CNMI’s over a thousand members will gather for a special service and memorial program at the Church of Christ church in San Vicente at 7 p.m. tonight.
The Church of Christ on Saipan was established and officially registered on May 17, 1979.
Its congregation celebrates this year’s anniversary with focus on its historic emergence in the Philippines 94 years ago, and on the equally historic beginnings of its overseas mission 40 years ago.
Beginnings
94 years ago, Church of Christ founder Felix Y. Manalo, turned over his hat and barber shop over to a friend in Pasay City, Manila and went to the other side of Pasig River to hold his first religious meetings with a small group of interested listeners.
The fruits of those first evangelistic meetings became the members of the first local congregation of the Church of Christ.
Within a year, Manalo was shepherding five congregations in Manila, Taguig, Pasig and Pateros.
Today, members of that five congregations had multiplied and now composed of thousands of members meeting regularly to worship God in houses of worship that can seat an average of 1,000 people, a long way from its beginning.
Manalo passed away on April 12, 1963 but his efforts of single-handedly administering the church and establishing congregations lived on.
Five years after Manalo’s death, the Church of Christ gained initial foothold overseas under the leadership of Bro. Eraño G. Manalo. They went to Hawaii on July 27, 1968 to hold the first service there, moved to San Francisco, California and to New York.
Since then, more members joined the congregation as more churches were erected all over the world. The Church of Christ, officially registered as a pioneering religious organization on July 27, 1914 has indeed come a long way.
