Rev. Ernanie and Awit Castillo brought the Congregational Way to the Philippines.  Their son, Symphony John, now leads the association of churches.  The NACC has 33 churches. These congregations are closely associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship in accordance with the biblical teachings. Acting as an inspirational and advisory body, NACC bridges unity and networking in its outreach to poor communities. NACC is on the frontline of ministry relief, livelihood assistance, and a childhood sponsorship program. The child-sponsorship program aims to help educate one child per family in areas being reached by its church-planting ministry. Most of these children are in the island province of Negros where 500,000 sugar farm laborers lost their jobs as an offshoot of the closing down of 15 sugar mills. The children are the hardest hit by the crisis. The other sponsored children are in resettlement villages. These are families that have been displaced by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Currently, there are two Congregational outreaches in resettlement villages.

A Congregational Church building project is currently in the offing. This will merge two congregations by breaking barriers that have polarized the aborigines (Aetas) from the lowlanders. For the first time, through many generations, these groups will worship together. Many Philippine churches are not able to support a full-time minister. Part-time pastors must work full-time at a secular job and carry on a part-time ministry to their congregations on weekends. Many of them cease to exist for lack of ministerial support. The NACC strives to provide support to churches and pastors to keep the churches alive, reaching out to their communities in growth-efficient ways.

The mission's goals are four-fold: (1) to support local pastors in their ministry to NACC churches; (2) to share the love and compassion of Christ through spiritual nurture and material assistance; (3) to plant Congregational Churches in the surrounding villages and suburbs; and, (4) to help educate children and train them for future leadership in NACC churches.

Visit the Pictorial Page

 I want to make a contribution to the work of this mission!