ECPM Update August 2022 

Recent Events

Praise God for His gospel continues to touch hearts and communities.

Church planting teams are graduating and now that community quarantines are easing up, we were able to visit and see new congregations being formed!

For the past 5 months, ECPM has been visiting communities, giving pastoral care to church planters, leading graduations, meeting church partners for new teams and reviewed the curriculum and revised each of the modules we use for training.

We see a new season for ECPM which transitioned after the two years of heavy community quarantines.

Aside from having new young church planters, we also have a new campus ministry team! Their passion in evangelism despite the times amazed us! Your support in the midst of uncertainty has blessed us and enabled all these to happen. Truly the work of the Lord continue to flourish no matter what the situation may be. All glory to God!

Legazpi Team (Previously supported by BHW)

Legazpi Albay, Bicol
June 2019 to May 2022 (Graduated July 2022)

Team Members: Nathanael Ortiz, Mary Joy Mandane, Marizon Perez
Partner Church: Ranao Ranao Christian Church

We were able to meet some of the young professionals and university students in Legazpi. They are new believers continually attending the bible studies and growth group handled by the team weekly.

It was a blessing to witness how the young professionals assisted as well the university students giving them tips in studying and even in preparing for the professional board exams.

The team believes that their ministries in the church, training from ECPM Campus Ministry and their professional work was a blessing that the Lord used, that they may reach more people.

Prayer Item:
Now that they have graduated from ECPM training and gatherings are held every week, they are praying for a regular gathering place in Legazpi. They are now renting spaces or go to coffee shops to meet so a regular space would be very helpful for them. 

Singkab Team (Currently supported by BHW)

Espanyola, Palawan
February 2020 to January 2023

Team Members: Emelinda Ongcal, Ramir Ongcal, Mercurio Gabayno Jr
Partner Church: Bintat Kariz, Palawan

It is the Lord who makes all things beautiful!

There is now a physical chapel in Singkab where new believers could gather! There is even a small room for Sunday schoolers. It was the new believers and the community in Singkab that joined hands for this development. The fathers spent their free time fixing the roof and structures even the painting works without expecting anything in return.

Regular gatherings are now being held every Sunday morning and Bible studies continue every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Some of the youth in Singkab are trained every Saturday by Mimi to lead the Sunday School every Sunday. If they were the quiet type when the church planting started, now, they even volunteer to lead prayers and worship!

The new congregation in Singkab even hosted the inter-church fellowships (cluster) and the ECPM team was able to witness how this congregation are working hand in hand to help in community work and development.

Prayer Items: 
They are praying to start offering educational classes/assistance soon for the youth and kids. This may, in the future, become a school since Mimi is a teacher.

Please also pray with the team that they will also be able to purchase a generator to provide electricity for them especially at night during their Bible Studies.

Aborlan/Aramaywan Campus Ministry Team (PHI07)

Palawan University
October 2022 to October 2024

Team Members: James T. Florido, Vincent Tacdol, Hiddy Dela Cruz, Ariel Clementeo
Partner Church: Aramaywan Gospel Church

We see a better normal now that classes are face to face and some are in hybrid mode.

We often hear how the pandemic affected most of our young people but we were amazed to see that in Palawan, numerous young people rose above the times, honed their skills and were prepared spiritually by the Lord. The 2 years were used by God to empower them.

These college students from Aramaywan, Palawan are now studying in Western University of the Philippines and very thirsty for ministry training in sharing the gospel.

What we appreciate is how we were able to sit down and talk about life, missions and how ECPM could assist them. We felt that the two years of lockdowns gave us space to renew and re-think process. So we are very excited to start a new campus ministry team.

The team will be staying at the church in Aborlan, planted thru ECPM, and they will lead in the youth gatherings. The place will also serve as space for them when they start their bible study groups.

Prayer Item:
Please pray that their passion for missions will continue to inspire them to serve and that perseverance will be with them as they excel in their studies.

Comments

What we missed during the 2 years of hard lockdown are hearing stories and seeing our church planters personally.

Having multiple teams in Palawan, we took the chance to visit previous church planters and visit the communities.

We were truly blessed!

To see communities coming to know the Lord...
To see equipped ministry workers...
To see the mission cycle of ECPM continually moving...
To see that the LORD IS GLORIFIED!

The ministry of ECPM in Palawan started in 2003 with the Bintat Kariz team as the pioneer.

We are amazed with how this paved the way for more communities being reached and partnerships being opened.

Please pray with us, as we plan to gather the church planters in Palawan this January 2023 to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness and partnership.

Marwin Pesuelo
and ECPM Staff