https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/494 2026-04-05T16:10:09Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/2110 Historical and theological reflections of CPBC pastors on the Muslim-Christian conflict in Mindanao Sian, Cris Amorsolo V. This study aims to present and analyze the view and understanding of CPBC pastors on the conflict in Mindanao. This study on their view and perception includes their awareness of the conflict; their perception on the causes and resolution of the conflict; their attitudes toward the Muslims; their role as pastors in the conflict resolution; and their hope for peace in Mindanao. To situate the views and responses of CPBC pastors on the conflict in Mindanao, this study attempts to describe and analyze Islam in Philippine context. This includes a brief history of Islam and significant events which triggered violent conflicts in Mindanao. Moreover, this study presents a brief historical background on the conflict as viewed from the perspective of history including the perception of people from different sectors, from the government, from the Muslim and from the Christian groups. There are already voluminous materials which were published tackling on the Muslim-Christian conflict in Mindanao. These publications were written by authorities in various fields like historians, theologians, journalists, professors, and the like, both from the Muslim and the Christian side. They presented views, perceptions and positions on the conflict. These views had been widely used in seminars, fora, and dialogues, and were even involved in normal conversations on issues dealing with the Muslim-Christian relations. However, no study had been conducted yet on the view of the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches (CPBC) pastors on the Muslim-Christian conflict in Mindanao. Are they united in their understanding of the conflict? Do they have the same analysis on the causes of the conflict? Do they perceive the same solution to the problem? What is their attitudes toward Muslims? These are the questions that this study purports to answer. Introduction 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/2109 Ministry of care: The meaning of pastoral work today in the light of the Good Samaritan Basco, Lloyd U. In his short time here on earth, Jesus showed deep love and concern to every person. He taught and commanded his disciples to care for the sick and the needy. The Christians during those times ministered to each other and helped carry each other's burdens. Carrying each other's burdens was known to be the symbol of true Christian love. Caring for each one, therefore, is not a new idea or an exclusively western idea. It is a biblical notion based on what Jesus modeled and taught and it has also been exemplified throughout church history. One concrete example as related to the topic of the Good Samaritan is found on John 4:1-26, here we can see that Jesus ministered to a Samaritan woman. In this scenario, the writer noticed two barriers that would have hindered Jesus from ministering to the woman. The first barrier would be the "bad-blood" between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Samaritans were hated by the Jews chiefly because their ancestors had come from marriages of Jewish and non-Jewish parents. In addition, in Jewish eyes the Samaritans were bastards, for that same reason that those who escaped deportation to Assyria in 722 B.C. mingled and intermarried with pagans. And years before this parable was told, sometime between 9 and 6 B.C. the Samaritans defiled the Temple area to prevent the Jews from celebrating the Passover feast and they did this so by scattering human bones all over the courts of the temple. And in reply to such desecration and blasphemy, the Jews annihilated their Temple in the year 128 B.C. found on Mount Gerizim. Because of such intense hatred, the Jews did not mingle or associate with the Samaritans. The second barrier would have been the patriarchal society during those times, wherein a woman was not allowed to go out unveiled in public or speak to a man. Rules of propriety forbade a man to be alone with a woman, to look at a married woman, or even give her a greeting and in general it was considered preferable for a woman, and especially to an unmarried girl, not to go out at all. In the history of the church, in the book of Acts we can see that the believers united in desire and in thinking, they sold their possessions and entrusted all the proceeds from the sales to the apostles. The apostles then distributed to the one's who greatly needed them and as the result of such unity, no not one was seen to be needy among them. Moreover, in Macedonia, the Gentile Christians showed great compassion towards the saints in other churches. In spite of the terrible persecution that they encountered they still managed to give beyond their ability to give and even the apostle Paul was astonished, for he did not expect that they would give even more than what they ought to give. They were terribly persecuted but nevertheless it did not matter to them, they were never shaken or hindered by such circumstances but instead they sacrificially gave to those with great need. What they have modeled simply shows that they have taken to heart the teachings of Christ. Caring for those in need may include several goals, including changing the person's attitudes, values or beliefs in life, preventing more serious problems from developing, teaching social skills, encouraging expression of emotions, giving support in times of need, guidance in decision making, teaching certain responsibilities, stimulating spiritual growth, and helping the person to utilize his or her own inner strength and resources in times of crisis. As one belonging to God's Kingdom, the pastor and the whole community of believers are given the task of caring for those in need. It is the pastor and the whole Christian community's tasks to administer pastoral care to the dying, the bereaved, the troubled, the disheartened, to people in conflict and to everyone with great needs. But it is a sad fact that the previous statements and examples are scarcely happening in our modern times. A lot of churches have detached themselves from the ministry of caring. It breaks the writer's heart to see that a lot of ministries or "mega-churches" these days, are no longer into the helping and caring ministry but they have spent most of their time and effort beautifying their churches. They utilize expensive materials and spend millions of dollars for their church structures. Beautifying church structures is a good thing but if it is given more focus than the caring ministry or the missionary work then it becomes a problem. To make matters worse, several of those big ministries even solicit help from third-world countries. This is not the kind of ministry that God requires from His people. This should not be. The idea of sacrifice is no longer present in this type of ministry. This is a tricky form of worldliness, it may look right in other people's eyes but if we dig deeper we can see that the desire is now more on prestige but not in glorifying God. This is indeed a great contradiction or an opposite of what the Scriptures tell us. Introduction 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/2064 A portrait of a Philippine Baptist pastor 1898 - 2002 Jalando-on, Francis Neil G. After more than one hundred years of Baptist history in the Philippines there is still a lack of a comprehensive written history on Philippine Baptist pastors focusing on their pastoral identity, their contributions in shaping Baptist churches, and their involvement in the society. Written histories mostly put the Philippine Baptist pastors in the background. Their contributions in organizing churches were not highlighted but rather marginalized. For example, Raymond Beaver, whose point of view is largely influenced by American historiography, viewed the Philippine Baptist history as a continuation of the American Baptist mission. His view is similar to Torbet’s presentation of mission work in the Philippines as an “Outpost in the Pacific.” These accounts painted a one sided picture that highlighted the contributions of the American missionaries; and scarcely mentioned the contributions of the Philippine converts. Renato Constantino has this to say about American Historiography: “Since the mass of humanity is still in a state of poverty and ignorance...What was hitherto been regarded as history is predominantly a conscious record of the rich and powerful but by no means the just and correct... In the recorded pages of history they have remained in the background, as if they had played only a negligible role... The people have been taken for granted and their role has been minimized or even denied.” Those who espoused American historiography are often called writers from the “Democratic-Imperialist School.” Writers of this school are “dominated by the idea of the superiority of American culture. This school reduced the Filipino to a silent backdrop and passive recipient of the blessings of American civilization.” On the other hand, there are attempts to view history from the Philippine perspective. For instance, there is a Kaupod perspective5 which stresses that the year 1898 was the starting point of the Philippine Baptist history. This is in contrast to that of Beaver’s view, in which 1900 was the beginning of Philippine Baptist history. This special paper hopes to contribute to the writing of a history of the Philippine Baptist pastors from a point of view that emphasizes the Philippine Baptist pastors. This study aims at reconstructing a history of the Philippine Baptist pastors from the year 1898 to 2002. This reconstruction will find out who they are and highlight their significant contributions to the church and society. Specifically, this study will: (1) Describe and analyze their pastoral identity such as: a. Their theology and understanding of the ministry; b. Political and ideological perspective; c. Socio-economic status; d. Their reasons why they committed themselves to become a pastor; e. And their significant strength and weaknesses that led to their present predicament. (2) Describe and analyze their contribution in the area of: a. Planting Churches b. Christian Education c. Ministry for Social Justice. This study covers the years 1898 to 2002. It deals with the history of CPBC pastors with emphasis on their contributions in church and society, theology, faith, political perspective, socio-economic status and reasons why they committed themselves to become pastors. Data related to this study include published and unpublished documents and oral testimonies from Philippine Baptist pastors. Introduction 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12852/2059 Pastoral ministry among problem students in Filamer Christian College Grande, Roquita P. The past few years have witnessed a growing concern for Pastoral Ministry through counseling. A ministry that concerns healing, sustaining, guiding and reconciling a person who is in crisis situation. Pastoral counseling actually helps and restores many depressed people to their normal way of living. In the end they were able to establish a healthy relationship with their fellows and above all to God. This paper has been written to document struggles which were experienced by students, and give some information on how Pastoral Counseling Process was able to help. In addition, it also identifies the most significant problems that victimized our young people, through which without someone’s help, they remain in difficulties and that their studies and future ultimately destroyed. In the light of my Christian Ministry as counselor in Filamer Christian College, the most significant problem that I have noticed is difficulty in family relationships. These problems in relationship are manifested in different forms; e.g. death of one of the parents, infidelity which leads to separation, wives and children battery. In addition, some parents do not have enough time for their children and therefore some good parental models for children to follow are lost. Brian Grant (1986) (p. 45) stated that families influence the children very much because parents bring a complex repertoire of personal preferences, personality structures and specific practical skills, by which each child is affected emotionally. No doubt, children expect their parents to be the source of guidance, protection and provisions so that when these expectations fail, children, undoubtedly become emotionally disturbed. In addition to family problems, young people are troubled by their being teenager and adolescent. The word adolescent comes from a Latin term adolescere, which means to grow together to maturity. Apparently it has been a troublesome period in man’s growth. Shakespeare in, “A Winter’s Tale” wrote, “I would there were no age between ten and three and twenty, or that youth would step out the rest. But this years exist, and that do have peculiar problems needs." Erik Erickson (1982) has called this stage in man’s growth the age of identity crisis. Adults can be of most help at that age of young people by being available when needed, serving as a sounding board to the young’s ideas and questions. It is time of ups and downs as well as time of changing interest. What holds their attention today may bore them tomorrow. The help of a trained professional would be valuable in this respect. Counseling which is an integral part of the Pastoral Ministry is one of the most effective tools to address these issues. Counseling is intended to help, to guide and to restore a person into wholeness of life’s relationship. It is admitted that the degree to which a counselee is helped will depend upon whether his problem is within the scope of Pastoral Counseling and upon his own readiness for help. For almost fifteen years of observing and experiencing, it was observed that old and deeply buried problems cannot be overcome by few sessions. These may however release some insights, but the problem is still there. On the other hand, those who lack the determination to overcome their problem can scarcely make a rapid progress, but they may gain satisfaction from a counseling relationship, which will bring that person back for another session. Pastoral Ministry is a part of the Christian task which seeks to give strength and guidance to persons who are going through periods of stress and anxiety and who are confronted with profound changes in their lifestyle. Serving them needs intelligence, sensitivity and sharing, discovering and working together and above all relying upon God’s grace for the result. Charles and Erica H. Morris, (p. 13), points out the three basic words which are vital in counseling process. They are helping, caring, and enabling the person to be restored to his normal self. Helping is the key word in counseling. A counselee comes because he needs help. For a Pastor this is not an option but an obligation to extend help to someone who is in need. A counselor who has been helped in life’s struggles, could relate effectively because he has experienced God’s provision sufficient for his own needs. A line from a hymn, “Give of your Best to the Master” says, “Give as it was given to you in your need. Love as the master loved you. Be to the helpless a helper indeed.” This is an old truism upon which Pastoral Ministry is rooted. Another word is caring, it gives strength to the counselee, for he finds someone who could provide companionship, counsel and consolation. This attitude is an evidence of what the child of God is expected to do (II Peter 1:7; 1 John 3:10). In this process the counselor is also benefited because of the feeling that he is needed and being involved in the problem of others, has an energizing effect. On the other hand it is also admitted that sometimes a counselor is confronted by needs that cannot be accommodated. So, the support of other helpers are needed. As what happened to Moses when his hands grew tired, they put a rock in place, for him to sit on. Meanwhile, Aaron and Hur supported his hands, each one on either side, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. (Ex. 17: 8ff) A caregiver is aware, that the outcome and the success in the counseling process is not entirely in his hands. The third word is enabling. The counselor is an enabler who helps the counselee to interact with others. A person who is in crisis is not able to do things in the right perspectives. By working together, the counselee and the counselor would be able to find out the real problem that would lead to proper choices of what to do. It is on this process that the counselee is encouraged to analyze the problem its possible solution and their consequence. This paper will demonstrate how students have been helped in their struggles, such as loss of a parent, lack of parental guidance, irresponsible parent and as victim of a broken home. This paper will also argue on how the professional qualities of the counselor have imparted to the counselee with the use of relevant resources and tools, such as, verbatim report interviews and dialogue which when well presented, maybe of help in the counseling process. This aims to illustrate the ways skills and methods of counseling are employed by the counselor, including enhancing collaborative efforts by utilizing feed backs from clinical associates. In the treatment of the subject matter, Pastoral Ministry through counseling is a very important venue to help, guide and restore a person, who is struggling emotionally and spiritually. This paper shows how students with problems had been helped. It has been done through observation and actual caring. Four illustrations, by verbatim report was conducted. Pastoral counseling moves in this direction, to present an integration of the simple basic counseling technique of listening with Biblical and theological encouragement. The main concern here is how a specific circumstance could affect a person over a period of time and how Pastoral Ministry could help the person in the journey towards the healing process. Objectives of the Study In general, this study was conducted in order to give the readers, counseling teachers, pastors, and laymen a guide on source of information, related to problems, so that if ever they meet certain relationships on the part of students with the members of their family, and peer, they can easily identify it and can make the necessary strategies or actions to help solve the problem in any given situation. Likewise, it can also help the students by means of lifting up their morale and helping them to understand and solve their problems and by so doing, face the situation. Introduction 1999-01-01T00:00:00Z