OUR STORY

The Story of International Baptist Church…

On March 30,1967, after migrating to the United States of America to follow their own careers, our Missionary Overseer and his family decided to follow the call of God to go back to the Philippines as missionaries. Leaving everything behind, they decided to take their largest step of faith with no real assurance that their ministry thirty years later would impact the country as it has now. God is good!

FAITH, PERSECUTION, PROVIDENCE AND FUTURE

This is the story of the International Baptist Church of Mandaluyong. Churches and ministries are built on certain principles or philosophies. These very same principles serve as the guide or standard by which the church operates. Some are built for the purpose of reaching the affluent and influential members of the city. This is based on their principle that if one is able to reach the leaders and the affluent, it enlarges the ability of the churches to impact society. As a result, the programs and format of ministry of the said churches are geared towards attracting those very same people. At the same time, some ministries are built to reach out to the “grass-roots” or the common and non-affluent citizens. These churches are formed upon the vision of reaching and ministering to these people who otherwise would feel awkward to attend and serve in a church where they feel they do not belong or are not in the same societal of economic standing. Contrary to these principles and with a firm belief that God truly is no respecter of persons so much so that God can use ” Whosoever” will surrender their lives to Him – IBC was built. It all started in the last door of the apartments in the garage of the 475 building (the building next to the present sanctuary). As months went by, the congregation moved into the open garage. Then, more people came and the rest was history.

As a child, I learned some ugly and derogatory words. I learned them neither from my parents nor from the kind of entertainment that I was exposed to. I learned the words “patay-gutom” because I often heard them from passers-by who would often shout it at the people that attended our church. They claimed that our church was not of God because all the people that went there were poor. They said they were this way because God refused to bless them and instead, cursed them. As more people began to attend the church, the affluent started to pour into the congregation as well. The outside parking lot was filled both imported cars as well as tricycles. It was at this stage that I learned my second batch of bad words. I learned the words “Matapobre” and “Mandurugas” because at this time, the shouts of “patay-gutom” had ceased and now our persecutors were claiming that our church was for the rich and the affluent only. They further claimed that God was not really blessing. It was just that the people that attended our church were corrupt and cheated in business. With all of these things, one thing was true inside the church – that was the fact that IBC never really cared how much or how little money one had in the bank. Rather, everyone was treated the same. God loved everyone and He was willing to use “Whosoever will”. Everyone sat together, ate together, played together and served the Lord together. This was our founding principle. Since that time, I have been a witness to God using IBC (our church) to reach thousands with the Gospel. It has birthed many daughter churches. It has assisted countless numbers of people. From its own ranks, it has trained hundreds of pastors as well as sent out hundreds of missionaries all over the globe. And to this day, has ministered to generations after generation of families. What a rich
history! God is faithful!