Update from BHW Philippines Partnership Facilitator

Recent Events

Activities

In last 6 months Vic and the team have had to adjust themselves to new ways of doing ministry because of the pandemic. A major aspect of Vic's role with ECPM is to go out to visit the church planting teams and the churches that are sponsoring the church planting teams. He was very hands-on and relational in the training and mentoring methods. The pandemic has erected major barriers to being able to continue to deliver in the same way. 

He and the team therefore began to do regular video calls with the church planting teams. They conducted Zoom meetings and taught the modules with the Legazpi team in Bicol. Vic learned how to use Zoom meeting thanks to Ella’s husband, Ephraim, who is also a board member and really enjoyed doing that with the Legazpi team.

However, with the other teams it was a lot more difficult because of the poor internet connection. For the two teams in Palawan they decided to activate some previous church planters who had graduated the ECPM church planting training and who lived in the area. Pastor Ariel Bacan and Julius Paalan were the ones that assisted. The need to be innovative and flexible became a real advantage to the team. 

In April Vic tried to go to Palawan to help with the training and assess the impact but unfortunately he tested positive to COVID. He needed to undergo quarantine for his health and for the safety of the families. He writes, "Praise God I am fine now, thanks for the support of ECPM family and prayers."

Personal Stories and Observations  

Recently Vic asked the Palawan team how the training benefited them: 

Brother Edgar Pablico said he learned how to manage his time in the ministry and also in his daily tasks. He learned to become better at understanding what the real needs are in the area. He learned how to adjust himself and his approach if the situation is not favorable to them. He also learned how give all his troubles to the Lord. 

Sister Lilia Ortilano said that the ECPM training gave her the chance to share the good news in the areas of Lindog and Marunding and to teach children even though she is 66 years old. She said she learned how to evangelize and experienced walking long distances to reach the area, leaving her house at 6 or 6:30 in the morning. One time she was chased by a cow! She says, “I will not surrender to fear but I am determined to serve the Lord." 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

It is impossible to assess the influence, however, the demand for new teams continues to be there and the teams are having an impact. New groups are forming and small churches are being established. 

Ideas for the Future

They are planning to produce a training module video so it can easily be played even without the internet. This will be espcially valuable for rural teams into the future. 

There is the need to continue developing and adapting their training for online use. This will make the whole programme much more flexible and useful.

Current Issues and Challenges 

Because of COVID there are many things that they cannot do, especially travel. To travel easily you need authorization and you need extra caution because you don’t know who has COVID or not. Who knows when they will be free to move about again like they used to. 

Because Vic has contracted COVID, people can be very suspicious and fearful, some people easily judge you.  

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Please pray for the safety of Vic, his family and also for the team, the ECPM staff and board.
2) Pray for the ongoing challenge of making the training modules more effective so quality training can go on even though they are far from the team members.
3) Vic is very encouraged now that they have gained some experience using the new technology and the team has developed some confidence with it. Hoewever, this is a relationship based ministry with a lot of person-to-person, face-to-face interaction and they cannot wait until this can begin again as before. 

Comments

Vic is a face-to-face kind of guy. He is an outgoing and fun loving man. His best work will obviously be done with the people and he struggles adapting to technology. However, he is learning heaps and is the main person in the team who visits and interacts with the teams. I suggest we should continue this support until we can get back there for a closer look.