Information
History
ORIGIN OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST WORK IN THE NORTH PHILIPPINES
Seventh-day Adventists first established a presence in the Philippines in 1905. Robert Caldwell, a literature evangelist missionary, arrived in Manila on August 24 of that year and pioneered the literature ministry by selling books in the language people understand – Spanish. People bought books and spread the word to their friends. In 1906, the Philippine Mission was organized under the Asiatic Division with headquarters located in Shanghai, China.
When E.H. Gate, the field secretary of the Australian Union Conference, visited Caldwell, he suggested placing a minister in Manila at once. He saw that the field was as ready as it ever will be. He said, “The sooner we begin, the better; the longer we wait, the more difficulties we shall find.”
American missionary couple McElhanys took on the task. They were the first to open up evangelistic work in 1907 but confined their labors among the English-speaking people. However, after laboring for less than two years, they were compelled to leave on account of Mrs. McElhany’s health.
March 11, 1911, the first baptism of 12 individuals was held and the first Adventist Filipino church was organized at Sta. Ana, Manila. “A new race was united to the people of God,” said Finster.8 It comprised the new converts, six other Filipinos who were accepted by profession of faith, and the missionary couples –Finsters and the Caldwells.
Until the latter part of 1913, the gospel work had been confined to the Tagalog Provinces, in and around Manila. However, with the arrival of new missionaries at this time, they were able to open up work in the provinces of Ilocos, the islands of Cebu, and Iloilo. The work made rapid advancement and spread into other regions. By 1916, membership grew from 300 to 846 Sabbath-keeping individuals and eleven churches across the Philippine Islands.
ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY
The founding year of the Philippine Union Mission (PUM) as documented in the Adventist Yearbook has shown inconsistencies over time. It appeared that that there was a mix-up between PUM and the Central Southern Luzon Conference (now Central Luzon Conference) which were both based in Manila. At one point they even shared the same headquarters and president. For instance, in 1951, the year PUM was reorganized, the YB listed its founding year as 1917 (coincidentally, CSLC’s founding year was 1916). Furthermore, in 1952, CLC’s founding year was listed as 1906 (the year PUM was established).
Despite these discrepancies, it is clear from the records that the Philippine Mission, Philippine Island Mission, Philippine Union Conference, and Philippine Union Mission all referred to the same entity, originally established in 1906. J.L. McElhany served as its first director and minister. In 1951, a significant reorganization occurred, leading to the formation of the North Philippine Union Conference as it stands today.
According to A.G Daniels in his report published in the Review and Herald, on March 22, 1917, “The Philippine Mission should not be confused with either its local conference or its local mission. The relationship of the general mission to its local organizations is practically the same as that of a Union Conference to its local conferences.”
The Tagalog Mission is the oldest mission in the Philippine Islands and the headquarters of the work. At the close of 1914, church membership was at 300. One new church was organized and one church building was erected but this was destroyed by fire. They met in five different native houses for Sabbath School and church service. By the end of 1916, the Tagalog Station had grown to include seven churches with a total membership of 752.
In 1914, the first land was purchased and a mission home was erected. This was a big help because they could now store all the mission supplies – books, tents, etc. in one place. Before, their stuff was scattered across three or four different parts of the city, costing them a lot in storage fees.
The need for a fuller organization to meet the needs of the rapidly growing work, particularly in the Tagalog field, was studied. Pastor Daniels and Knox, GC President and Treasurer respectively spent 3 weeks visiting churches to see if organizing a conference in the area was a good idea. Their visits strengthened their conviction that there was sufficient membership to support the conference organization and that such a step would benefit the work.
On December 14, 1916, 242 members representing eleven churches with a collective membership of 883 attended the general meeting held in Manila and voted to organize a local conference – what was known to be the Central-Southern Luzon Conference.” This is the first local conference to be organized in Asia. The conference managed the work in the provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Batangas, Tayabas, Pampanga, Ambos Camarines, Albay, Sorsogon and the island of Mindoro.
Pastor Finster was elected president, (while at the same time serving as superintendent of the Philippine Mission), Pastor Bibiano Parus, vice-president, J.S. Barrows, secretary and treasurer.
A request was forwarded to the General Conference from the Far Eastern Division and the Philippine Union Mission to split the Philippine Union Mission into two organizations for better management and oversight. The leaders believed that having two unions, although with additional expenses, would greatly strengthen the work in the rapidly growing area. The request was officially approved during the General Conference Executive Committee Meeting on June 8, 1941.
However, it took a decade for the action to be fully affected likely due to World War II which broke out in 1941. On December 20, 1949, the Philippine Union Mission reaffirmed the request to the General Conference, through FED, for the division of the Philippine Union Mission. Effective January 1, 1951, the Philippine Union Mission was divided into two: the South, headquartered in Cebu, and the North with headquarters in Pasay City, Manila.
The union in Manila to oversee the work across the island of Luzon was named North Philippine Union Mission. At this point, church membership at NPUM stood at 15,251, spread across 307 churches, with a total workforce of 535. NPUM supervised the gospel work in 6 mission fields and managed 3 institutions: Philippine Union College (established in 1917), Manila Sanitarium and Hospital (established in 1929) and the Philippine Publishing House (established in 1914).
The officers appointed for NPUM were: M.C. Warren, President; J.O. Bautista, Vice-President; E.L. Becker, Secretary-Treasurer and Auditor; H.L. Dyer Assistant Auditor.
The North Philippine Union Mission was elevated to a conference status on July 1, 2009. The Executive Committee of the General Conference granted the Union this status on April 6, 2009, during its spring council.
Since 2005, the administration of NPUM has pursued conference status diligently. Subsequently, following the submission of the conference status application to the Union Executive Committee, it was forwarded to the SSD Executive Committee for evaluation. This evaluation aimed to assess whether NPUM had fulfilled the requisite standards and met other necessary criteria for conference status. Upon completion of a thorough preliminary evaluation by SSD, the application was then submitted for final approval to the General Conference.
The General Conference promptly created a commission to oversee the evaluation process. On February 4-5, 2009, the GC commission, conducted a comprehensive assessment to determine NPUC's readiness for conference status.
When the final results were shared by the evaluators, much to the delight of the leadership and working staff of the Union, the overall rating of the Union was excellent. The Union was commended for its outstanding financial capability and stability, unified and good working force, excellent management and operation processes, quality programs, adequate and well-maintained office building, housing facilities and equipment; and above all, having all institutions (missions, conferences, schools, and hospitals) reach reliance or self-support in their operations gave the Union this excellent mark.
The growth of the Adventist Church in the North Philippines has been impressive. From 22 members in 1911, it has steadily expanded over the years. By the time it became a conference, membership surged to 254,121, peaking at 463,233 in 2022.
Today as a result of the membership review and the ongoing migration to ACMS, our current membership stands at 286,385 congregating in 1,639 churches and 466 companies. NPUC provides oversight to 2 conferences and 7 missions, 1 publishing house, 1 university, 4 colleges, and 4 healthcare institutions.