A Gathering of Healing Hands: My Experience at the DOH Consultative Meeting on LINGAPP

Last November 28, 2025, I arrived early at the Park Inn by Radisson along North Avenue, Quezon City, the venue for a very special meeting. The Department of Health –Bureau of Local Health Systems and Development (DOH-BLHSD), under the leadership of Dr. Mar Wynn Bello, had organized a Consultative Meeting on Strengthening Faith-Based Health Initiatives for Lingkod Kalusugan ng Alagad ng Pananampalataya at Pamayanan (LINGAPP).

As the representative of the Davao Episcopal Area (DEA) Health Board of The United Methodist Church, I was excited for the opportunity that the government can acknowledge the role of faith-based organizations in the health of our communities.

I was the first person in the conference room but I was impressed by the diverse assembly they invited including representatives from the Philippine Relief and Development Services (PhilRADS) of PCEC, Caritas Philippines of the Roman Catholic Church, the Islamic Medical Association of the Philippines, and several other faith-rooted organizations. Seeing everyone seated together reminded me that despite our theological differences, we share a deep and abiding commitment to human dignity and compassionate service.

The meeting opened with an ecumenical prayer that I also participated in. Then an opening remarks by Dr. Bello. He emphasized that before the government prescribes policies or action plans, it must first listen to the stories, struggles, and insights of the organizations that have long been embedded in communities. I had to agree with his remarks. For years, faith-based organizations have been the unsung frontliners by providing medical missions in remote barangays, supporting families in times of disaster, and tending to the spiritual and emotional wounds the healthcare system often overlooks.

Again, I was the first speaker to share our experience in the UMC. I introduced myself as PasDoc Neki and spoke about the work of our DEA Health Board, our HIV SAVE approach and desire to build HIV competent churches, our growing mental health programs among youth and women, our peer educators Tigbansay and Manuglaygay, and our Wesleyan heritage of combining faith and medical ministry. I felt grateful to represent a church rooted in holistic care of body, mind, and spirit.

I also realized how unique our perspectives are as faith-based practitioners. We bring compassion shaped by Scripture, ethics informed by community life, and a sense of mission that pushes us beyond what is convenient.

Throughout the meeting, one theme kept echoing back and that is we all want to bring healthcare closer to the people as an expression of love. We also openly discussed challenges like limited funding, lack of coordination, unclear policies and the need for stronger government support. Yet, despite these concerns, there was a hopeful spirit in the room. This was just a beginning of a new partnership.

As the meeting ended, I felt encouraged. It was clear that LINGAPP is a program that will bridge between government and faith communities, between policy and compassion, between systems and souls. Walking out of the meeting venue, I carried a sense of renewed purpose. Our church may have simple programs but it is not alone, for along with our friends from various denominations and faith traditions, the FBOs has a vital role in building healthier, more resilient communities. 

This meeting reminded me that healing is not just a medical act, we are really called to take part in God's ministry. 

Reflections of a Community Doctor in the Palay

Being in the community always gives me that feeling of what it really means to be a missionary doctor. It is not the walls of the hospital or the bustle of outpatient clinics, but the everyday lives of people whose health is shaped long before they ever meet a doctor. Here in the community, health is not just measured in blood pressure readings or BMI charts or other vital signs, but rather it is written in harvest cycles, market stalls, and the weary yet dignified faces of the farmers who feed the community.

As I walked through the barangay road where the palay occupies the road instead of cars, I couldn't help but reflect on the choices farmers have to make with the lack of infra to support them, including problems in the rising cost of fertilizers, the unpredictability of the weather, and the stubbornly low buying price of palay. It was disappointing. The market price of palay, or unmilled rice, stands at only eight pesos per kilo. Yes, eight pesos. A number so small it barely captures the sweat, the aching backs, the hours beneath the sun, and the generations of knowledge poured into every grain.

The eight pesos reflect not the value of palay, but the value we have chosen to assign to the people who grow it.

As a community doctor, I’ve long understood that food security is fundamental to population health. When families do not have stable access to nutritious and affordable food, diseases multiply. Malnutrition, anemia, lifestyle diseases, mental stress, and even intergenerational poverty will just persist. But seeing the farmers’ struggles up close reminds me that the health of our food system is inseparable from the health of the people who cultivate it. When the ones who feed us cannot feed their own families, we actually make the entire nation malnourished physically, socially, and morally.

The Gospel of Luke reminds us, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” This is not just a spiritual teaching but a call for social justice. The price of palay calls us to check where our moral compass is pointing in terms of justice, dignity, and compassion. Honoring those who labor honestly is a reflection of who we are as a society. But in many ways, we have failed to honor our farmers. We have underpriced their produce, overlooked their needs, and taken their labor for granted.

Health may be measured by medical instruments, but the community will really tell us the real status of our health.

The Year of Vlogging

 This blog started years ago as a diary of the different reflections on my daily activities in ministries. It has transformed to include academic thoughts, sermons, and reflections. This year 2025, I will go back to logging and recording the daily ministry activities through a video. I will write news articles written in 3rd person with commentaries on significant events I will participate in. Another option, is for me to put on short clips of less than 2 minutes reporting on the ministry activity that I will cover. It will be more like a reporting with snippets of some rhetorical insights of the activity for the year 2025. But the ministry in focus will be my role as missionary doctor. Here is an example:

This year 2025, Dr. Nezer A. Soriano will remain as Health Board Coordinator of the Davao Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church. Our ministry focus will be raising Mental Health Awareness among youth in the community, and HIV Awareness towards building HIV competent churches. I hope you will join us and pray with us as we journey through God's healing ministry this year. 

World Council of Churches and the Church Health Ministry on Reversing HIV Epidemic

 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia—The World Council of Churches and Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) convened a Regional Interfaith Forum on “Reversing the HIV Pandemic in Asia: Faith-based Engagements” from November 13-16. Over 80 participants from various Asian countries, including religious leaders, healthcare professionals, and advocates, gathered to explore the vital role of faith communities in combating the HIV epidemic.

The forum highlighted the need for faith-based organizations to take an active role in addressing the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV (PLHIV). Among the notable speakers was Dr. Nezer Soriano, representing the United Methodist Church in the Philippines. Dr. Soriano shared valuable insights on bridging the gap in mental health services for PLHIV, emphasizing the interconnectedness of physical, mental, and spiritual health. “John Wesley emphasized a holistic Christian ministry of the mind, body and spirit. In our work, we’ve seen that addressing the mental health challenges of PLHIV is essential to improving their overall well-being and quality of life,” Dr. Soriano said. He outlined best practices implemented in faith-based initiatives, including community-based counseling programs and support groups that integrate mental health care with spiritual guidance.

The forum also featured discussions on prevention, treatment, and advocacy, with case studies from countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines showcasing the success of faith-based interventions. Participants underscored the importance of collaboration between religious organizations, governments, and international bodies to expand access to care and education.

The event concluded with a joint declaration calling for intensified efforts to eliminate HIV-related stigma and ensure equitable healthcare for all. Faith leaders committed to leveraging their influence to support the United Nations’ goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

See other related stories: Mental Health Care of individuals living with HIV

A Wesleyan Perspective on Finances

 
Theme: “Responding to God’s Overflowing Faithfulness through Extravagant Generosity”

Text: 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Mark 10:17-31

Message: Stewardship is Discipleship.

Call to Action:  Respond to God’s faithfulness.

This sermon was preached during the Pre-Harvest Festival of Santiago Central UMC.

The Gospel text that was read this morning comes from Gospel of Mark. This book was written to early Gentile Christians about who Jesus is and how to become his follower and disciple. Today, this book speaks to us how we can respond to God’s call and follow Jesus and become better Christians.   

In the story, we see a man asking Jesus how can he be a disciple of Jesus and enter heaven. So, one of the important verses on discipleship is from verse 21 and it reads:

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

Today is also our pre-harvest festival. Every harvest festival, we focus on stewardship. Our verse this morning is very appropriate because it gives us a view on how we must treat wealth and stewardship of financial resources. One of the important things that we must not forget is that our stewardship is always connected to our discipleship. That means how we grow into better Christians. And today Jesus is calling us to follow me, and we must respond to that call. We must respond to that call of discipleship.

Stewardship is about discipleship.    

I was once invited to talk about financial literacy by the UMYAF. And I will share the stage with Chinkee Tan. Sabi ko, ano naman ang ituturo ko tungkol sa pera eh hindi naman ako negosyante. But the organizers said, talk about stewardship and share to us your practices as a Christian. But then I remembered John Wesley and that is what I will reflect on today. I will share some reflections with you based on the Bible with a Wesleyan perspective. This times, we need to go back to what John Wesley was teaching the early Methodists based on Biblical principles. Tayo ay babalik sa Ugaling Metodista. Ano ba ang Ugaling Metodista? Ano ba ang dapat na tugon kapag tinawag tayo?

The text for this Pre-harvest Festival tells us that God owns everything. “For everything in heaven and earth is yours.” That is an important Biblical understanding of stewardship of physical resources given to us. The finances, the businesses, the farm lot, the Negosyo, the careers and employments we have that produces wealth belongs to God. “Wealth and honor come from you.” As Christian Methodists, we recognize that everything we have belongs to God. And as Christians we need to be good stewards of God’s property. The end. No!

In Luke 16: 9, Jesus said that “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

So, the question that needs to be asked, is what does the Bible tells us to do with the worldly wealth, including time and talent and treasures or physical resources like the harvest from our farms, the income from our jobs, the earnings from our businesses? If all of this wealth belongs to God, what do we do with it to be good stewards? John Wesley has an answer. He actually had a sermon, “The Use of Money.” This is one of John Wesley’s famous sermons. And the lessons there are some of the important lessons that I have applied in my life ever since I read about that sermon. He said that money is not evil on its own. In fact, he believed that money if in the hands of Christians can be food for the hungry, housing for the homeless, healthcare for the sick, and help for the needy. That is why he preached about financial literacy and stewardship and discipleship.

John Wesley said in his sermon, so yes it’s like listening to John Wesley’s sermon, except the English accent. John Wesley said, “earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”

So, the first one said: Earn all you can

Since stewardship is Discipleship, how can earning all you can help you become a better Christian?

Stewardship of God’s creation tells us that we must be able to gain something or create wealth from taking care of God’s property. John Wesley taught that Christians are always productive. Earning and gaining something is our response to taking care of God’s resources.

We remember the parable of the talents where a master gave money to this servant and asked them to take care of it. And when he returned from his trip asked the servants what they did with the money. The first two servants invested the money and earned profit and gained income while the third servant did not use the talents, the money that was given to him and it was taken away from him. He was not a faithful servant and a poor steward of the master’s property.

So, we know that a good steward is always productive. Christians use God’s resources to invest it, use it, and gain something for it.

So, John Wesley emphasized that we must earn all we can. We must be productive.

If you have a farm, then try to plant and produce harvest and earn from it. If you were given a talent and skill to be a worker or an employee or to serve others like a nurse, teacher or office worker then try to use that talent to be able to earn from your employment. If you were given talents and skills to own and manage a business then earn from your business. And since we are given time, we must use our time to be productive in any work. 

Yes, earn all you can John Wesley said. But he has two important premises”

First, when you earn, do not abuse self.

Do not sacrifice your life and health. As Christian Methodists, we understand that our physical body is a temple of God that is sacred. For John Wesley, no amount of money will justify sacrificing our health much more our life for the sake of earning income.

That means, if the way you earn income leads to lack of sleep, poor eating habits, activities that harm our bodies and leads to poor health, then we must reconsider how we earn our income.

Second premise is do not earn in sinful ways.

The end does not justify the means. Even if you are earning, it will not be acceptable if the way we are earning leads you to commit sin. Engaging in business or work or activities that harms other people, harms the environment and harms the community are sinful ways. John Wesley says that our soul must be preserved as we journey to Christian perfection.

As a good steward, earn all you can but with all diligence and honesty without harming yourself, others, the environment and the society.

The second one: Save all you can:

Since stewardship is about discipleship, how can saving money help you become a better Christian?

Saving is a response to discipleship. John Wesley emphasizes two things here:

First, make sure that you must be able to save money or resources that provides the basic needs for yourself and for you and family. So, that is the most important aspect. One must save money to channel the blessings from God in providing the basic necessities of the person and his family.

Second, the good steward will not waste any resources in buying useless things or spending on luxuries so you can satisfy your vanity. Saving money is your response so you will not commit the sins of vanity or be envious of others by desiring luxuries and showing off. Saving also helps you become humble and avoid the sin of pride and arrogance.

Did you know that early Christian Methodists do not recommend wearing expensive jewelries and expensive clothes, including shoes. 

John Wesley said, you must be able to save the extra income you have after spending for the needs of the family.

You are not expected to use the extra income to spend in other luxurious stuff.

The early Christian Methodist understood that for everyone to have a share from the available resources from this earth, we must only get what is sufficient for us. For example, when getting food from the table in a luncheon party. You only get what is enough that you can eat and not waste any food. The extra food in your plate that you took is food that could have been eaten by someone else.

Saving money is your response to discipleship in recognizing the needs of your neighbors after you have satisfied your own family’s needs.

We are our brother’s and sister’s keeper’s. When we have blessings, we must use only what we need because saving means we also remember those who are in need.

But John Wesley was careful again to remind that saving must not lead for other people especially our children and family members to commit sin of being unproductive and being wasteful.

We do not save so that our children will have their own resources to spend. That will teach them to be sinful in becoming unproductive stewards of God’s resources.

We do not also save so that we can give to those in need without helping them to be productive as well. It was never a dole out for John Wesley.

We do not save so that our families can be wasteful of the extra resources they have. The resources must be distributed to those in need.

Because stewardship is about discipleship, the saved money should be distributed to bring honor and glory to God.

So, we proceed to the third and last lesson.

The third one: Give all you can:

Since stewardship is about discipleship, how can giving all you can make us a better Christian? This one is very obvious but difficult to do.

John Wesley recognizes that everything comes and belongs to God.

The classic Methodist theological understanding is that what ever you need, you have already saved it and so, beyond what you NEED must be given to others who are in NEED. Now that may sound too radical, but that is actually what Wesley was teaching the early methodists and in fact he did until he died.

As a professor, he was earning a lot and he was buying real estate. But he owns nothing. Wesley used the money to buy Methodists houses that became churches, Wesley gave away huge capital that when he died, there was nothing in his name and he had nothing to share in his last will and estate.

Whatever you saved, give it to those in need. That is extravagant generosity.

That is our theme for this harvest Festival. Ang Ugaling Metodista ay mapagbigay.

Giving all you can means extravagant generosity.

But this concept is not easy to understand, much more not easy to do.

Bishop Juan once preached on this and said extravagant giving is when you give until it hurts. You are not yet giving anything if it does not affect you.

It is very difficult for us to follow Jesus. It is very difficult for us to sell our possessions and give it to the poor. Even the practical advice of John Wesley to earn all we can, save all we can and then give all we can… is so challenging for us.

Our common excuse, Doc, wala naman akong perang maibibigay dahil kasya lang. Remember that God gave us not only treasures but also time and talent. And we have been diligent enough to earn and save time, talent and treasures. And what do we do with the excess time or talent and treasure? We have extra time but we spend it in the coffee shop or in the mall or somewhere else doing something that satisfies our personal desires. We have talent but we reserve it for the parties and office use only. We have extra treasures but we use it for ourselves only

That is the reason, John Wesley said “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”

Methodists have been good and successful stewards that they have accumulated so much wealth and saved so much resources and own properties… but, they have not given to the poor, they have not given time to God, they have not used their talents in ministry and they have not used their extra resources for the work of God. They are in danger of going to hell and have stopped becoming disciples of Jesus.

Wesley was talking about social holiness and the Methodists declining ministry to those in need. He was worried that early Methodists have lost their generosity and have stopped caring for the poor. There is only one way to prevent them from committing this sin… that is to give all they can.

Doc, ang hirap naman nun.

It may be too difficult to do but the good news is that we have an extravagantly generous God. A God who was so extravagant that he gave His only begotten Son for you and for me.

God gave his Son so we can be forgiven from our selfish desires, cleansed from our sins and become more like him… become more loving, become more giving, become extravagantly generous just like our extravagantly generous Father in heaven.

My dear brothers and sisters, God has been faithful to us and God’s faithfulness have given us the ability to respond. By God’s grace we have the ability to respond.  

We have the ability to respond. In the name of Jesus, we have the response ability to follow Jesus and become better Christians… we have the response ability to earn all we can, to save all we can and the response ability to be extravagant in giving all we can.

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  

 Reference:

-         Dominic Roser. John Wesley: The Use of Money. Retrieved from: https://www.eaforchristians.org/blog/john-wesley-the-use-of-money-12/#we-should-earn-as-much-as-we-can

-         Methodist Church of Singapore. How to earn, save and give all you can. Retrieved from:  https://www.methodist.org.sg/methodist-message/how-to-gain-save-and-give-all-that-i-can/

-         Resource UMC. John Wesley on Giving. Retrieved from: https://www.resourceumc.org/en/content/john-wesley-on-giving

-         Revised Common Lectionary. Vanderbilt Library. Retrieved from: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=382&z=p&d=79

-         Mark Vitalis Hoffman. Commentary on Mark 10:17-31. Retrieved from: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-28-2/commentary-on-mark-1017-31-7

-         Valson Abraham. Live without Worry. Retrieved from: https://revivemegod.org/articles/readarticle/285

-         Randy Alcorn. Putting Our Hope in God’s Ownership and Provision in Times of Financial Worry. Retrieved from: https://www.faithfi.com/eternal-perspective-ministries/putting-our-hope-in-gods-ownership-and-provision-in-times-of-financial-worry-3447

-         Holy Bible (NIV). Bible Gateway. Retrieved from: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Chronicles%2029%3A11-12&version=NIV

-         Kevin Konghorn. John Wesley’s Focus on Money. Retrieved from: https://seedbed.com/john-wesleys-focus-money/

 

The Church Narthex

 
Many of the protestant church buildings are smaller that the different parts of any medieval church are no longer recognizable. One church part is the narthex. What is this area in the church? 

The narthex is a Greek word that means "scourge." The narthex is also defined as the gathering space before the nave, or the main worship space. This area is sometimes called the lobby but it is more appropriate to call it as the church narthex. According to the www.umc.org website, the narthex has been traditionally the area where the penitents and the catechumens are gathered because they cannot worship together with other Christians in the main worship space until they are able to complete their orientation or re-orientation to the Christian life. However, today we use this space as a place where we greet worshippers and exchange our pleasantries with one another. The narthex serves as a venue where we can welcome other Christian believers to come worship with us.

Mental Health Booth in Bicol

 

We were able to visit Daet during their Bicol Philippines Annual Conference. 

The conference was able to make an action to recognize the trained peer advocates called Tigbansay for Mental Health of BPAC. They also made a conference action that they would include in their Annual Conference budget to support the ministry of their Tigbansay.

During the 3 day event, we were able to serve more than a hundred people with Mental Health screening using DASS21, provide mental health break with our meditation area, refreshments to release the stress from a whole day of meeting, some raffle prizes that provides a break from the strenous acitvities of the day and some Words of Inspiration notes quoted from the Bible.

Spirituality and Medicine

I was invited to speak in the Haligi Congress in Cebu organized by the Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians and AMSA - Cebu. It was my second time to talk about the intersection of Spirituality and Medicine among physicians. But this was more for public health practitioners and the medical students. 

My topic was entitled "Soulful Balance: Embracing Spritual and Mental Wellness Among People in Healthcare."

My talk was focused in highlighting the role of spirituality in addressing the problem of health human resource scarcity in our country. I opened my talk with a review of the six building blocks of health according to WHO and highlighting the importance of the Human Resource for Health block. I then surveyed the current problems leading to the exodus of HRH and the maldistribution of the remaining HRH in the country. Then I introduced the concept of spirituality and related it to the purpose and reason why a person would seek to become a healthcare provider much more a public health practitioner in the countryside. I discussed extensively using examples from my experiences and highlighting published researches that supports my arguments. 

I concluded my talk by emphasizing the importance of including spirituality early in medical school to guide students in the path that they would choose to take. 

January 2023 Wesleyan Spirituality

 This year, 2023, I will begin a new chapter in my life as an academician. I have accepted the challenge to teach spirituality in medical school. This is a first in any medical school in the Philippines. A whole semester course in Wesleyan Spirituality will be offered in the Wesleyan University - Philippines. The course will focus on the Wesleyan praxis in the context of holistic care to the person. 

Throughout the year, I hope to share my lectures, reflections and researches in the hope of adding new knowledge in the field of spirituality and health.

Hope to hear from your comments and feedback as we journey together in this exciting year of learning and discovery on Wesleyan Spirituality.

A Prayer for the Church

"The church is the Body of Christ."

You are the Head of the Church

Who have called us to be your hands and feet in the world

Give us wisdom to know and obey your will

Through the inspiration of your Holy Spirit

Amen.

 

A Prayer for Leadership

"Cast the vision."

Dear God,

You are the Great maker of leaders 

Who have made ordinary people like Moses and David to be great leaders

Cast that vision into us once again and mold us

Through the presence of the Holy Spirit in conferences and events.

Amen.

 

A Prayer for Our Dreams

"Dreams do come true."

Dear God,

You are the author of our future

Who gave us dreams and goals in our hearts

Keep us inspired to achieve those dreams

Through hard work, perseverance and trust in you.

Amen.

 

Breastfeeding in Churches

 The month of August is Breastfeeding month. One of the mot dedicated breastfeeding advocate I know is Ms. Earlie Pasion-Bautista. We all know about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for babies in the first six months of their life. But the question I always ask is that why do we not promote breastfeeding inside our church? Why do we not support breastfeeding mothers with the space and equipments they need that will support breastfeeding? Why do we not have Bible Studies and devotions about how God uses illustrations of breastfeeding to characterize God's nurturing? Why do we not see lay groups and churches actively supporting celebrations of Breastfeeding? This month, even with the pandemic, we have organized a Virtual Hakab Na! to promote brestfeeding. Our partners are individuals and small mother's businesses. We barely see the church participate. We do have individuals from our church. But the church has not been institutionally been involved. My wife reminds me that I may need to raise awareness among chruches that the Bible has numerous times described breastfeeding to illustrate the abundant provision and the care God gives to His people. In Isaiah, we read “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.”

 We must celebrate and rejoice in the gift of breastfeeding. Thus, breastfeeding must be promoted in chruches, not discriminate mothers who do not cover when they need to feed their babies and encourage young mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding and beyond. My wife has been actively engaging other young mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding. Our youngest daughter, who already turned 3 years old, still breastfeeds. I hope that one day, in the next Breastfeeding Month celebration, the church will be the one who will initiate and host our celebration as we celebrate mothers and the important role they take in the nurture and feeding of their chidlren. 

 

Freedom and Social Justice

Today is June 12. We celebrate the Philippine Independence Day. The church plays a crucial role in achieving that ideals of freedom not only from colonizers but freedom from the bondage of the present social sins. The world is broken as injustice, abuse and inequalities has tainted all of us. This brokenness has enslaved our society and the church has tried to resist and free our society from these social ills. The church, led by its pastors and church workers, is still struggling for our freedom from these social ills.

One of the church workers active in the work of the church is Rev. Edgar de Jesus. He is the current President of the NAFAUM. I had a quick chat with Pastor Edgar today. He was inviting me to the upcoming Zoom Webinar on June 22 entitled "Leading the Church in the time of Pandemic." This has been a series of ongoing discussions which is a very timely topic as the world goes through a major change in its daily activities including the church. The way how church activities like mission work, outreach, conferences and the regular worship service is being affected such as the church sacraments of baptism, Holy Communion and even the rituals of wedding and burial have to be drastically change. It has create confusion, chaos, debates and unanswered questions. People can no longer have the Lord's Supper because of the quarantine. People can not gather in worship so will they be allowed to celebrate the Lord's Supper online? If gatherings are not allowed, then how can public declarations of the couple's love be done during their dream wedding. Will it be done online? Even the annual conferences, which is the major and crucial activity in the church have to be postponed. How can deliberations on church concerns be done including the reading of appointments? And this has domino effect on the length of stay of the administrative pastors and the District Superintendents and even the episcopacy. But the crucial concern is how can the church perform now its mission in the society? The forum will focus on how the pandemic affected the programs of the church in promoting social justice. Have we all just paused our work as Christians because of the health concern? Will Jesus have stopped ministering to the poor and oppressed because there was a curfew and quarantine? I am excited about this online event. This webinar will be able to provide insight and guidance to how the church will move forward in its life even as we anticipate major changes in the United Methodist Church. Pastor Edgar will moderate this event.

I met Pastor Edgar when I was in seminary. He was assigned to me as my mentor when I was an intern in Hurdle Mills United Methodist Church in North Carolina. It was one of my best time as a young Pastor. He took time to guide me on the ministry of the Pastor not only as a preacher but as a community leader. He made sure that I understood that the church is not confined in the four corners of the building and thus the work of the Pastor does not end in the worship service but includes community service. He took me to home visits as well as to community events and activities. Although I was more interested with the different Southern food recipes in every event we attended, I was slowly learning that collaborating with other faith groups and participating in the daily life of the community is part of the mission work of the church. Resisting the social ills in the community also means showing love to all people, especially those who are often neglected. Visiting the sick and bringing food to the shut-ins is not less significant to providing work opportunity to the unemployed and assisting migrants get documented. As Christians, we are called to be leaders... leading the church towards freedom.

Join the forum. Register in advance for the NAFAUM Leadership Webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZEsd--opz8vGdG1LrDf-RvvZoB9v_334…

My Birthday at the time of Corona

First thing in the morning, I did for my birthday was to give thanks to God. I always believe that birthdays are moments that needs to be celebrated. It doesn't have to be a grand celebration but should recognize the milestones it brings. We must be thankful for these milestones in our lives. I invited some of my fellow Methodists to join with me in celebrating the Lord's Supper as part of my Birthday celebration. 

I celebrated my birthday without my immediate family with me. This is not the first time that I celebrated my birthday alone. But this one is different because I am not really geographically far from them. I could choose to travel the distance. But the implimented "lockdown" does not allow any movement of people from one city to the other. Thus, I cannot go home to my family. Thanks to technology, I was able to be with them virtually as they prepared food at home to celebrate my birthday. They prepared my favorite dish spaghetti as part of the celebration. 

Back here in the hospital, I had a simple celebration with my colleagues and friends in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the frontline responders of Southern Isabela Medical Center.

Faith Response in the Time of Covid19

I work in Southern Isabela Medical Center. I had the privelege of working with several hardworking and dedicated Methodist healthworkers. One of them is the Chief Nurse of our hospital, Ma'am Jennifer Manuel.

Mam Jen is from San Gabriel. She was raised in a United Methodist family. She started working as a nurse in the LGU hospital then moved to work with the DOH retained hospital.

When the Covid19 outbreak began, I was tasked to activate the Incident Command System of the hospital. Mam Jen is one of the key personnel that helped our hospital organize the necessary teams and units that will implement the Covid19 response of our hospital. Even though most of the people were overtaken by fear, she willingly worked. It was evident that he faith was the driving force for her to do her work. On the first week, we had to scramble and work fast to identify the physical resource we had and the complementing human resource to man the Covid19 areas.

Isolation Covid19 rooms had to be convereted from ordinary ward rooms. We also had to pull out our nurses and healthworkers then assign them to each respective isolations rooms. Mam Jen was very patient in planning and organizing the needed restructuring of our hospital services even if we had to work overtime. Her faith is obviously making her calm and composed in this time of crisis. That week, she would come early everyday and did not take any weekend off to make sure the hospital is Covid19 ready. The hospital was able to effeciently use our resources and open our services to help many PUIs and Covid19 patients.

It is very inspiring to see a fellow healthworker work passionately and becoming the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. Healing miracles still do happen. Mam Jen illustrates to us how one's chosen profession can be our ministry as a faithful child of God.

Judge and Health Advocate

I was invited by Judge Benjamin Turgano, the President of the Wesleyan University - Philippines, to give an academic lecture on HIV and AIDS as part of their 74th Anniversary Celebration.

Judge Turgano is a Pastor's Kid. I was introduced to him by my father and had that connection with him as a fellow PK. Since then, I have several opportunities to work with him in the different ministries of the church. One very important event was when he was the Central Conference lay leader and they were organizing a Quadrennial Plan for the Philippine Central conference back in 2012. I asked Judge Turgano if I can be part of that very important event in the life of the church even as an observer. He made sure I was invited as part of the health sector.

During that important planning event, we were able to outline the key health ministries that needs to be the focus of the church. We identified an interagency task force to implement a Central Conference wide health program. They asked me to spearhead that interagency group. As a young and idealistic health minister, I shared with Judge Turgano my thoughts about what the church can do to have effective and efficient in health ministries. I was inspired and challenged by his words that keeps me going even to this day. I can still hear him say to me, "what's keeping you from pursuing your proposed health ministries of the church?" I told him my worries and he said, "you got the support that you need." Indeed, since then, health ministries are always on agenda in the Central Conference matters. Judge Turgano was very supportive of the plan and he adopted and pushed for the scaling-up of the "Local Church as a Health Ministry Oupost" program.

The HIV program was one of the advocacy programs we recognized to be an important local church ministry that should be adopted by churches at that time. Immediately, Judge Turgano coordinated with different church agencies including the BCED and the BOWW to scale-up a national HIV awareness program among churches.

Several years later, Judge Turgano is still one of the church's most supportive leader in promoting church health programs especially in raising HIV awareness in the community.

The Health Minister

This new year's blog series will be about the Methodist people whom I have met every month and who have made great contributions to the church and to the society.

Early this month, I was invited to attend a planning activity of the Mary Johnston Hospital. Dr. Glenn Paraso, CEO of MJH, asked me to join this important activty.

I first met Dr. Glenn during the 2016 Central Conference in Pampanga. He had that very contagious smile and I easily felt comfortable with him. Dr. Glenn is a PK and I always had that special bond with PK because we have a common experience that only PKs understand.

Dr. Glenn is known in the civil society world as a climate health expert. His experience working with big CSOs like UN and WHO tells you the caliber of work of Dr. Glenn. But more than that, Dr. Glenn is really a health minister. His work as CEO of Mary Johnston Hospital leaves his mark as truly minister of healing.

Four Things to Remember if in Baguio on a weekend

We attended the Business Building Seminar in Baguio on a Saturday. The next day is Sunday, so we went to visit the United Methodist Church in Baguio City.

In case you are there on a weekend, here are four things to remember:

1. The church is right across Bagiuo General Hospital along the Palispis Highway. So when giving directions to the taxi, you gan use BGH as a landmark of where you are going. It is just right at the junction of the flyover.


2. Worship starts at 10:30 AM. They start on time so it will be wise to come around 10 minutes earlier. I also appreciate the Children's time they had during the worship service.


3. Parking is available infront of the church. However, parking can get full fast. You can park also at the side street but this can also be limited. When you are bringing your own vehicle, I suggest you come early so you can get an available slot. 

4. Church service finishes at lunch. You can have the whole afternoon to visit other tourist spots. We went to spend the afternoon in BenCab Musuem. It was a great experience for the kids to get exposed to the modern arts of BenCab and the masters. The place is also a mountain resort. The fresh air and the beautiful garden can be very calming. It is a good escape from the busy hustle of the city. 

Waiting for Advent?

This article was shared in a Christian magazine. I wanted to share it with you all here online. The message is inspired by the Gospell of Luke 1:26-38. 

Who among you already had their Christmas party? How many of you opened their gifts already? How many of you have their gifts still wrapped? We are teaching our kids to also wait until Christmas. We already gave Christmas gifts to our kids as early as November, but they are not yet opened until now.  This will be the message for us this early morning.

We are on the third week of Advent. Advent is a season of waiting – hopeful waiting. I hate to break the bad news, but in the Christian calendar, it is not yet Christmas. It is still advent, the season of waiting – a time of anticipation and expectation… expecting for the coming of Jesus and anticipating for that day to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas day, and hopeful waiting for the second coming of our Lord.

Our story this morning is about that anticipation period. The time before Mary gave birth. This is the time when Mary became pregnant and had to wait for that first Christmas.  This was about a little teenager girl. Imagine a girl – in a patriarchal society, she is considered a second class citizen. This is a child – in a society, she is innocent and without experience. She was given a task by God and the task is big – to bear a king.

Let us focus as our story tells us that Mary will be pregnant. She will be expecting. She will be waiting for nine months until the boy whom Israel has been waiting to be their messiah will be born. I remember princess Kate and prince William when she got pregnant with her baby two years ago. It was all over the news, people were excited, not only English people. People were waiting and anticipating, they even camped outside the palace and the hospital during the due month. She will be the mother of a future king. People asked, “is it going to be a boy? lalaki kaya? Healthy ba yung baby paglabas? Guapo ba?” How did the Princess feel? Ano kaya yung iniisip niya? Ano kaya yung pressure sa kanya to be expecting a baby king? But that’s for a princess. How about the commoner? Yung ordinary pregnant women?

What is it like to be expecting a baby and waiting for it to be born? I had a patient who became my friend (Gina) who wanted to get pregnant. They were expecting to get pregnant for years. They waited for the baby to be born. They got pregnant after more than 7 years of waiting. While they were waiting, they were also preparing. While waiting for the baby to be born, there needs to be preparation. As doctors, we help the family, the father, especially the mother to prepare for the coming of the newborn baby.  

Pregnancy is a time of preparation. “Nine months of preparation yan.” You need pre-natal care. We make sure the mother is healthy. Regular check up is needed to make sure no infection that will jeopardize the pregnancy. We need to provide nutritious food and vitamins to the mother. Also given is vaccine to the mother to make sure no  infection happens. Then we need to monitor the baby inside that it is healthy. We do an ultrasound. We check the movement of the baby and the position of the baby. We also tell the family to prepare a baby bag ready to be brought during the due date. We ask the mothers to prepare a duster during that day. We ask the father to prepare diapers, ready some medicines that will be necessary during the birth.

Pero hindi ko pa rin maintindihan hanggang ngayon, kapag may nanganganak at dinala sa ospital yung tatay wala pa ring tsinelas. Kapag hiningi mo yung lampin, yung mga gamit, dextrose, gamut wala daw. Wala din daw dalang pera pambili ng gamut sa botika. Emergency daw kasi kaya nakalimutan. Nine months siyang nagbuntis, they were expecting for this day for nine months pero wala pa rin preparation. Emergency pa rin. Hindi napaghandaan.

The Advent season is a time for us to prepare ourselves as we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus. Most of us are unprepared for that coming of Jesus. As Christians we are like Mary, we are made pregnant by the Holy Spirit. That is the good news. The Holy Spirit has filled us. Within us, we bear the image of Christ. But many of us are not ready to give birth to the image of Christ.

We fear and doubt that great things will be accomplished. We cannot do it because we are too small, we are too weak. We are just simple people. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 winner is the youngest winner. She is a little girl. She is only a teenager, 17 years old. She is Malala Yousafzai. She is a Pakistani. She is advocating for women to be educated. She wrote a blog for this advocacy because the Taliban ban the education of girls in their country. When she became famous because of this advocacy, the Taliban tried to silence her and shoot her in the head. She survived it.

Educating little children and forming them in Christian values is a preparation for these children to become willing instruments of Gods plan. We need to prepare them early and properly to become willing instruments of God. The world will experience the saving grace of Jesus in feeding the hungry, healing the sick, pulling down the wicked, finding the lost, through the body of Christ today.

We join the anticipation of the pregnant Mary. She anticipate the birth of a child who will deliver Israel. Mary was told that his son will be the king who will reign over the house of Jacob forever. We anticipate that day when the hungry will be filled, the rich are sent empty, the sick healed, the humbled lifted. As Christians, we are made pregnant by the Holy Spirit with the image of Christ. We wait with hope, we wait with joy, we wait in solidarity with all who suffer. We wait knowing that it will come. As we wait, we know that God is with us as all of us are pregnant and filled by the Holy Spirit. The challenge for us, are we ready and willing to give birth to Jesus Christ in our life?