with the intern as she or he arrives on April 12. 

We shall now begin to await applications to this ecumenical learning experience for our second-line leaders in the work Christ called us.

May we continue to find meaning in our common quest for Shalom as we journey with God’s people.

Sincerely,

MS. DARLENE MARQUEZ-CARAMANZANA

Program Secretary

Program Unit on Ecumenical Education and Nurture

Bring the Stranded OFW's Home Safely

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) is in solidarity with people in countries undergoing popular uprising to press for reforms in government or oust abusive regimes. Hands in supplication have turned to clenched fists as long-suffering people demand human dignity long denied them. 

Notwithstanding this development we continue to express concern over the situation of overseas migrant workers in those countries, especially our own sisters and brothers from the Philippines. In Libya alone, Migrante International reported 30,000 Filipinos. 

We grieve with the families who have lost their relatives. We stand with those anxious over their loved ones uncertain as we all are of their whereabouts and situation. We are glad for those who have arrived safely home. 

We demand a more resolute and speedy action from our government. A missionary in Libya has informed us that our government’s response is “sluggish”. As these popular uprisings escalate to other countries, we urge our government to take necessary proactive measures. Certainly our compatriots deserve better. Each one of them counts. 

We reiterate our call for the constituency to be unceasing in our intercession for our Filipino overseas workers. May they be safe and be home if need be. 

We pray with the faith communities in those places where social upheaval is taking place. May lives of civilians and non-combatants especially, be spared. May our partners overseas and the wider ecumenical community be faithful in providing the much-needed support to stranded foreigners. 

May God’s finger of freedom and peace touch the parched lips of all those seeking it. 

(signed)

REV. REX RB REYES, JR. 

General Secretary 

March 11, 2011

Episcopal Message of Bishop Nathanael P. Lazaro at the IEMELIF’s General Conference 2011

“The view that the Church needs to engage the world is both critical and timely, it is about time for us to seriously understand and undertake this focus.”  These are the words of Bishop Nathanael P. Lazaro, General Superintendent of Iglesia Evangelica Metodista en las Islas Filipinas (IEMELIF) and current Chairperson of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) during his Episcopal message delivered at the IEMELIF General Conference last February 24, 2011.  Addressing more than 500 lay leaders and pastors, the Bishop set a fresh understanding of the missionary task of the Church as it should be relevant and contextualized to the realities of the time.

With the theme “Visible Unity: A Force to Engage the World”, the Bishop eloquently articulated the ecumenical agenda vis-à-vis social imperatives of the Church, which according to him, should not be “limited on the salvation of man’s soul but also the redemption of the whole created order.”  Both jubilant and humbled, he reported to the Conference two major accomplishments done under his aegis as General Superintendent.  First is the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement by the IEMELIF and the IEMELIF Reform Movement (IRM) leadership to end the 18-year old dispute.  Second is the return of the break-away group led by the Rev. Nathanael Juane during the Sole-aggregate schism in 2002.  He thanked Rev. Juane for ‘reversing the history of the Church,’ referring to the seven major schisms that happened in the IEMELIF since its founding.  All congregations and church workers of the sole group already returned to the IEMELIF fold last August 2010.

Bishop Lazaro, powerfully instigated a challenge for the IEMELIF membership to be united while seeking and pursuing to be a socially relevant church.  The IEMELIF celebrated its 102nd founding anniversary on February 27, 2011 at the plenary hall of the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).  Nicholas Zamora founded the Church in 1909 as indigenous and self-sufficient, free from any foreign governance.

Text and photos submitted by Ariel Siagan

ECLOF’s new website is now live!

A letter from our friends at ECLOF:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I’m extremely happy to share with you the great news that ECLOF’s new website is now live! It’s a brand new look for us that puts in words and pictures the exciting programs and activities that we are leading worldwide. We’re indeed a microfinance organization supporting human dignity and enabling self-sustainability. We work closely with the poor in 21 countries across 3 continents and in both urban and rural settings.

But we let the website speak for itself. Check us out at:
www.eclof.org!

Warm regards,

Anca Draganescu

NCCP Relief operation in Lubuagan, Kalinga

National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) conducted relief operation last February 2, 2011 in Barangays Upper and Lower Uma, Lubuagan in the province of Kalinga, Philippines.  The two remote barangays were affected by typhoon Megi (assigned as Typhoon Juan by PAGASA) when it entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility and wreaked havoc on the country.




This particular operation is a tie-up between the the NCCP and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) in cooperation with the Episcopal Church in the Philippines' (ECP) Episcopal Diocese of Northern Luzon (EDNL)