INC holds evangelical-medical missions in Rome, California

MANILA, Philippines - After the much-publicized medical and evangelical outreach program in Manila, the Iglesia Ni Cristo brought this activity dubbed as “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” (My Countrymen, My Brethren) to Rome in Italy and California in the United States as part of its continuing efforts to help and reach out to more people around the globe.

Thousands attended the “International Aid for Humanity” and evangelical mission last Oct. 27 in Viguzzolo, Rome, while 21,000 people attended a similar outreach program under the “My Countrymen, My Brethren” project at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California last Oct. 19.

Evangelical and medical missions were also continued in the Philippines, the latest of which was conducted on Oct. 26 in Pangasinan that was attended by at least 700,000 people. 

The activities were done in cooperation with the charitable arm of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, the Felix Y. Manalo Foundation Inc.

As with the previous events, there were free medical and dental services provided to those who came. People also listened to the main part of the program – an evangelical mission where a minister preached the “message of salvation.”

The message of INC Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo thanking the people who came to the event, was also read.

Don Orozco, a California resident who interviewed some of the attendees during the event, said the INC’s evangelical and medical outreach program made a big impression among the residents of California.

“The event also revealed that the Iglesia Ni Cristo is not just a Filipino church… During the event, there were a lot (of) church members who are Hispanic, African-American, Caucasian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and from many other ethnicities,” wrote Orozco in a report that came out recently in the San Francisco Post.

Angela Benjamin, Italy correspondent of NET 25, also reported that thousands of people, both members and non-members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo or Chiesa Di Cristo in Italian, came to the event in Viguzzolo, Rome last Oct. 27.

Aside from free medical and dental services that are always included in the outreach program, free immigration information was provided in the INC evangelical-medical outreach mission in Rome to help immigrants in the integration process in Italy, according to Benjamin.

In Rome, free haircut and nail services were also given. There were free blood pressure and blood glucose tests, too.

This was the second time that the “International Aid for Humanity” under the “My Countrymen, My Brethren” project was held in Rome. The first was done last May, just a month after the project was launched last April in Binondo, Manila.

In the Philippines, the latest “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” outreach project was done on Oct. 26 in Pangasinan. As in the Oct. 14 Manila event, the medical-dental and evangelical missions in Pangasinan were done simultaneously in five separate sites: the CSI Stadia in Dagupan City; the open grounds in Salasa, Bugallon; Nancayasan, Urdaneta City; the airport open grounds in Rosales; and the Proton Complex in Mabini, Alaminos.

In all the sites, there was also an entertainment program that included a concert of INC Christian songs.

Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez said she was much impressed with the event since it was “well-organized.”

“Saludo po kami sa mga kapatid. Lahat po kami rito ay tuwang-tuwa sa tulong na naiabot ng Iglesia Ni Cristo,” she said in an interview after listening to the Bible exposition held at the Stadia’s vast auditorium, during the “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” program.

“This has become a very good example for us. Gagayahin po namin itong pagbibigay serbisyo na ginagawa ng Iglesia Ni Cristo,” she said.

There was not much traffic congestion in Pangasinan, compared to the other “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” events in other provinces, since the organizers decided not to concentrate its program in one area.

Dagupan police Inspector Jade Macaraeg said there were police personnel who were deployed in all areas of the medical-evangelical missions in Pangasinan. There were policemen assigned to help in the traffic situation and to ensure the peaceful and orderly conduct of the event.

The “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” project was launched last April in Binondo, Manila, combining the Iglesia Ni Cristo’s two major activities in providing service to its fellowmen through medical-dental missions and giving of relief, and in propagating the faith through evangelical missions. 

Minister Glicerio Santos Jr. said this was not a new thing since relief-giving and the holding of medical and dental missions had been done by the Iglesia Ni Cristo before this, not only in the Philippines, but also in different parts of the world. 

This was done since the early 1980s through the Lingap sa Mamamayan project in the Philippines, and recently, through the “International Aid for Humanity” project for medical and relief missions abroad.

Santos said such projects were done in accordance with the biblical teaching to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Before this, the Iglesia Ni Cristo had also conducted relief missions abroad such as those held in the aftermath of the quake in Japan in March 2011; Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey in October 2012; the floods in Bundaberg, Australia early this year; and the series of tornadoes that happened in Oklahoma last June.

Recently, it also held a medical-dental and relief mission in Bohol, which had been severely hit by the 7.2 magnitude quake.