INC?s 90th anniversary
IT WAS in the early months of 1914 when Felix Manalo began preaching the tenets of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) among a small group of workers at the Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Co. of Manila Inc. The Iglesia?s first ?locale? in the country was thus formed in Punta in Manila?s Santa Ana district after its first converts were baptized in the nearby Pasig River.
On July 27, 1914, Manalo and his first batch of converts registered the new church with the government, fulfilling the prophetic revelation that the one and only Church of Christ would rise in the East and lead the world in faith to one Divine Providence.
Many Catholic clergymen at that time may have at first dismissed the Iglesia?s growth as a temporary phenomenon due to the novelty of Protestantism, which had just been introduced into the country by the American colonial masters.
The clerics probably sought justification in Christian scripture, which said that the will of Divine Providence would last but not that which is not from God. It must have been easy to dismiss the Iglesia ni Cristo because the new faith appeared to have been too fragile to withstand the theological sophistication of Catholic orthodoxy.
But contrary to the belief that it would soon fail because it was not from God, the Iglesia continued to grow even through the difficulties of a World War. In 1948, or only three decades after its foundation, the Iglesia?s makeshift houses of worship on rented lots could no longer contain its congregation. And the church had to start building those familiar structures with a distinct architecture that dots virtually every corner of the country today.
In these distinct churches, the church continued to gain converts even as generations new church members are born into the faith. Today, Iglesia ministers are just as sophisticated as Christian clerics, well versed in comparative theology, capable even of arguing the Christian scripture in the original Greek. Today, ministers of the Iglesia are highly regarded in their communities and many are even the acknowledged arbiters of right conduct.
The Iglesia ni Cristo has reason to rejoice as it celebrates its 90th anniversary today. After its ?glorification? in the Philippines, it has emerged strong in the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Hawaii, Guam and Hong Kong.
The continuing success of the Iglesia is a marvel of faith. Its growth from one concrete church on Washington Street in Sampaloc, Manila, to hundreds of churches around the world under the Central Church on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City reflects the resilience of the Filipinos in their faith. Indeed, they can now celebrate Paul?s admonition to the Romans to greet one another with a holy kiss because the Iglesia ni Cristo has risen strong in the East as well as in the West.
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