ECPM Newsletter March 2025

Dearest ECPM Partners,

Praise be to our God for faithful friends and partners like you. Let me take this time to thank you for journeying with us, the ECPM Training Team and Staff. We cannot thank you enough for all the support, prayers and encouragement that enabled us to serve alongside the church planters.

We are overwhelmed to see right before our very eyes how the Lord touches people, how He mend differences, and how His presence is felt in the many different communities we visit. We are very thankful for the opportunity to listen to stories, to cry with those in pain and to walk along the weak. We couldn’t believe that we see and experience all this even if we are not the church planters ourselves.

Whenever we go to communities, we prepare, we bring blessings in God’s name and they express how blessed they are, but deep in the bottom of our hearts, it is us who goes back home with overwhelming blessings through precious relationships. Your love for the Lord thru ECPM has indeed gone a long way and has stayed with us deeply.

Allow me to invite you to continue journeying with the church planters, to continue in sharing in the Lord’s work through church planting, that we may both praise God for all that He has done.

We deeply thank you and glory to God!

Recent Events

Curriculum Review

2 Peter 1:10 was one of our devotion verses during the ECPM Training Team/Staff’s most recent curriculum review. Before we look into the technical details of our church planting modules, we reflected on the Lord’s calling for us all. We believe that this will contribute to the strength and growth of our church planters. We each shared how each one of us were brought here by the Lord, and we pondered on “why are we still here?” Reflecting on this will affect how we mentor the church planters, how we collaborate with our church partners and how we understand different contexts and culture of every church planting community. Deep in our hearts we know that revisiting and reflecting on our calling is a great factor in how we grow which will in turn equip us in helping the church planters and the community they reach out to.

Sometimes we see ourselves putting down our prepared module materials and adjusting training schedule to instead give time, open our hearts, and actively listen to the church planters. It is also in those moments that we find confirmation, that as the Lord calls us, He provides the spiritual nourishment that we need.

You, ECPM faithful friends and partners have provided the encouragement not just to our church planters but to the staff and training team of ECPM. Thank you very much.

We praise God for calling men and women like you who answered to His call to being part of the church planting ministry in the Philippines as we together humbly serve and respond to His great commission. May the Lord keep our hearts burning as we faithfully obey His calling despite and through it all. 

Maasin Church Planting Team, Ipilan, Palawan (PHI05)

Team Members: Roland Dela Cruz (supported by BHW), Gem Valdestamon, Ricky Arcillas, Jayson Paalan
Partnering Church: Christian Gospel Church, Ipilan
Graduation Date: 9th February 2025
People Group: Mixed Palawano, some Ilonggos

 It is the Lord who calls people to Him, touches hearts, sends the resources and only He could bring together a new worshipping community!

Last February, we were in awe and blessed to have the church planting graduation of the Maasin Team. Despite heavy rains and right before the flooding in Palawan happened, we gathered to witness the beginning of a new congregation in Maasin.

One of the new believers offered a space in their lot where they initially planned to construct a house, but it did not push through. The church planting team then contributed and saved money to build temporary walls and roofing to what would be their gathering space. They consider this a blessing and very thankful that they now have a place to meet for their bible study groups and conduct a regular Sunday Worship Service in the afternoon.

During the graduation, it was the new believers who prepared and contributed food to celebrate the graduation of the team and mark the beginning of a new congregation who came to accept Jesus as their Saviour. Around 20-25 new believers regularly gather every Sunday afternoon for worship with a regular Sunday School for the kids.

How can we not praise God for seeing how this team trusted the Lord despite setbacks and personality differences.

May this bless you as much as it has blessed us because your prayers, partnership and support were God’s way of making all these possible. Thank you very much for journeying with the Maasin Church Planting Team.

Please pray for continued encouragement, guidance, protection and spiritual vitality for this new congregation.

New Church Planting Team, Quinlogan-Sowangan, Quezon, Palawan (PHI05)

Team Members: Jehiel Eriman, Lydia Eriman, Joy Eriman, Delio Pabol (BHW now funding)
Partnering Church: Freedom Christian Baptist Church thru Gil Comia (Aramaywan Gospel Hall)
Training Period: January 2025 - February 2027

Praise God for how He has called every family to serve for His glory!

The Aramaywan Gospel Hall who has partnered with ECPM in many different church planting teams like Aborlan, Iraan and in campus ministry works, have partnered again with ECPM in the outreach in Quinlogan. Even more, the Lord has called a family who have planted churches in other provinces. We spent some time with the Eriman family to interview and get to know them. We also had a meaningful time during our pre-module sessions to pray and bring to the Lord all the preparations needed to complete the team.

After a few months, the Lord answered our prayers and one of their church members, Delio, has responded to God’s call and is now a part of the church planting team in Quinlogan.

The value of partnership and calling really comes hand in hand. ECPM partner Julius and Gemma Paalan who themselves have been church planters with thriving congregations, have helped us enormously in better understanding and knowing the culture of Palawanos and people groups in Palawan. Julius joins us in encouraging and teaching the new teams and we are really thankful for that.

Please continue to journey with ECPM through this new church planting teams. Please uphold them in your prayers most especially as this June, they will be conducting their community survey, courtesy calls and visitation in the area.

Campus Ministry Training - Ipilan National High School, Palawan (PHI07)

Partnering Church: Ipilan Gospel Hall and Christian Gospel Church, Ipilan with Camilet Christian Gospel, Linao Christian Gospel, Panao Christian Gospel, Christian Gospel (Main)
Training Period: November 2023 - July 2025

The Lord calls all ages and has encouraged the youth that they also have a task, and the Lord will enable them to fulfil His mandate.

Last July 2024, 70 young people undergoing the campus training in Ipilan Palawan spent three days to fully discover their gifts and skills that could be used in the ministry not just in the church but in the community.

It is such a joy to see the youth of Ipilan Gospel Hall and the churches of Christian Gospel in Ipilan form a music team to lead the worship during the camp. What a beautiful sight to see these young people coming together from different churches to worship the Lord. These young people were also trained by ECPM Campus coordinator in the importance of scripture, understanding the scripture and how to handle and use it properly in their small groups, in teaching and in citing verses.

All these proved to be fruitful. Last October, Kuya Kelvin, the worker in Ipilan Church, together with ECPM Campus Ministry, was accredited by the National High School as a religious group in the school and allowed to gather the students for fellowship twice a week.

The youth campus leaders take turns in leading the fellowship inviting their classmates and school mates. Kuya Kelvin also cooks a simple lunch to help other students who don’t have enough money for lunch.

Please continue to pray for these young people, they will have an evangelistic gathering this April 9 and will call it a YOUTH DAY in Ipilan Palawan. After this event ECPM will equip them in handling their own small groups.

Personal 

From Ella Santos (PHI04)

The Lord’s peace and love be upon you all!

I am deeply thankful for how the Lord has given me the strength, the community and the opportunities to experience His presence in different ways.

Last year was very meaningful for me aside from celebrating my golden year I am thankful because I am still able to serve and walk and experience the gift and beauty in being with the community.

I continually prepare and contextualize the pastoral care, counselling and retreats of church planters. With gifts to ECPM, we are now able to enhance and innovate our lessons to make it more understandable and relatable to church planting teams.

Currently I am taking courses for Certificate in Spiritual Companioning, although I take one subject at a time due to time availability, I believe that this contributes a lot in allowing me to walk alongside church planters and the youth under the Youth in Campus Training of ECPM. Most of ECPM Church partners also requests for assistance in retreats and counselling and we are thankful to be able to extend this to them. We are sometimes amazed that the Lord opens these opportunities for ECPM, and we feel enriched in turn. I am really really thankful for being with different communities!

I am very thankful to experience journeying with more than 60 young people (including our church’s youth leaders) that I had to create name tags so as not to say the wrong names. I thank the Lord for giving me the perseverance and listening ears in mentoring the youth leaders because listening to them bless me as well. I hold deep in my heart the letters and messages they send me. Please pray for me for perseverance and time management that I may train more young people, and they become our new Christian leaders. Please also pray for them that they will continue to hold on to God despite challenges.

Please continue to pray for ECPM for wisdom, continued support and provision, because we saw the need and receive requests from different church partners for more church planting areas, leaders’ training and retreat and Youth in Campus Training. I feel really called to continue with journeying with our church planters and young people through counselling and training. But we need to consult the Lord in choosing teams and training opportunities wisely due to time and fund availability. But we are thankful because our Cebu partners funded for us to train their church and youth leaders. They are also now praying for a church planting team.

I am most thankful to Bright Hope World, because your friendship is an encouragement to me. May the Lord’s strength and wisdom bless you continually and flourish the works of your hand. You bless me more than you could think of!

From Vicente Enriquez (PHI10)

I thank you for the support that you have provided me it is almost a decade. With your support, it is very helpful to continue doing the ministry of the Lord through ECPM. There was a new team in Palawan; their target was one of the tribes in North Palawan, the other one was in the South. It is challenging because of the distance and the transportation going to both places. But it felt exciting because I met a new friend and learned a new culture.

By the grace of God, my family is all fine. We are gaining weight. I am thankful that all my family are active in the ministry except one but continually attending church in our home church in Taytay Christian Church.

Please pray for my studies. I am now enrolled at ACCS online bible school from Australia, may the Lord, give me wisdom, patience and knowledge. This study has helped me develop a lot especially in my role in ECPM.

Thank you, and God bless.