"Building One Another Up in the Faith"

"Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." — Hebrews 10:24

Praise God for another season of blessings in His work here in the Philippines! In this edition, we want to share with you the many good things that happened these past months — the Leadership Seminar, the public preaching in Valencia, the visits to our different ecclesias, and the continuing Bible studies that our brothers and sisters faithfully hold week by week. As you read this newsletter, we pray that your heart will be encouraged and your faith strengthened, and that you will feel, like we do, that truly the work of the Lord in our land is moving forward.

Encouraging One Another in the Work

Message from the Bible Education Center

Looking back over the past two months, my heart is filled with gratitude for the wonderful blessings we have been blessed to receive.. We have enjoyed two excellent Leadership seminars, anchored by our theme: "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34).

This stirring command served as the foundation for our two major Leadership Seminars, which brought together over 80 participants in Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, and Tagaytay, Luzon. These gatherings were designed to develop practical leadership skills while openly addressing current issues within our Philippine Christadelphian community. By filtering our challenges through Christ's sacrificial love, we focused on increasing our personal faith and reinforcing our commitment to the Truth.

We owe an immense debt of gratitude to our visiting international speakers. I want to warmly recognize Bro. Dave Jennings (Simi Hills Ecclesia, USA) and Bro. Duncan and Sis. Gillian Kenzie (Vancouver BC, Canada). Their insightful exhortations, pastoral care, and practical wisdom truly embodied our theme and deeply encouraged everyone present.

Beyond leadership training, last month's activities also included  a further  well attended afternoon public preaching seminar at the McDonald's function room in Valencia City. Alongside this, extensive ecclesial visits across the Ecclesias and Sunday Schools in Luzon and Mindanao allowed us to spend precious time strengthening local bonds, supporting the Ecclesial and Sunday School work and encouraging brothers and sisters in their home environments.  We thank our heavenly Father for his blessings on the BEC activities. Let’s keep looking out for one another and reflecting the love of our Master in everything we do as we keenly await our Masters return.

With much love in our shared hope,

John Elton

Chairman, Philippines Bible Education Centre

Love One Another as I Have Loved You

Leadership Seminar 2026 – A Time of Fellowship and Learning

 This year's Leadership Seminar was truly a time of blessing, held in two areas — one in Luzon and one here in Mindanao — bringing together more than 80 brothers and sisters coming from different ecclesias all over the Philippines. Under the theme "Love One Another as I Have Loved You," the two days were filled not only with learning, but with genuine fellowship. Brothers and sisters from far-away ecclesias sat side by side, ate together, shared their struggles, and rejoiced together in being one family in Christ.

We were greatly blessed by the presence and teaching of our visiting speakers, Bro. Dave Jennings, Bro. Duncan Kenzie and Sis. Gillian Kenzie, whose classes reminded us again and again what it truly means to lead and to serve inside an ecclesia. Instead of teaching leadership as position or authority, the seminar kept pointing us back to the example of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself — a leader who served, who washed the feet of others, and who gave up His own life for the ones He loved.

More important than the program itself is what each one of us carried home in our hearts. Many left the seminar asking themselves deeper questions: What does it really mean to shepherd God's people well? How can I serve my brothers and sisters more faithfully in my own ecclesia? How can we build unity between ecclesias who may be far apart in distance, but who are truly one in faith? The seminar was not just an event we attended and then forgot — it was a calling, an encouragement, to continue serving, teaching, and loving one another in the everyday life of our ecclesias, long after the seminar has ended.

The Work Continues in Our Ecclesias

Ecclesial Preaching and Bible Education

The Leadership Seminar was never meant to stand alone — its real purpose was to encourage us to be more faithful in the ongoing, week-by-week work of preaching and Bible teaching that is happening in the Philippines. This, in truth, is where the real work of the Truth is done: in the regular Bible classes, in the public lectures, in the quiet studies with one person who simply wants to know more of God's Word.

Every ecclesia continues to hold its weekly Bible class, and every BEC shop is blessed to have a monthly public lecture open to our neighbors and community. Along with this, the BEC Visitors Programme continues to provide one-on-one Bible studies for those who are hungry to learn, while our Sunday School — both online and face-to-face — continues to plant God's Word into the hearts of our children. New contacts are being lovingly encouraged to begin their own study of God's Word, and careful follow-up is given to visitors and Bible students, so that no one who shows even a little interest will be left alone.

Preaching in Action:

• Bible Studies

• Public Seminars

• Ecclesial Lectures

• Sunday School

• Personal Bible Teaching

The Gospel Proclaimed in Valencia

Bible Public Seminar – Valencia

One of the most encouraging activities this season was the Bible Public Seminar held in Valencia. God truly blessed this event through our visiting brothers, Bro. David Jennings and Bro. Duncan Kenzie, who each brought a powerful message from God's Word to an audience of 30 attendees, supported by more than 30 brothers and sisters coming from the surrounding ecclesias.

Bro. David Jennings spoke on the subject "Resurrection and Judgement," while Bro. Duncan Kenzie shared on "The Eternal Kingdom that Jesus Set Up." Together, these two messages painted a clear and beautiful picture of the hope that we hold onto — the certainty of the resurrection, of judgement, and of the coming Kingdom of God here on earth.

We cannot measure the success of this seminar only by counting how many people came. Its real value is in the door that it opened — the opportunity to share God's Word with people who, perhaps, have never heard it explained this way before, and to begin follow-up Bible studies that are still continuing even now. Visitors and brethren came together for one purpose, and by God's grace, that purpose is still bearing fruit today through the studies now taking place with those who attended.

Strengthening the Ecclesias Through Visiting

Visitors Visiting the Ecclesias

Visiting is more than just travelling from one ecclesia to another. It is a chance to listen, to encourage, to teach, and to strengthen one another in the Truth. During their stay here in the Philippines, our visiting brothers were able to travel across both Luzon and Mindanao, spending precious time with our local ecclesias, joining in Bible study, and building friendships that we believe will continue to bear fruit long after their visit.

Manila Prime Strata Office — Speaker: Bro. David Jennings — Subject: "Psalm 119"

Mindanao

• Mailag Ecclesia — Speaker: Bro. Duncan Kenzie — Subject: "Jesus and the Samaritan Woman"

• Kalilangan Ecclesia — Speaker: Bro. David Jennings — Subject: "Israel: A View of the Land of Israel"

• Cagayan de Oro Ecclesia — Speaker: Bro. Duncan Kenzie — Subject: "Nicodemus and the Stumbling Block on the Cross"

Through these visits, our brothers were able to understand more deeply the needs of each ecclesia, to give encouragement where it was needed most, and to open new doors for further preaching and teaching in the months ahead. We are truly grateful for the love, time, and effort of our visitors in making these journeys, even coming from so far away, just to be with us.

The Word of God Continues to Be Taught

Bible Studies Across the Philippines

Behind every seminar, behind every visit, there is the quiet, faithful work of Bible study happening week by week in our ecclesias all over the Philippines. This is the foundation of everything — small, maybe unnoticed by many, but it is here where hearts are truly built up in the Truth.

BEC Shops Bible Studies

• Regular Bible study meetings

• Individual studies

• Studies with visitors

Ecclesial Studies

• Daily Readings

• Memorial Meeting

• Sunday School

We hope, God willing, that in every future edition of this newsletter, we can continue to feature the Bible study life happening in our different ecclesias, so that we can all be encouraged by one another's faithfulness.

Making Room for the Work

Mailag Ecclesial Hall Renovation

We are so happy to share with you the good progress on the Mailag Ecclesial Hall renovation! As you can see in the photo below, the hall is now taking shape to become much bigger than before, giving more room for our ecclesial activities, Bible studies, Sunday School, and fellowship together as brothers and sisters. The renovation will also include a room set aside for a field worker who is willing to help further the work of preaching in the area.

We want to say a big thank you to all the brothers and sisters who have supported this project — through prayer, through labor, and through giving. Special thanks and appreciation to Bro. Adam Byrnes, who was the one who first suggested and planned this project, who encouraged the expansion, and who generously gave a donation toward the work. Seeing this hall grow bigger, little by little, is truly an encouragement to all of us — it reminds us what can be accomplished when brothers and sisters work together, hand in hand, making room, quite literally, for the work of the Truth to keep on growing.

From the Ecclesias

Cagayan de Oro Ecclesia

Every Sunday, our ecclesia gathers at 9:30 AM for Daily Readings, followed by the Memorial Meeting at 10:30 AM. Every Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM, we hold our Bible Study at the BEC shop. This quarter, we did not have any baptism, but we were greatly encouraged by our brothers from abroad who spoke to us during the Leadership Seminar — truly it lifted our spirits and strengthened our faith. We also held our quarterly CYC and Ecclesial Activities as a whole-day event, and we were able to finish some improvements in our hall, replacing the damaged floor tiles with new ones. We continue to pray for unity among our brothers and sisters, and we give thanks to God for His continued care and love over our little ecclesia.

We warmly invite our other ecclesias to send in their own report for our next edition — we would love to hear and be encouraged by what God is doing in your place, too.

Thank You to WCF for Supporting the Work

We are deeply thankful to WCF, not only for the financial help they have given, but also for their presence, their encouragement, and their partnership in the work of the Bible Education Center. We felt their support so strongly during the Leadership Seminar, where Bro. Duncan Kenzie and Sis. Gillian Kenzie gave so generously of their time and their teaching to us. Beyond the seminar, WCF's continued financial help and encouragement have been a real blessing in sustaining the preaching work of the BEC, and the ongoing Bible teaching and ecclesial activities happening all over the Philippines.

Truly, it is a great blessing to labor side by side with brothers and sisters who share so fully in this work, and we thank God for their partnership with us in the Gospel.

Coming Up

Bible Education Center – Upcoming Activities

• Bible Studies — Now held every Friday (changed from Wednesday)

• Public Seminars — Held every end-of-month Friday

• Ecclesial Visits — Mailag Ecclesia (to see the progress of the Ecclesial Hall renovation) and Kalilangan Ecclesia (to replace the projector cord and bring the additional materials requested and needed)

• Sunday School — Our Online Sunday School begins via Zoom starting September 12

• BEC Projects — Developing a website for our Sunday School teachers, and preparing PPT slides for the Primary, Junior and Intermediate classes, along with continued support for the needs of our ecclesias

• Future Seminars — We are already looking forward, God willing, to the 2027 Leadership Seminar and the 2027 Youth Conference

Let Us Continue Steadfastly

A Closing Thought

"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." — Acts 2:42

The early church did not stop after just one gathering, one teaching, or one act of fellowship. No — they continued, steadfastly and faithfully, day by day, in doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer. As we look back on this wonderful season of seminars, preaching, visiting, and building, let this be our prayer also: that we will not simply look back on these activities as events already finished, but that we, too, will continue steadfastly in the work of the Truth — teaching, preaching, visiting, and strengthening one another — until our Lord Jesus Christ returns.

The Leadership Seminar was not the end of something — it was an encouragement for all of us to continue: to keep on preaching, keep on teaching, keep on visiting, and keep on strengthening our ecclesias all over the Philippines. May our good God continue to bless the work of His Truth in our beloved land, and may we all be found faithful, steadfast, and full of hope until He comes.

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