Redeeming Remote Barangays of the Philippines

House Church Sitio Franks

The goal of River Rock Church Philippines (RRCP) is "To plant New Testament churches in remote Barangays (neighborhoods) that have no other Christian churches that serve their communities." This is the RRCP mission statement.

In the Philippines most of the remote Barangays have no church to present the gospel, mature believers, and demonstrate the love of Jesus to the people. From time to time missionaries have come to proclaim God's Word, but then leave. With God's blessing, we plan to be an unwavering church of faith in the remote communities.

We launch the church with a two day concert crusade. The concert crusade presents the gospel by song, drama skits and dance from the youth, and a clear presentation of the gospel with a call to repentance and salvation. We follow-up and start home Bible studies. Bible studies merge into a congregation. Once we have a congregation, we build a church building with a parsonage. A fulltime pastor lives among them. We have sponsors that support the pastor, so he is not a burden to the Barangay. The pastor continues to present the Gospel, and grow God's people to maturity. Christian maturity is "And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," (Luke 10:27). We teach the church to love their neighbors with acts of love not just words.

Each Barangay church is a hub of outreach ministries to start house churches in the neighboring Barangays. The reputation of the Barangay church spreads to other Barangays that become churches.

"Loving our Neighbor"

Repairing a Roof

The main complaint of the remote Barangays is that many churches have come and gone, along with their promises. The people say that we are so poor we cannot support the church, and it leaves.

From RRCP's first encounter with a Barangay and continuing, we help people with Operation Kindness. We begin feeding programs for malnourished children, medical aid when possible, helping farmers with fertilizers and insecticides, rebuilding broken bamboo homes, sponsoring children so they can stay in school, clothing programs, and etc. We provide these programs as needed and as God's supplies sponsors for the programs.

Several community leaders say RRCP is "not a typical Church". Because of the RRCP growing reputation, many Barangays invite RRCP to start churches for their communities. Some have appointed a council member to help us establish the caring church in their community. One Barangay, with permission of the province Governor, gave us land to build a church. A Mayor of another city added other nutritional foods to support the feeding of malnourished children. A government agency is measuring the result of the feeding of 69 malnourished children in an extremely remote area.

A Church of Perpetual Love

Feeding Children

As we grow the congregation, it learns from Christ's example. We teach the church to help their neighbor as they can by giving clothing to others as their children outgrow them, sharing a meal, praying for the sick, a word of encouragement, repairing relationships of marriages, repairing relationships of neighbors, reaching out again to those in most need of forgiveness, and performing marriages. One time, we had 20 couples in a group marriage. In Jesus name, we support the weak, feed the hungry, pray and care for the sick, forgive and restore the despised, heal broken marriages, and heal broken relationship, and find the lost.

Theology and Philosophy

Sharing the Gospel

RRCP is a part of River Rock Church. RRC is one church of many locations. We are a nondenominational church. We have no denominational agenda of doctrine or organization. We only uphold Jesus, His Gospel of salvation, His Church. We prayerfully, establish His Church, in His name, for His Glory. RRCP believes that in the essentials of Christian faith, there is unity, and in the nonessential we have liberty. As best we can, we do not label or talk about the walls that divide God's Church. Most people in the remote Barangays are Catholic or denominational by tradition. Typically, there are no other churches where we go. In the remote Barangays, only once a year the Catholic Priest will visit for the Barangay festival. In the RRCP churches both Catholic and Christian worship together. We present Jesus Christ's Gospel clearly and only, without creating walls of division, and let the Holy Spirit do His work of redemption through a faithful demonstration and presentation of His Word. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth," (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Fruits of our Labor

We hold Jesus and His Word only as the RRCP theology and philosophy. His Gospel engages people of all denominations to come and hear His redeeming message of salvation. Christ's Church is growing in the remote parts of the Philippines. In the last two years, we have grown twelve new churches, and we are fifteen now in total, thank you Lord!

To God be the Glory