Philippine Evangelical Council Urges Churches to Make Family Discipleship Year-Round
After its first CrossGen Family Summit drew nearly 800 people in Las Piñas, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches says churches must pass the faith on at home, not just at events.
See where this is ›LAS PIÑAS, Philippines —
The Family Commission of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) is asking congregations across the Philippines to treat family discipleship as a year-round ministry rather than a September observance, Christian Daily International reported Oct. 28. The call follows the commission's first CrossGen Family Summit, which drew nearly 800 participants to GCF South Metro in Las Piñas.
Maloi Salumbides, who represents the PCEC Family Commission, said she conceived the CrossGen idea with her Gen Z daughter. She said the goal is to move churches “from being events-oriented to disciplemaking churches,” and described the summit as “Intentionally intergenerational.”
Pastor Rodel Lacson told the summit, “Faith is never automatically inherited. It should be passed on intentionally.” Bishop Noel Pantoja, PCEC national director, closed the gathering by calling it “not just a moment but a movement.” Bishop Efraim Tendero and his grandson, Datu Tendero Pagdanganan, served on an afternoon panel.
The commission pointed to figures it says show strain on Filipino homes: a total fertility rate of 1.7, more than 58 percent of children born outside marriage and more than 15 million solo parents, citing the Commission on Population and Development and the Philippine Statistics Authority. Salumbides said churches must admit that “the Filipino Family is not ok.”
See where this is ›Early fruit has already been reported in Batangas, where a church changed a planned women's conference into a family discipleship gathering after a pastor's wife and a deaconess attended the summit, according to the report.
The commission plans to hold larger CrossGen summits every two years in different regions, possibly expanding abroad. With the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution, it is also backing efforts to name September “National Family Month”: Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian filed Senate Proposed Resolution No. 686, and Rep. Bienvenido M. Abante Jr. filed House Resolution No. 1455 on Sept. 17, which was pending before the House Committee on Population and Family Relations.
