CALM Needs – Calm Philippines USA, Inc.

Ministry Need

JimGresham — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 22:40:06 +0000

Juanito Magbanua’s ministry with CALM involves a lot of travel! Most Sundays he rises early to be able to preach at one church, then travels some distance to another church for an afternoon or evening service, and then returns home late Sunday night. During the week, he’s busy visiting other churches to mentor leaders, help with maintenance and construction, or conduct Bible studies and seminars. He spends Mondays teaching at Iloilo Bible Seminary. Occasionally, he participates in area-wide conferences and events, plus the monthly medical/feeding missions held at one of the churches.

Since he has no vehicle, he must rely on public transportation or rent a car. If possible, he travels by bus. But often he must hire motorbikes or even water buffalo-drawn carts to reach remote areas. Sometimes he must walk several kilometers to his destination. Relying on others for transportation adds greatly to his travel time and often limits his ministry opportunities. Juanito has long prayed for a vehicle of his own to use for his work with CALM. As Juanito says,
“That is why I have been praying God will provide me a car or pickup truck so that anytime I can travel anywhere to preach, whether it is uphill or downhill with muddy or dusty roads.”

In order to buy a car less than a decade old, $16,000 to $18,000 will be required. It is a very large amount, but we pray that with God’s help and your gifts, the money can be raised to help in sharing the Gospel with the Filipino people. Please prayerfully consider contributing to this need. You can give online to the Vehicle Fund at www.calmphilippinesusa.net/give or mail a check with “Vehicle” in the memo line to:

CALM Philippines USA
115 Bashforth Drive
Jeannette, PA 15644

CALM Philippines USA, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the United States Internal Revenue Service. Gifts are tax-deductible as a charitable contribution to the full extent allowed by federal and state tax laws.

A New Place to Worship

JimGresham — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:39:02 +0000

The Tangalan Church of Christ, in the Aklan Province, began a few years ago when Robert invited Juanito to preach and lead home Bible studies. Many accepted Christ and the new church was born. Their numbers increased, and the group soon became too large to meet comfortably in the small house where they gathered.

As they had no other place to meet, they began to worship in a nearby lot. This was fine in fair weather, but they were forced to crowd into a small house when it rained, and the accommodation was not adequate. They looked for a place to rent for their meetings, but no affordable place could be found. The congregation is small, poor, and unable to afford to build a place for worship, so they continued to make the best of their situation and prayed for a more permanent solution.

Their prayers and patience were rewarded in late November 2023, when some generous donors gave gifts through CALM Philippines USA to make building a new meeting place possible. The new chapel, made with bamboo and botong poles, a tin roof, and wall panels was quickly constructed at a cost of (so far) a little over 57,000 pesos ($1,000). The building is 18 feet by 28 feet, which will accommodate approximately 50 to 70 people. The congregation met for worship for the first time on December 17.

The members and guests gathered for a Thanksgiving service the next Sunday and celebrated the blessing of the new chapel. At Pastor Robert’s invitation, three officers from the Tangalan Municipal Police joined in the service and presented gifts to the children.

More work needs to be done. The walls are not complete, the floor needs to be installed, and furnishings are needed, but the Tangalan church now has a place to worship and to carry out their mission: “Loving God and Loving People.”

Tangalan Church Worship Before the Chapel

Rainy Day Meeting Place

Worship on a Rainy Day

Tangalan congregation contemplating the new chapel to be built behind where they are standing - October 2023

Laying out the new chapel. 11/16/2023

The chapel framework. 12/5/2023

The roof goes on. 12/7/2023

The chapel under roof. 12/8/2023

The first worship in the new chapel. 12/17/2023

A happy gathering. 12/17/2023

Walls and "windows" (wire mesh) going up. 12/19/2023

The Tangalan Church Chapel 12/23/2023

Worship and Thansgiving. 12/24/2023

Worship. 12/24/2023

Distiguished guests. 12/24/2023

The Tangalan Church of Christ Mission

New Church Launched at Cabatuan

JimGresham — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:07:21 +0000

A new congregation has been established at Cabatuan in Iloilo Province. A ribbon cutting and worship service was held at the Cabatuan Church of Christ on November 26. The event was attended by the two founding families for the congregation and supporters from other churches. This work is an extension ministry of the Dawis Church of Christ. The pastor at Dawis will preach at Dawis in the morning and at Cabatuan in the afternoon every Sunday.

Iloilo Bible Seminary Launched

JimGresham — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 15:31:38 +0000

Iloilo Bible Seminary was launched on October 21, 2023, at a dedication ceremony held at the Taft North Church of Christ. Iloilo Bible Seminary was born out of the vision and work of Juanito Magbanua and the desire to train leaders for the Panay Island Churches of Christ. Developing capable leaders is essential to ensuring the continued work of the churches for years to come.

Studies for the first class began with orientation on October 23, 2023, with nine students, eight men and one woman. Others have been invited to enroll. Juanito – along with Dandy Garino, Joey Pareja, and two others – will provide the instruction. Dandy and Joey are members of the CALM Philippines board of directors. The classes will be held at the Taft North Church of Christ in Iloilo City. A four-year program is planned with the goal of adding ten students each year. In addition to bible classes, training will be provided in Restoration Movement history, math, English, Filipino, philosophy, psychology, counseling, and other topics. Graduates will have a Bachelor of Theology and a Bachelor of Christian Education degree and will be fully equipped to provide leadership to the churches as ministers of the gospel.

Having a seminary on the Island will allow them to get an education without having to travel a great distance to the Manila or Cebu Seminaries.

Medical Mission at Dala Church of Christ

JimGresham — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 23:38:21 +0000

CALM Philippines and CALM Philippines USA sponsored a medical mission at the Dala Church of Christ on August 26, 2023. It was a great success and all involved were blessed.

Travel

JimGresham — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 02:23:26 +0000

Juanito travels to one of the churches that CALM serves almost every Sunday. Often, he rises early on Sunday to be able to reach the church on time, preaches at that church, travels to another church for an afternoon or evening meeting, and then returns home late Sunday night. Other times, there is only time for one church visit because of the distance and occasionally, an overnight visit is required. When possible, he travels by bus, but sometimes other modes are transportation are required.

When the church is in one of the remote interior areas, he hires transportation via motorbike. The motorbike drivers provide a ride to one or, preferably two passengers, for 50 to 100 pesos, depending on the distance. (One US dollar is about 55 pesos). In the mountainous areas that can’t be reached by a road, one of the church members may give him a ride on a cart pulled by a water buffalo. The cart is not what comes to mind to Americans; rather we would call it a travois, two joined poles that are dragged behind the buffalo.

A visit to the Gregacjac church requires a 5-kilometer (~3 miles) walk through rice paddies. The Buenavista Church of Christ is on Guimaras Island and requires travel by ferry.

Good, reliable transportation would be a great asset to the ministry to CALM. As Juanito says, “That is why I have been praying God will provide me a pickup truck so that anytime I can travel anywhere to preach, whether it is uphill or downhill with muddy or dusty roads.”

Two Churches Without a Place to Worship

JimGresham — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 03:03:56 +0000

Update: One down, one to go.

The Tangalan Church of Christ now has a chapel in which to worship. Read the blog, “A New Place to Worship,” for the latest information. The Kalibo church is still looking but the property discussed in this article is no longer available. They are looking for other property that they can afford.

The Kalibo Church of Christ is in the Aklan Province of the Philippines. The church was birthed about 15 years ago when Romulo invited Juanito to come and lead Bible studies at his house. Romulo was one of Juanito’s students in the children’s
bible class when Juanito was at Cebu many years earlier. As a result of these studies, this group grew into a church that now has an average attendance of 30 to 40. They are a church fully dedicated and committed to Christ. The group has outgrown their meeting space but have no other place to go. Most of the members are working as laborers or drivers and are poor. They need to build a place to worship but don’t have the resources to afford a building.

They have located some property that would be a good location for them to build. The lot is 250 square meters (2,690 square
feet) in size and is priced at 1200 pesos per square meter or a total cost of 300,000 pesos (about $5,400). The estimated cost to construct a building is not known but another church was constructed in the summer of 2022 at a cost of 430,000 pesos (about $7,750). Based on using the other building experience as a basis for an estimate, the total cost would be on the order of
730,000 pesos ($13,150).

About 30 km away, the Tangalan Church of Christ is facing a similar dilemma. The story for the Tangalan church is also like the story for their sister congregation in Kalibo. Another friend of Juanito’s, Robert, invited Juanito to come to Tangalan to preach and lead Bible studies. This led to people accepting Christ and soon developed into a church. After three years, there are now 15 baptized believers who form the nucleus of the church; their meetings are mostly attended by young people and children. The Tangalan church usually meets outside as long as the weather permits. When it rains, they must meet in a very small house which is made of bamboo and has only a dirt floor. Neither meeting place is adequate; they would very much like to build a building for their worship. They have investigated leasing a place to meet but the cost is prohibitive. There is a piece of property available in Tangalan that is 250 square meters for a price of 170,000 pesos ($3,060). A rough estimate for completing the building in Tangalan would be a total cost of 600,000 pesos ($10,810).

Gospel Broadcasting

JimGresham — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:54:35 +0000

Juanito hosted a radio program called “The Christian Hour” for 18 years. The program aired for 30 minutes once a week. He received special training in Radio Broadcasting at the Communication Foundation for Asia in Manila. Radio is a great help in spreading the gospel. It reaches remote places that cannot be practically visited, and each broadcast has a much larger potential audience than months or years of in-person assemblies. Unfortunately, the Gospel broadcasting mission stopped because of escalating costs. Initially, the program was affordable, but the cost kept increasing and is now comparable to advertising or commercial rates. A weekly 30-minute program would cost at least 35,000 pesos (about $650) per month which is beyond CALM’s ability to finance. Radio Gospel Broadcasting is a ministry that CALM Philippines would like to resume and prayers for that opportunity continue.