Protestantism in the Philippines

[5] During American Colonial Period, the Catholic Church was disestablished as the state religion, giving Protestant missionaries more opportunities to enter the islands.

[7] In 1901 the Evangelical Union was established in the Philippines to co-ordinate activities amongst the Protestant denominations and lay the foundations for an indigenous religious movement.

Although his primary duty was to minister to the soldiers, he recorded in his diary that that first service, held in an old Spanish dungeon facing Manila Bay, was attended not only by his own men but by some Filipinos as well.

He commented on this service:[9] "That the power of God will use this day to make a good Catholic better, any weak American stronger, any backslider ashamed, and the gloomy old dungeon the beginning of wonderful things in these Islands, is my prayer.

"[10] After the defeat of the Spanish in the Battle of Manila Bay by the U.S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron, Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist leaders met in 1898 in New York to discuss how to bring Protestantism to the Philippines.

The result was a comity agreement that divided the Philippines into missionary areas by denomination to avoid future conflicts among themselves and their converts.

The Methodists split in 1909 when Nicolas Zamora founded the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista en las Islas Filipinas (IEMELIF).

[citation needed] Baptist Ilonggos migrated from Iloilo to Central Cotabato, traditionally Christian and Missionary Alliance territory.

[15] Divisions came with growth and expansion, and personality clashes, racial tensions, the dynamics of nationalism, cultural differences, power struggles and other non-theological factors contributed to the schisms.

By 1921, some nineteen independent denominations were registered with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and important splits occurred among the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Disciples of Christ.

[17] A major factor in the development of Philippine Protestantism is the explicit expression of religious freedom found in Section 5, Article III ("Bill of Rights) of the 1987 Constitution, separating church and state.

[18] The Philippine Youth Movement founded in 1926 boosted the move to develop the indigenous Protestant church nationwide.

Jaro Evangelical Church , the first Baptist Church in the Philippines and second Protestant Church in the Philippines (first outside Manila), after the Central United Methodist Church (1899)).
The Medical Arts building of Iloilo Mission Hospital , founded in 1901 by the American Presbyterian missionaries. It is the first and oldest Protestant hospital in the country. At present, the hospital is affiliated under the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches .
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Laoag City .
The Bishop Moises F. Buzon Memorial Church - Templo Central of the Iglesia Unida Ekyumenikal (IUE) in Tondo, Manila.
Silliman University was founded by the early Protestant American missionaries in 1901.