History of UPC Philippines The United Pentecostal Church, Philippines is a religious organization under the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) with the vision of bringing the whole gospel to the whole world. to carry the whole gospel to the whole world to establish an effective organized effort to encourage the opening and establishing of new works to evangelize the world by every means possible; and to produce and maintain a clean ministry and fellowship Fundamental Doctrine The Bible is the fundamental doctrine of this organization, the only God-given authority which man possesses; therefore, all doctrine, faith, hope and all instruction for the church must be based upon. Salvation comes along with repentance, baptism in water by immersion for the remission of sins and the speaking of other tongues through the Spirit. History The history of the United Pentecostal Church Philippines started in the small, overlooked town of Fabrica in Sagay, Negros Occidental in 1957. The original men who started UPC were not at all Oneness believers back then, but were hard-line Trinitarian Baptists under Rev. Catalino Buensuceso. One of the men is Bishop Meliton Ubamos Zarsuelo, the only living survivor of the original UPC Philippines. The change in Faith and belief was triggered when, during one of the men’s organizational meetings in Church, their Pastor taught them a new way of reasoning against their fiercest religious denominational rival, the Iglesia Ni Cristo. Rev. Catalino Buensuceso taught the “Oneness of the godhead”, one of the fundamental beliefs of the United Pentecostal Church, to enable them to defend themselves from ridicule of the I.N.C. This Oneness doctrine originated from one of the Oneness tracts that Bishop Meliton Ubamos Zarsuelo presented to his Pastor. It was known that time that Bishop Meliton Ubamos Zarsuelo kept contacts with people from Hong Kong who gave him the Oneness tracts, one of them Bro. Ralph D. Bullock, the publisher of the monthly Newsletter, WING SHANG MOON. This new teaching created a rift, an irreconcilable change of mind, in the Baptist congregation after they have learned of the Oneness doctrine. Rev. Catalino Buensuceso was not able to convince Bishop Meliton Ubamos Zarsuelo and several of their men’s department to stay and keep the Trinitarian belief. Seven families decided to depart from the Baptist Church and started their own Sunday service, preaching and declaring the Oneness Doctrine and baptism in Jesus name. However, during that time, they were not yet baptized in the name of Jesus because Rev. Catalino Buensuceso stubbornly kept his hold onto the Trinitarian belief. The earnest prayer of the newly formed group was to have someone who will baptize them in Jesus name and teach them fully the Oneness truth. Their prayer was answered after Bishop Meliton Ubamos Zarsuelo wrote a letter to Bro. Ralph Bullock asking him to come to the Philippines. However, due to unavoidable circumstances, Bro. Ralph Bullock was not able to grant his request. His request was then forwarded to UPC Head Quarters in St. Louis, Missouri and the first UPC missionary, by the name of Rev. Carlos C. Grant, came. The UPC is not alone in its belief of the One True God. The Oneness teaching came to the country long before UPC Philippines was established. Before the outbreak of war, Urbano Aventura came back to the country from Hawaii bringing with him the Oneness teaching to his home in Iloilo City. Persecuted by his family, he moved to Baguer, Pigcawayan in North Cotabato where he preached the oneness faith. A congregation was established but it was not United Pentecostal Church. He later joined UPC after Rev. Carlos Grant and UPC became known in Mindanao. In 1971, there was only one District in the whole Philippines with three sections: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. During the General Conference held in the same year, the Executive board initiated reorganization dividing the Philippines into three districts, namely: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. There were three sections each in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The official organ of the UPC Phils., The Pentecostal Voice became known as the Pentecostal Herald with Bro. Absalom Gamayon as the Editor. In the same year, the first Regional Missionary Conference was held in Manila with the purpose of seeing the schools and the work in general. All missionaries from Asia and Southern Pacific were present. In 1972 and the succeeding years of military rule, the church was not at all hindered. The work of God continued to flourish with the three Bible Schools producing 95 graduates. By 1973, Bro. and Sis. Gary Nepstad opened a Bible School in Davao City. The school lasted only for one year and was discontinued due to lack of facilities. A three-month course was opened instead for elder ministers. In Manila, Rev. Mallory and Rev. Hyde conducted a six-month seminar for the elder ministers who had not gone to any of the endorsed Bible schools. Bro.and Sis. Adams went on furlough, Bro. Gordon Mallory served as the acting Superintendent. Bro. Harry Scism, the Asian Supervisor took up residency in Manila helping our posture internationally. The annual conference held along the first Expo Manila 73 Crusade had catapulted the UPC in popularity. In 1974-75, the Bible School of Medina, Ilocos Norte and Gandara, Samar were closed and the administration concentrated on the Bible School in Manila. The General Conference was held in July 13-16, 1974 with Bro. Carl Adams as superintendent. The same year recorded the highest record of 3,281 baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 355 churches, 78 new preaching places were opened and licensed ministers increased to 355. Due to tremendous increase of constituency, a great demand for larger headquarters and Bible School came. God gave the lot at Escuela Street Guadalupe, Makati to house the Headquarters and the Bible School building. In 1976 the number of licensed ministers increased to keep abreast with the growing constituency. In 1977, Rev. Richard Denny became the National Sunday School Director and was assigned to prepare the program for 1978 General Conference. In 1978, the wind of revival was sweeping the country. Churches were reporting victory. Almost all of the churches in the country were having large increases in attendance as well as for their giving in tithes, offerings and pledges of all departments. The Search for Truth Manual was translated in Cebuano, Tagalog and Ilocano and was printed for distribution to our churches and applied in Home Bible Studies. At the same time, the Alpha Correspondence School spearheaded by Rev. Ben Patayan went smoothly with enrollment soaring to past one thousand students from all parts of the country. The year 1979 was a record year of baptism in water. There were more than 3,000 people who were baptized in water in the Name of Jesus, and 1,835 were filled with the Holy Ghost. By 1980 Sis. Evelyn Adams was struck with an illness. They were forced to go back to the US. the General Conference Evangelistic meetings were held at the PICC with the International Superintendent Rev. Nathaniel Urshan as the Guest Speaker. In this Conference Rev. Gordon Mallory was installed as the new General Superintendent of the UPC Phils. In the same year the Denny Family arrived and purchased a property in Basak, Cebu City to put up a Bible School. The 1980 Executive Board members were increased from 11 to 15. As the Bible School was streamlined with three schools in Manila, Cebu City and Baguio City the work of training students became easier. New departments were added to three existing departments of the UPC Phils. The new departments were the Editorial, Christian Education and the World Mission Departments. The 1982 Conference was highlighted with the election of the National, District, and the departmental officers. A joint National Filipino work and military fellowship was made in Angeles City. Each has their own pastor, American and Filipino overseers. Rev. C.H. Varnell was the over-all Overseer until John Wolfram came. Rev. Varnell presented a plan to relocate the Manila Bible School due to congestion at the Headquarters. The General Conference held in 1985 was highlighted with the Greater Metro Manila Evangelism introduced by Rev. Gordon Mallory. Much work on the amendments, additions, deletions, and revisions to the Constitution and By-Laws of the UPC was made. Local Church training program was limited to training lay members. Ministerial training must come with a pastoral recommendation for endorsement to any Bible College of the UPC Phils. In 1986, the Executive Board approved two offices for Assistant Superintendent. Rev. Caledonio Ompad was elected as the Assistant Superintendent for Region 1 (Luzon and Palawan) and Rev. Romeo Navallo was elected Assistant Superintendent for Region II (Visayas and Mindanao). The same year was characterized by much improvement due to the cooperation of the members with their pastor in the local churches, which in turn cooperated with the sectional organization and the district, which in turn supported the national organization. Despite all odds, the UPC Philippines has surmounted all the challenges it had faced for two decades to arrive to the place where it is now.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:55:40 +0000
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