The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP; ; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination in the Philippines. Established in its present form in Malate, Manila, it began as a uniting church after the merger of the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the United Evangelical Church and several independent congregations.Norwood B. Tye, Journeying with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines: A History (Quezon City: United Church of Christ in the Philippines, 1994), 246-247Guillermo Manuel, "A Study of the Movement for Union and Closer Cooperation Among the Protestant Churches of the Philippines," p. 54.
In 2021, the UCCP reported to the World Council of Churches that it had 1,500,000 adherents, with 1,593 pastors in 2,564 congregations as of 2008. As per the 2020 census, there are 470,792 members in the Philippines alone. Its headquarters is located at 877 EDSA, West Triangle, Quezon City, Metro Manila.World Council of Churches
History
The Evangelical Church In April 1901, Presbyterians in the Philippines invited missionaries of other evangelical churches to a conference to discuss the possibility of working together in the proclamation of the gospel of faith alone as the only way of salvation for Filipino Catholics, Muslims and pagans. Representatives included those from the Methodist Episcopal Church, the United Brethren in Christ (UBC), the Northern Baptist Church, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Free Methodist Church, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society, and the Presbyterian Church.
The Evangelical Union was then formed on April 26, 1901. The evangelical churches agreed to call themselves “The Evangelical Church” (with the original denomination name in parentheses below it). From 1898 to 1905, these mission churches joined in the agreement: Methodists (1898; most of lowland Luzon and north of Manila) Presbyterians (1899; Bicol, Southern Tagalog area, and some parts of Central and Western Visayas) Baptists (1900; Western Visayas) United Brethren (1901; Mountain Province and La Union) Christian Churches and Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ (1901; Ilocos, Abra, and Tagalog towns) Congregationalists (1902; Mindanao, except for the western end) Christian and Missionary Alliance (1902; Western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago)
Manila was open to all denominations and mission agencies.Tuggy & Oliver, p. 19 The Seventh-day Adventist Church and Episcopalians did not join because they wanted to cover parts of the country already allocated to other groups.James H. Montgomery and Donald A. McGavran, pp. 41-51
The United Evangelical Church The United Evangelical Church was founded in 1929 as a merger into a singular organization of the Presbyterian, Congregational, United Church of Manila and the United Brethren Churches.
The Philippine Methodist Church
After the foundation of the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista en las Islas Filipinas (IEMELIF) by Nicolas V. Zamora, a second major split occurred in the Methodist Church on March 23, 1933. About three years before, Melecio de Armas, a prominent minister had been accused by his colleagues of immorality towards a teenaged girl who was a church member.Heroic church - Manila Bulletin by Pres. Fidel Ramos At the 1932 Philippine Annual Conference, a committee found the minister guilty and recommended his expulsion from the ministry, but the minister appealed the decision to the Appellant Committee of the General Conference of the Methodist Church of the Philippines (GCMCA). This Committee decided that it does not have enough evidence against the minister, so it acquitted him—thereby overturning the decision of the Philippine Conference. This brought to everyone's attention the subordinate position of the Philippine church. Bishop Herbert Welch, at the 1933 Annual Conference, declared the matter closed, and reinstated the minister.Alejandro, From Darkness to Light, 158-161.
As a result, a group led by Samuel Stagg, pastor of the influential Central Church (now Central United Methodist Church on T.M. Kalaw), and including five other missionaries and 27 ordained Filipino ministers led by Cipriano Navarro and Melquiades Gamboa, a University of the Philippines professor, left the church and declared themselves the General Conference of the Methodist Church in the Philippine Islands (GCMCPI). All but 41 members of Central Church left their newly dedicated gothic cathedral. This group formed the Philippine Methodist Church, with Navarro as bishop. The church financially supported the Staggs and the other missionaries who joined it. Stagg and his group formed the Cosmopolitan Church, which became the leading congregation of the new denomination. The independent GCMCPI elected Navarro as acting General Superintendent. In 1948, the Philippine Methodist Church was a constituent part in forming the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.
The Evangelical Church in the Philippines The Evangelical Church in the Philippines (福音教会) was formed in 1943 under the direction of the Japanese Imperial Forces. It brought together the United Evangelical Church; the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (Disciples of Christ); the Iglesia Evangélica Unida de Cristo; the Iglesia Evangélica Metodista en las Islas Filipinas (IEMELIF) founded by Bishop Nicholas Zamora; the Iglesia Evangélica Nacional; the Philippine Methodist Church; some Seventh-day Adventists and other churches. It was the first such union of churches under full Filipino leadership.
After World War II, former Presbyterians and Congregationalists reconstituted the United Evangelical Church. On the other hand, the former United Brethren in Christ, together with the Church of Christ (Disciples of Christ) and the independent congregations remained as the Evangelical Church in the Philippines. Since the Seventh-day Adventists were forced into the merger by the Japanese, they immediately left the Evangelical Church of the Philippines after the war.
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines
In May 1948, the United Evangelical Church, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, some congregations of the Iglesia Evangélica Unida de Cristo, the Convention of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Northern Luzon, the Iglesia Evangélica Nacional, and some congregations of the Iglesia Evangélica Metodista en las Islas Filipinas (IEMELIF) joined to form the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Enrique Sobrepeña of the United Evangelical Church served both as Bishop for Luzon and as the first Presiding Bishop.
This was the real culmination of the efforts of the Evangelical Union established by missionaries on April 26, 1901, to seek the evangelization of the Philippines through a common effort. In spite of the refusal of the United Methodist, Baptist and other independent evangelical churches, the UCCP was known to be the most visible sign of interdenominational and church unity in the Philippines.
In 1962, the conservative Tagalog Convention of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) decided to join the union of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. It was proclaimed in an appropriate ceremonies at the General Assembly held in Cebu City. In 1998, Nelinda Primavera–Briones was the first woman elected bishop of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.
Faith and practice The United Church of Christ in the Philippines is trinitarian and believes in the deity, humanity, and atonement of Jesus. It believes that the Christian Bible, in both the Old (Hebrew Bible) and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God and that salvation is by grace through faith, repentance, and following Jesus's teachings. The United Church of Christ in the Philippines views the Christian life as one of personal faith and serious dedication to living according to the highest Christian precepts. Each person is thus to be born again, converted into a new life, and gathered into the church community. For adherents, the church is essentially the result of conversion and of grace, a gathered community of committed believers. It is not the mother of Christian experience or the source (rather than the effect) of grace, as in the Roman Catholic tradition. The church is, therefore, holy only because the faith and life of its people are holy.
The UCCP traces its roots in the Protestant Reformation, when Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others led the movement to reform Christianity. This is often expressed in the "Five Solas"—God's grace alone as the only way to be reconciled to God, faith alone as the only means of receiving God's grace, Jesus alone as the ground of God's saving grace, scripture alone as the only infallible authority for belief, and God's glory alone as the ultimate purpose for the lives of men and women.
The following distinguishes the UCCP from other communions: The primacy it gives to Scripture in matters of faith, doctrine, and morals; Its respect for freedom of conscience and responsible Christian witness, and its resistance to undue interference by any civil or ecclesiastical authority; The authority it accords to the congregation, exercised through its participatory and representative system of church governance; Its concern for justice, peace, human dignity, and the integrity of creation in political, social, and economic life; and Its active involvement and commitment to ecumenical and interfaith relations as an expression of its witness to Christian unity and social transformation.UCCP Baguio Faith and Practice
Sacraments The church believes there are only two sacraments: baptism and the Lord's Supper (Eucharist). The church takes a neutral position on observing feet washing, considering the various traditions brought in by the uniting churches. The 1948 Article III Historic Faith and Message states, "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, Son of the living God, our Lord and Saviour.'"UCCP Constitution and By-Laws"
Baptism The UCCP defines baptism as a sacrament of initiation into the church.The United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Cagayan de Oro City - Membership It believes that baptism is not a means of salvation but a first step of obedience for the new believer. The church permits both believer's baptism and infant baptism. Infant baptism is administered only to infant children of church members as a sign of God's covenant of mercy. In recent times, infant baptism has given way to infant Pághahandóg (Filipino, "dedication") ceremonies, thus reserving baptism when the child can consciously decide to follow Jesus. The church also recognises and accepts baptisms held in other Christian churches.
Disciples understood baptism as a confessional expression of faith and repentance, rather than a "work" that earns salvation. Thus, they insisted that a believer's baptism is a necessary part of conversion and necessary for its validity. Local churches in the Tagalog and Ilocano regions established by their missionaries practice only baptism by immersion for adult initiates.
Lord's Supper