Assassinated for their Faith
As I prepare for the general assembly, I cannot help but despair that our denomination is seemingly consumed by the issue of sexuality. My worldview was recently yanked back in place with a series of messages circulated in the listservs I subscribe to -- and I hope it will stay in place during the general assembly.
The controversy over who can or cannot be ordained based on their sexuality is nothing compared to pastors and church workers in the developing world who put their lives on the line as they witness and prophesy for the Lord.
In being prophetic, many have paid for their lives, especially in the Philippines where eight pastors and church workers of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines have been killed since May 2005. I know of no other country where so many pastors and church workers have died in a similar time period.
Here they are, loyal servants of the Lord:
+ Rev. Edison Lapuz, Conference Minister of Northeast Leyte Conference of the UCCP, shot and killed on May 12, 2005.
+ Rev. Raul Domingo, Pastor in San Jose, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, shot on August 20, 2005, died on September 4.
+ Junico Halem, active member UCCP Aluran, Misamis Occidental, shot and killed on December 6, 2005.
+ Nestor Arinque, chairman of the Church Council UCCP, Mabini, Bohol, shot and killed on March 7, 2006.
+ Rev. Jemias Tinambacan, Pastor of UCCP Calaran, Calamba, Misamis Occidental, shot and killed on May 9, 2006.
+ Jose Doton, active member of UCCP San Nicolas, Pangasinan, shot and killed on May 16, 2006.
+ Pastor Andy Pawikan, Licenciate Pastor of UCCP Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, forcibly taken, tortured and believed killed around 4:00 p.m. when a gunshot was heard, on May 21, 2006.
+ Rev. Noli Capulong, Chairman of the Christian Witness and Service Committee of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Calamba City (UCCP-Calamba), May 27, 2006.
I got this list through our mission co-worker in the Philippines, Cobbie Palm. Cobbie is a son of Rev. Jim and Louise Palm, mission workers at the Church Among the Palms (I kid you not!) in Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines. When they returned to US, they directed the Stony Point Conference Center.
"There is a pervasive feeling that the nation is sliding back into the terror of unwarranted killing and the systematic way and method of the killings only point to the military," writes Cobbie in an email. Since 2001, 585 activists and leaders of progressives organizations have been killed. It seems that the bullets are now trained at pastors and church workers.
When we won our fight for democracy in the Philippines, I thought that the extra-judicial killings conducted by the military (the media called it salvaging) would have also ended. Clearly, it has not.
Already, the Philippines is known as one of the most dangerous place to be a journalist, with nine killed last year. Clearly, it is also such a place for pastors.
The controversy over who can or cannot be ordained based on their sexuality is nothing compared to pastors and church workers in the developing world who put their lives on the line as they witness and prophesy for the Lord.
In being prophetic, many have paid for their lives, especially in the Philippines where eight pastors and church workers of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines have been killed since May 2005. I know of no other country where so many pastors and church workers have died in a similar time period.
Here they are, loyal servants of the Lord:
+ Rev. Edison Lapuz, Conference Minister of Northeast Leyte Conference of the UCCP, shot and killed on May 12, 2005.
+ Rev. Raul Domingo, Pastor in San Jose, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, shot on August 20, 2005, died on September 4.
+ Junico Halem, active member UCCP Aluran, Misamis Occidental, shot and killed on December 6, 2005.
+ Nestor Arinque, chairman of the Church Council UCCP, Mabini, Bohol, shot and killed on March 7, 2006.
+ Rev. Jemias Tinambacan, Pastor of UCCP Calaran, Calamba, Misamis Occidental, shot and killed on May 9, 2006.
+ Jose Doton, active member of UCCP San Nicolas, Pangasinan, shot and killed on May 16, 2006.
+ Pastor Andy Pawikan, Licenciate Pastor of UCCP Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, forcibly taken, tortured and believed killed around 4:00 p.m. when a gunshot was heard, on May 21, 2006.
+ Rev. Noli Capulong, Chairman of the Christian Witness and Service Committee of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Calamba City (UCCP-Calamba), May 27, 2006.
I got this list through our mission co-worker in the Philippines, Cobbie Palm. Cobbie is a son of Rev. Jim and Louise Palm, mission workers at the Church Among the Palms (I kid you not!) in Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines. When they returned to US, they directed the Stony Point Conference Center.
"There is a pervasive feeling that the nation is sliding back into the terror of unwarranted killing and the systematic way and method of the killings only point to the military," writes Cobbie in an email. Since 2001, 585 activists and leaders of progressives organizations have been killed. It seems that the bullets are now trained at pastors and church workers.
When we won our fight for democracy in the Philippines, I thought that the extra-judicial killings conducted by the military (the media called it salvaging) would have also ended. Clearly, it has not.
Already, the Philippines is known as one of the most dangerous place to be a journalist, with nine killed last year. Clearly, it is also such a place for pastors.
posted by NYAPC Elder at
9:20 PM
2 Comments:
I am Jedi Cruz, served as 8th Quadrennial General Assembly National Steward. At the age of 23, it was my first time to join the GA, only read its materials, heard stories on how 'big' it was for our church to have every four years. But as I personally witnessed how we came about as a United Church of Christ, and the trials we face because of choosing to follow Jesus, I am prayerful and more hopeful that nothing can stop the truth.
By
Jedi Loraine, at 2:19 AM
Jedi:
I was a delegate to a UCCP General Assembly representing the CYF at Silliman University. It was very useful in terms of learning how our pastors and other leaders run the church. However, it is different from the PC (USA) general assembly in terms of the the extensive preparations that commissioners have to do. Well, PC (USA) is a lot older than the UCCP.
By
NYAPC Elder, at 4:06 PM
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