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The Philippines Central Conference of the United Methodist Church (Filipino: Kumperensyang Sentral ng Pilipinas) is a collection of annual conferences of the United Methodist Church in the Philippines that are organised much like jurisdictional conferences in the United States. The Philippines Central Conference is considered a member church of the World Methodist Council, and a "Central Conference" of the world-wide United Methodist Church. It is also a member of the Christian Conference of Asia and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines as The United Methodist Church in the Philippines, representing the denomination as its Philippine counterpart.
The Philippines Central Conference is further subdivided into twenty-two (22) regions, called annual conferences, under the authorities of three episcopal areas. These annual conferences are subdivided into "districts," which provide further administrative functions for the operation of local churches in cooperation with each other under the supervision of the district superintendent. This structure is vital to Methodism, and is referred to as "connexionalism".
The Philippines Central Conference has a professing membership of about 200,540, but it serves a much larger community of close to 1 million. From six annual conferences in 1968, the United Methodist Church in the Philippines has grown to 19 annual conferences located in three episcopal areas. [1] And now, with 24 Annual conferences.
The first Methodist presence on the islands was that of Rev. Maj. George C. Stull, a minister from the Montana Annual Conference, which was a part of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He originally went to the Philippines as the chaplain of the First Montana Regiment, and established the first ME church. In the Stull letter—a correspondence sent from Stull to his home conference for the annual conference—Stull enumerates several of his accomplishments since coming to the islands. Among them is the fact that he commissioned the first Filipino to preach using his "elder's privilege in an emergency." [2]
In 1908, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church authorized the organization of the Philippine Islands Mission into the Philippine Islands Annual Conference, under the jurisdiction of the Southern Asia Central Conference.
The work in the Philippines grew quickly and in 1936, the General Conference enabled the organization of the Philippines Central Conference during the following quadrennium. This act was ratified at the 1939 Uniting Conference which created The Methodist Church. The first session of the Philippines Central Conference was held at the Central Methodist Church in Manila, beginning February 29, 1940.
Following years of growth, the 1960 General Conference approved a second episcopal area in the Philippines Central Conference: the Baguio Area (composed of the Northwest Philippines Annual Conference, the Northern Philippines Annual Conference, and the Mindanao Provisional Annual Conference) which joined the Manila Area (composed of the Philippines Annual Conference, Southwest Philippines Provisional Annual Conference, and the Middle Philippines Annual Conference). The 1984 General Conference mandated the addition of a third episcopal area, the Davao Area.
In 2022 Ruby-Nell Estrella was elected as the first woman bishop of the United Methodist Church in the Philippines. [3] (The Philippines Central Conference is also a member of the Christian Conference of Asia and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines as The United Methodist Church in the Philippines, representing the denomination as its Philippine counterpart.)
Baguio Episcopal Area Bishop Pedro M. Torio, Jr., OD, OSL 114,583 Professing and Baptized Members, 639 Organized Churches, 38 Preaching Places, 310 Ordained Elders, 380 Local Pastors. The geographical areas covers 447,229 square kilometers. This area also handles the Nepal District.
Davao Episcopal Area Bishop Rodolfo A. Juan 25,396 Professing and Baptized Members, 127 Ordained Clergy, 143 local Pastors, 201 Organized Churches, and 40 Preaching places. This Episcopal area covers an area of 3000,000 square Kilometers.
Manila Episcopal Area Bishop Ciriaco Francisco 143,329 Professing and Baptized Members, 534 Organized churches, 208 Preaching places, 392 Ordained Elders, 360 local pastors. The geographical area covers around 300,000 square kilometers.
Davao Episcopal Area
Manila Episcopal Area
In National level, it is known United Methodist Youth Fellowship in the Philippines (UMYFP)
In National level, United Methodist Young Adult Fellowship in the Philippines (UMYAFP)
Other special group fellowships
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a branch of Protestantism whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant early leaders in the movement. They were named Methodists for "the methodical way in which they carried out their Christian faith". Methodism originated as a revival movement within Anglicanism originating out of the Church of England in the 18th century and became a separate denomination after Wesley's death. The movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States and beyond because of vigorous missionary work, and today has about 80 million adherents worldwide.
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelicalism. The present denomination was founded in 1968 in Dallas, Texas, by union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley in England, as well as the Great Awakening in the United States. As such, the church's theological orientation is decidedly Wesleyan. It embraces liturgical worship, holiness, and evangelical elements.
Christianity is the predominant religion in the Philippines, with Roman Catholicism being its largest denomination. Sizeable minorities adhering to Islam, Indian religions, and indigenous Philippine folk religions are also present.
Protestant denominations arrived in the Philippines in 1898, after the United States took control of the Philippines from Spain, first with United States Army chaplains and then within months civilian missionaries.
Dionisio Deista Alejandro (1893–1972) was the first Filipino Bishop of the Methodist Church, elected in 1944.
An annual conference is a regional decision-making body within various Methodist denominations. Conferences are a key characteristic of the connexional (connectional) system of government in Methodism. Annual conferences are composed primarily of the clergy members and a lay member or members from each charge. Each conference is a geographical division. In general, the smaller states in the United States hold one conference each, while larger states often include two or more conferences. Several annual conferences are held in other nations as well.
Edwin Ferdinand Lee was a Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and The Methodist Church, elected in 1928.
Leo A. Soriano is a retired bishop of the United Methodist Church (U.M.) in the Philippines. He was elected in 2000 and held this position until 2012.
An episcopal area in the United Methodist Church (UMC) is a basic unit of this denomination. It is a region presided over by a resident bishop that is similar to a diocese in other Christian denominations. Each annual conference in the UMC is within a single episcopal area; some episcopal areas include more than one annual conference. Episcopal areas are found in the United States as well as internationally. In some cases, such as the Western Jurisdiction of the US as well as some places internationally, an episcopal area covers a very large territory.
The Episcopal Church in the Philippines is a province of the Anglican Communion comprising the country of the Philippines. It was established by the Episcopal Church of the United States in 1901 by American missionaries led by Charles Henry Brent, who served as the first resident bishop, when the Philippines was opened to Protestant American missionaries. It became an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion on May 1, 1990.
The North Texas Conference is an Annual Conference. This conference encompasses a triangle-shaped northern portion of the state of Texas that spans from Dallas to Wichita Falls to Paris. The conference includes a small geographic area relative to most annual conferences. The North Texas Conference comprises 301 churches, 141,827 members, 4 districts and 20 counties.
Knox United Methodist Church is known to be the first Filipino United Methodist Church in the Philippines located along Rizal Avenue in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
Central United Methodist Church is the first Protestant church in the Philippines, located along T.M. Kalaw Street, Ermita, Manila. Founded on 5 March 1899 during the American Occupation, it was originally named Central Methodist Episcopal Church. The church was originally designed by Juan Arellano.
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines is a Christian denomination in the Philippines. Established in its present form in Malate, Manila, it resulted from the merger of the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the United Evangelical Church and several independent congregations.
The Evangelical Methodist Church in the Philippine Islands is a Methodist Christian denomination. Founded on 28 February 1909 by Bishop Nicolás Zamora, it is recognised in the Philippines as the first indigenous Evangelical Protestant denomination.
Methodist views on the ordination of women in the rite of holy orders are diverse.
Ang Iglesia Metodista sa Pilipinas is an indigenous autonomous Methodist church in the Philippines. The founders of the church, led by Presiding Bishop Rev. Lito Tangonan officially registered on December 7, 2011 the congregation with the Philippine Government through the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Union Theological Seminary is the oldest Protestant seminary in the Philippines.
Nicolás Villegas Zamora was a Methodist minister who is credited with the foundation of the first indigenous evangelical church in the Philippines, known as the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista en las Islas Filipinas. Zamora is also recognized as the first native Filipino Protestant minister in the Philippines.