(Eagle News) — A new chapter after the Iglesia Ni Cristo’s centennial opens as the INC holds its centennial closing ceremonies highlighting the various victories of the Church that has intensified its propagation and expansion activities worldwide.
The most important part of the celebration is the special worship service on Sunday, July 26, at the Philippine Arena to be officiated by the INC Executive Minister, Brother Eduardo V. Manalo. This will be followed by a special musical celebration at the 55,000-seater arena that has been the venue for large gatherings of the INC since it was opened during the INC’s centennial last year.
On July 27, the INC will be marking its 101st year since it was first registered in the Philippines in 1914.
Part of the centennial closing ceremonies is the holding of the Unity Games International where some 2,000 INC athletes from different parts of the country and abroad gather in the Philippines for friendly competitions in 12 sports events on July 25 and 26.
Another is the showing of the first-full length film of INCinema entitled, “Walang Take Two” featuring the best amateur actors, actresses and film enthusiasts from the various INC districts in the Philippines. The film, which highlighted the importance of various Christian values, will also be shown in selected cinemas in the country.
With the holding of such activities as part of its centennial ender activities, the Iglesia Ni Cristo is showing the world that it is concerned not just with the spiritual upliftment of its brethren, but also with their total well-being, INC organizers said.
Before the centennial closing ceremonies, the INC brethren celebrated the Church anniversary through Thanksgiving worship services to God in all congregations throughout the world, praising God for more than a hundred years of fruitful blessings to the Church.
Among the victories of the Church is the building and dedication of more than 870 houses or buildings of worship in the Philippines and abroad since 2011, according to the INC Executive Minister during the July 18 special Thanksgiving worship service to God at the INC’s Central Temple in Quezon City.
Incidentally, 2011 was the year of the groundbreaking of Ciudad de Victoria complex in Bocaue, Bulacan where the 55,000-seater Philippine Arena and the 20,000 seater Philippine Sports Stadium now stand, he said. Since then, a total of 873 houses or buildings of worship worldwide had been completed by the INC, contrary to its detractors’ claims that the building of houses of worship had declined because of the construction of the Philippine Arena. The INC had also bought parcels of land abroad and other properties, including old churches of other faiths that were no longer being used and had been put up for sale. These were bought for the purpose of building houses of worship of the INC which now has a rapidly growing population across the globe.
Last July 2014, during the INC’s centennial celebrations, INC Executive Minister Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo said that 13 Catholic churches abroad which had been abandoned and closed because they were no longer being used, had been offered to the INC for sale.
Aside from the building of more than 870 houses of worship, more ministers were also ordained to oversee the various needs of the INC congregations worldwide. Since 2010, under the stewardship of the present Executive Minister, Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo, more than 3,000 ministers have been ordained. A number of them had been sent or assigned abroad for the INC’s growing membership in other countries.
The increasing number of houses and buildings of worship not just in the Philippines, but in other countries as well is proof of the Church’s active global expansion and propagation activities which is expected to even intensify in the years after the INC Centennial.
The construction of the 55,000-seater Philippine Arena, which is considered to be the largest mixed-use indoor theater in the world according to the Guinness World Records, is also another achievement for the Church.
It was built only in a span of two years and nine months. The groundbreaking of the Arena happened on August 17, 2011. It was turned over to the INC on May 30, 2014.
The Philippine Arena, including the 20,000-seater Philippine Sports Stadium in Ciudad de Victoria in Bocaue, Bulacan, was the center of the Iglesia Ni Cristo’s centennial celebration in July last year where another Guinness world record was set for the largest gospel choir in the world during a special worship service officiated by the INC Executive Minister, Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo.
Outside the country, the more recent buildings of worship of the Iglesia Ni Cristo or Church Of Christ that were dedicated to God were in Bakersfield, California; Jersey City, New Jersey; Orange Park, Florida; Lubbock, Texas; Roseville, California in the United States; Christchurch, New Zealand; Capetown and Johannesburg, South Africa; Leeds in the United Kingdom; Ibaraki, Japan; and Daegu, South Korea.
Other major structures being built by the INC are the EVM Convention Center and the new INC Museum situated along Central Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.
The other structures built within the centennial year also include the new building of the College of Evangelical Ministry (CEM), the school for INC ministers, also along Central Avenue, the Honorata de Guzman building and the Pilar Manalo-Danao Multi-Media Center built inside the Central grounds of the INC; and the Professional Schools Building of the New Era University which houses the College of Medicine, the College of Law , and the School of Graduate Studies of NEU.
Three schools of ministry outside of the Philippines were also established within the centennial year. These are in Sacramento, California in the United States; London, United Kingdom; and in Rome, Italy.
The INC also inaugurated in January 2015 the EVM Self-Sustainable Resettlement Community in Alang-alang, Leyte for the INC brethren who were affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).
Millions of people have also been reached and helped through the Church’s outreach program called “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko”, not just in the Philippines, but in various parts of the world. Just in August last year, the INC also conducted an outreach mission in King Williams’ Town, South Africa which benefited more than 3,000 people.
Africa was one of the 13 new districts across the globe established by the INC during its centennial year.
(Eagle News Service)