The Brethren Church

Senior Pastor Gary Castro (pictured here at the 2008 Brethren Church General Conference) oversees the Brethren Church ministry in the Philippines.

To learn more about the Brethren ministry in the Philippines, read the information at the right of this page.

Philippines is our missionary highlight video for August. Please be patient as the video loads.

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Pastor Paul Stanley of Carson Oaks Community Church in Stockton, California returned on February 27 from a trip to the Philippines to celebrate the third anniversary of Jesus Our Firm Foundation (Brethren) Church.

After a 16-hour flight, we arrived in Manila at 5:30 am to a city that was already alive with sounds of three-wheeled trikes, Jeepneys and wall-to-wall traffic. We had come to celebrate the three-year anniversary of Jesus Our Firm Foundation, which is the Brethren Church in the Philippines, but moreover, we had come to participate in the ministry of the church.

Our first night in Manila was spent at the home of Melchor and Grace Tolentino, who have opened their home for years for ministry to those who live in the squatters’ area. The squatters’ homes are on government-owned land and are built of whatever one can find in the streets and dumps. Some of the folks have not eaten in a couple of days, so they are always fed (both physically and spiritually), and often given basic essentials such as soap, toiletries, or clothing, which they lack due to the poverty that surrounds them.

A majority of the ministry is done in the area where the church is located in Bocaue, Bulacann, which lies 60km outside of Manila. Pastors Rolly, Efren, Eddie, and Anthony work tirelessly for the cause of this church, overseeing the day-to-day activities as well as working with the 13 cell groups dispersed throughout the region.

JOFF has the favor of many in Bocaue, including the mayor and the police force. While there, we had the opportunity to visit the mayor and his staff and pray for them in his office. We also had the opportunity to visit the local jail and share the gospel with those who were incarnated there. Once again we had the opportunity to feed both physically and spiritually, because many of the prisoners are surviving on next to nothing. They depend on a majority of their food coming from family and friends on the outside, and sadly, many of these men had neither.

About four years ago, the Carson Oaks Community Church in Stockton, California built a church in Deparo in one of the squatter’s areas. This is a small, one-room concrete building that is actually a Brethren Church.In our western eyes, these people seem very poor. There is only a well for water, a minimum of electricity, and the makeshift homes have no real kitchen, so much of the cooking is done on an open fire in a communal type of homemade pavilion. One’s first inclination is to feel sorry for these people, but once one stops looking through the lens of twenty-first century America, one can see the deep love an sense of sharing and community these folks have. Of course there is a great need within this community, but there is also a great lesson for us to learn about the difference between worshipping out of abundace and worshipping out of hope.

The third anniversary of JOFF was well attended by 200+ people. There was a time of singing and dancing and heartfelt worship by those who attended. We had the opportunity to bring greetings from the Brethren in America, reissue the pastor’s license and present them with gifts from their church brothers and sisters in California. Their theme was evangelism, focusing on the Scripture found in John 17:24, “that the world may know.”

It is impossible to tell you everything, or to even try and briefly sum up this trip. While there we saw 54 people give their lives to Christ, preached 14 times in 10 days, visited numerous homes, traveled almost 15,000 miles, and learned a great deal about not interpreting the Bible by our own culture.

I want to thank my ministry partner, Darren Sen, who accompanied me on this trip. He took two weeks out of his life to go on his first mission trip. He hung in through long hours, a load of traveling, eating food that we weren’t real sure of, and even enduring waking at 4:30am for Bible study!

I am truly blessed by what I saw God do in him and the fire which he brought back with him. It is my prayer that you who are reading this might join us someday. Our efforts and support are not in vain, and every dime given to this ministry is used for ministry and support of beautiful people in an area where life is tough. I challenge you to consider this mission. I guarantee you that when you return you will be exhuasted, but you will never regret getting on that plane!