THE Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) recently held successive evangelical-relief missions in Cebu and Palawan as part of its ongoing intensified campaign to reach out to more people under the project called “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” or “My Countrymen, My Brethren.”
More than 25,000 attended the activity held on Friday, June 20, at the Puerto Princesa City Coliseum. The area overflowed with people, filling even the area in front of the coliseum.
The attendees who came were from all over the province of Palawan, the longest island province in the country, as INC members brought their guests to the event.
Five days earlier, on June 15, at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan, Cebu, some 25,000 people also came to the evangelical-relief mission where more than 20,000 relief packages containing rice, were distributed.
In Puerto Princesa City, some 25,000 goody bags containing five kilos of rice each were also distributed.
An INC minister, Bro. Mathusalem Pareja, said such evangelical and relief missions are also being conducted in about a hundred more countries where the Iglesia Ni Cristo is already established.
The church’s intensive evangelical activities are part of the global campaign called “Abundant Fruit-Bearing” launched by the INC’s Executive Minister Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo.
The main feature of the evangelical mission activities of the church under the “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” program is a Bible exposition that gives an overview of the importance of the church’s role in God’s plan for the salvation of mankind in these last days.
INC General Auditor Glicerio B. Santos Jr., stressed to the audience that ministers like him who preach during such evangelical missions, are not really the ones teaching God’s instructions but are mere instruments. They simply ask questions pertaining to the topic being studied and read the answers straight from the Bible.
Since the launch of the “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” project in April 2013, more than 50 million people have been reached by the INC’s evangelical missions.
The said activities are conducted in venues that can accommodate thousands to hundreds of thousands of people.
In the first few months of Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko, it was even held in vast open areas that can accommodate more than a million people. Such was the case in the relief-evangelical missions in Laguna where 1.5 million people came to the Greenfields Open Area in Sta. Rosa on August 10; in Albay where 1.6 million came at the Mayon Riviera Open Grounds on Aug. 16; in Batangas which was attended by at least a million people on Aug. 30; in Bulacan at the Newtown open grounds which was attended by at least 2 million on Sept. 14; in Davao at the Crocodile Park Open grounds which was attended by at least 2.5 million on Sept. 21; in Quezon at the Vista Verde open grounds in Lucena City on Sept. 27; and in La Union at the Eli Sur open grounds where at least a million people came on Oct. 5— all last year.
In all these events, goody bags containing rice, noodle packs and cans of sardines were distributed after the evangelical mission.
Singers and performers, mostly INC brethren who came all the way from Manila, also participated in these evangelical missions. The performances were done by a mix of young and old entertainers, among them “Jukebox King” Victor Wood and balladeer Anthony Castelo. Wood was baptized into the INC in January this year.
In Puerto Princesa, other young singers who became instant favorites were Davey Langit who popularized his original composition , “Selfie” song, rapper Aikee who is known for his song “Dota o Ako,” and Apple Chiu, a singer-interpreter for the first season of the musical game show, The Singing Bee.
The performers, except for Castelo, are all INC members who said they participate in the relief- evangelical missions as part of their duty to serve God. Castelo has already expressed desire to undergo Bible studies on doctrines and has even composed songs pertaining to the INC.
They perform before the evangelical mission starts. Aside from their usual routine songs, the singers also belt out Christian songs to entertain the audience.
An audio-visual presentation on the Iglesia Ni Cristo is also played out during the Bible exposition showing a brief history of the church and its spread throughout the world. It also detailed the various victories of the church under the administration of its present Executive Minister Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo.
More evangelical missions are scheduled in the next few weeks, and even after the July 27 Centennial celebration of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. (Eagle News Service)
