During his theological training at the United Pentecostal Church (UPC) headquarters in Manila, a young pastor from Mansiingan, Bacolod in the Philippines, stumbled upon a dust-covered parcel in a corner of the library. Out of curiosity, he opened the parcel and found that it contained the Words of Life pamphlets published by the International Assembly (IA) of the True Jesus Church. When he read the pamphlets and found they contained biblical truth, he began to distribute them to his family and church members as well as fellow ministers of the UPC. A group of them later made contact with the English Literature Evangelical Centre in Singapore where the pamphlets were published and requested the Centre in Singapore to send missionaries to the Philippines. The IA responded to their request and in June 1983, sent Deacon John Chin and Preacher Chin Mun Loong to visit them. And thus, our church in the Philippines was established. The Spirit of God continues to work over the years, and the IA as well as the Southeast Asia Evangelical Centre (SEAEC) have sent a number of full-time ministers to evangelise and to pastor the congregation. The Lord's guidance over the past decade is witnessed in the growth of the churches there: 1997 Figures | Church | Members | | Mansilingan | 100 | | Pagadian | 176 | | Raw-An (Lanao) | 66 | | Maculay | 74 | | Manila | 54 | | Prayer House | | | Condunggon | 16 | | Emelda | 24 | | Bayod | 27 | | Tabina | 32 | | Laperian | 38 | | Lingatan | 34 | | Santa Babara | 47 | | Tukuran | 9 | | Aurora | 10 | | Bokong | 8 | | Total | 715 members, 4 full-time workers | Through God's wonderful arrangement, the General Assembly (GA) of Sabah has been given the opportunity to look after the church in the Philippines. Charged with this important mission, we need volunteer workers to help conduct seminars for religious education teachers as well as assist in spiritual convocations and evangelistic meetings. Financial assistance is badly needed in the construction of churches, religious education classrooms and training centers, in supporting the full-time workers and in providing education and welfare for the needy. The GA plans to evangelize and pastor the churches through maintaining the present 20-minute radio program from the Radio Mindanao station; preparing and distributing more gospel tracts in the local dialects; increasing the frequency of pastoral visits from two to four visits from 1997 onwards; conducting short term theological training courses to train more local workers; and building a training center complete with modern facilities such as classrooms and living quarters, kitchen, lavatories, bathrooms. To implement the above plans successfully for the glory of God, we cordially request your prayers, and invite you to join us as volunteers to participate in this challenging task of evangelizing and pastoring in the Philippines. Brothers and sisters who wish to volunteer their services and participate in the Philippine ministry can respond to the IA's call for workers or write directly to the General Assembly of the True Jesus Church in Sabah at the address below. If you wish to contribute financially, please issue your bank draft/check/postal order to the "General Assembly of the True Jesus Church, Sabah", specifying that it is for the Philippines ministry, and forward it to the address below. General Assembly of the True Jesus Church, Sabah
PO Box 10510
88805 Kota Kinabalu
Sabali, Malaysia
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