PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 15, 2013) – The National Council of Churches in the Philippines, the biggest organization of mainline Protestant and non-Roman Catholic churches in the country, is celebrating its 50th year.
Founded in November 7, 1963, the NCCP is an ecumenical fellowship of ten denominations and nine service-oriented organizations in the Philippines working for more visible unity and common service.
The founding member churches of the NCCP are Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches; Iglesia Evangelica Metodista En Las Islas Filipina (Philippine Evangelical Methodist Church or IEMELIF); Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo (now, Iglesia Unida Ekyumenikal; United Ecumenical Church).
Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church), Philippine Episcopal Church (now, Episcopal Church in the Philippines), United Church of Christ in the Philippines; and the United Methodist Church.
Through the years, the Salvation Army, the Lutheran Church in the Philippines and the Apostolic Catholic Church, joined the fellowship.
The NCCP was born from an earlier formation called the Philippine Federation of Christian of Christian Churches, which was established in 1949. Bishop Isabelo delos Reyes Jr., who was then the Obismo Maximo (Supreme Bishop) of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), was elected as NCCP’s first chairperson during that inaugural assembly.
The current NCCP chairperson is the present Obispo Maximo of the IFI, the Most Rev. Ephraim Fajutagana.
The NCCP Jubilee Year celebration comes at a time when the NCCP is holding high the tapestry of justice and peace in a broken world.
“Indeed, the NCCP can rightfully claim that for the last 50 years, it has already woven and is now proud to hold high its tapestry. The NCCP has always been at the forefront of advocacy for peace and rights of workers, migrants, peasants, urban poor communities, indigenous peoples and peoples of other faiths; advocacy for social, economic and environmental justice in partnership with grassroots organizations,like-minded organizations both locally and internationally. Advocacy work has always been coupled with Service to the same people who are pushed at the margins of society,” it said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
To kick-off its Jubilee, NCCP said it will hold a concert entitled “Salmo ng Paglaya at Pag-Ibig: Isang Gabi ng Awit, Tula, Sayaw, Musika’t Dula.” This will be held at the Henry Lee Irwin Theatre at the Ateneo de Manila University on July 19 at 7 p.m.
The grand jubilee celebration will be on November 15. Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, is guest preacher and will lead the thanksgiving liturgical service.
And this will be followed by a witnessing parade and capped by a homecoming of past NCCP staff, commissioners, committee members and guests. The founding assembly in 1963 was held at the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. John in the compound of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines in Manila and it will also serve as the venue for the celebration.
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