wfn.org | Boat Outreach in Philippines

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org]

"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3497 notes).

Note 3489 by UMNS on March 17, 1997 at 15:36 Eastern (4395 characters).

 Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency
of the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn.,
New York, and Washington.

 CONTACT: Ralph E. Baker                     135(10-33-71BP){3489}
          Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470           March 17, 1997
 
 EDITORS NOTE: Photos available. Call (615) 742-5470.

 Boat provides means of evangelism
 to reach people in the Philippines
 
 
 by Mike DuBose*
 
     LAGUNA de BAY, Philippines (UMNS) -- The pilot of the big
 wooden outrigger steers a careful course around scores of bamboo
 fish cages submerged in the murky water, guided by hand signals
 from a man perched in the boat's bow. 
     The boat is well into its hour-long journey between Talim
 Island and the mainland, when the man in the bow signals for the
 boat to come alongside another craft that is aimlessly adrift     
 with engine trouble.
     Pastor Ronnie de Leon has spotted some fellow travelers in
 need as well as the opportunity to do a little evangelizing on
 behalf of Faith United Methodist Church, Barangay Buhangin.
     As he helps transfer the passengers and their cargo of eggs
 and bamboo furniture bound for market on the mainland, de Leon
 makes sure they know the boat that came to their rescue belongs   
 to the United Methodist church back on Talim Island and invites   
 them to the next worship service.
     The boat, built with funds raised by the local United
 Methodist Men, provides access for outreach work among the people
 living in the barangaya (villages) along the shores of Laguna de
 Bay, outside Manila. "This boat is our mission," de Leon says. 
 "My main purpose for the boat is evangelism."
     Each United Methodist church in the Philippines is required
 to have an extension, or "daughter" church under its wing, says
 Bishop Emerito Nacpil of the Manila Area.  The extension churches
 are led by lay pastors, like de Leon, until they become more
 firmly established, Nacpil said.  The churches then are assigned
 seminary-trained clergy.
     This program of organized outreach has allowed United
 Methodist church membership to grow from about 170,000 in 1980 to
 more than 500,000 today, according to Nacpil.  "We were the first
 Protestant community to get started in this country," Nacpil      
 said. "We've expanded very quickly."
     Nacpil said about 75 percent of the local churches were not
 doing outreach before the 1980s. "Some of those who wanted to,
 just didn't know how.
     "Mission for us is not just reaching out and inviting people
 to join our congregations.  It is service work," Nacpil said. 
 "You don't expect somebody in this country to come up and say, `I
 want to join your church.' They find you through outreach."
     Much of that outreach is in the form of grassroots economic
 development among the nation's poor, according to Rizal-Laguna
 District Superintendent the Rev. Toribio Cajiuat.  "There are so
 many challenges and needs to minister to these people," Cajiuat
 said.  "The urgent need is livelihood -- to get daily food.  What
 we try to do as a church is organize them into livelihood
 cooperatives."
     The Methodist Commission on Resource Development provides
 loans to support small cooperatives by the local church, usually
 organized by the local United Methodist Men, Cajiuat said.
     At Faith United Methodist Church, members are organized into
 a basket making cooperative.  Each person in the co-op performs a
 single, repetitive task -- harvesting the bamboo, splitting it
 into strips, weaving the baskets or getting them to market.  This
 cooperative division of labor provides greater efficiency and     
 thus more money to each participant than if each made complete    
 baskets from start to finish, Cajiuat said. 
     As Filipinos prepare to celebrate their country's 100th year
 of freedom from colonial rule and Filipino Methodism's 100th
 anniversary, Cajiuat looks to the future with hope.  "Our dream   
 is to make the United Methodist Church the best representative of
 Protestantism in this country -- the best in mission outreach,    
 the best in lay mission.  We want to establish Protestant         
 Christianity as an alternative."
                                  #  #  #
 
     * DuBose is staff photographer for United Methodist
 Communications in Nashville, Tenn.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 To unsubscribe, send the single word "unsubscribe" (no quotes)
 in a mail message to umethnews-request@ecunet.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------