The congregation of Central United Methodist Church (CUMC) is
celebrating its 125th founding anniversary this month of March as the first Protestant church in the Philippines located along T.M. Kalaw
Street, Ermita, Manila. It was established on March 5, 1899, during
the American Occupation when it was originally named Central Methodist Episcopal Church. It was referred to as “The American Church” or the first ever “English-speaking Church“ in the Philippines.
The anniversary program is inspired by a theme, “Celebrating 125 Years of Methodism: In Continuous Pursuit of Great Commission”, that will be celebrated on March 17, 2024, as the culminating Sunday at 9:00 AM with lawyer Felipe L. Gozon, chairman of GMA Network Inc., delivering the spiritual message for the 125th founding anniversary of CUMC.
This was the same church where Gozon received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) on March 20, 2022 from the Wesleyan University Philippines (WUP). Past recipients of this honorary degree were former president Fidel Ramos, Justice Reynato Puno, Methodist Bishop Emerito Nacpil, and other accomplished persons in government, academia, religion, and business.
Gozon is the current chairman and adviser of the board of GMA Network Inc, one of the largest media conglomerates in the Philippines. He recently retired as CEO of GMA Network last Dec. 31, 2023, after making the network the number one TV station in the Philippines. Gozon is a man of faith who attends worship services with his family in a Protestant church in Manila.
CUMC kicked off its anniversary celebration with an out-of-town Family Day at Torres Farm and Resort, Naic Cavite last Feb. 17, 2024, and will continue in the next succeeding weekends. On
March 8, the church’s Outreach team will head north to Anda,
Pangasinan for their medical and dental mission in partnership with
Dr. Nicanor D. Montoya Foundation.
On March 10, CUMC will have its International Women’s Sunday to
celebrate International Women’s Day, an annual global holiday to give
honor to all the women that will feature prominent women as guest
speakers to deliver spiritual messages in all worship services.
During this year’s celebration, CUMC will go full blast in its
fundraising campaign for the ongoing construction of the multi-purpose
building which just started late last year. It is a 4 story building
to add space to its church’s ongoing ministerial work on feeding and
sheltering the street people within the community, a meeting venue for
job applicants including OFWs and seamen nearby, a facility for
medical missions, a repository of donations for calamity affected
areas and other charitable activities.
This fundraising campaign shall have its Thanksgiving Dinner to be
held at the Philippine Christian University Auditorium on May 25. It
will be a musical dinner that will feature the homegrown talents of
CUMC. Aside from its ongoing celebrations, the church will provide a
bazaar on the church lawn which includes the sale of food and snacks,
agricultural products, and souvenir items. Proceeds from the bazaar
shall go to the church’s ministry fund.
For other information and church schedule, pls refer to Facebook:
Central United Methodist Church and YouTube Channel: Central United
Methodist Church (Manila), or you may contact the church via email,
centralumcmanila@gmail.com and through these numbers 8525-7329 and 8525-7590.
