United Church of Christ in the Philippines
| United Church of Christ in the Philippines | |
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UCCP logo
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| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Mainline |
| Polity | Mixed. Elements of Congregationalist, Presbyterian and Episcopal polities. |
| Leader | Bp. Reuel Norman O. Marigza, General Secretary |
| Associations | World Communion of Reformed Churches; World Council of Churches; World Methodist Council; |
| Region | Philippines |
| Origin | April 26, 1901 (officially May 25, 1948) Malate, Manila |
| Merger of | The Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the United Evangelical Church, the Philippine Methodist Church and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) |
| Congregations | 2,564 (estimate as of 2008) |
| Members | 1,500,000 |
| Official website | uccpchurch.com |
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (Tagalog: Ang Nagkaisang Iglesia ni Cristo sa Pilipinas; Ilokano: Nagkaykaysa nga Iglesia Ni Cristo iti Filipinas) 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 United Church is a mainline Protestant group in the Philippines with around 1,500,000 members and 1,593 pastors in 2,564 congregations as of 2008. Its main office is located at 877 EDSA, West Triangle, Quezon City. Metro Manila.
Presbyterian missionaries in the Philippines in April 1901 invited missionaries of other evangelical churches to a conference to discuss the possibility of working together in the proclamation of the gospel of faith alone as the only way of salvation for Filipino Catholics, Muslims and pagans. Representatives included those from the Methodist Episcopal Church , the United Brethren in Christ (UBC) , the Northern Baptist Church , the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Free Methodist Church, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society, and the Presbyterian Church.
The Evangelical Union was then formed on April 26, 1901. The evangelical churches agreed to call themselves “The Evangelical Church” (with the original denomination name in parenthesis below it). From 1898 to 1905 these are the mission churches joining in the agreement:
Manila was opened to all denominations and mission agencies. The Seventh-day Adventist Church and Protestant Episcopals did not join because they wanted to go to all parts of the archipelago.
The United Evangelical Church of the Philippines was organized in March 1929. It was a union of Presbyterian, United Brethren in Christ, and Congregationalist denominations along with the United Church of Manila. The Methodist and the (Northern) Baptist who were part of the Evangelical Union refused to join the new union. The doctrinal statement of union was the Nanking Agreement which was itself based on that of the Union Theological Seminary in Nanking, China. It had four major points:
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