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Philippines Iglesia ni Kristo
In the 1990s, all over Luzon, the Visayan Islands, and even
northern Mindanao, unmistakable Iglesia ni Kristo (Church of
Christ) places of worship, all similar in design and
architecture, were being constructed for a rapidly growing
membership. Founded by Felix Manalo Ysagun in 1914, the Iglesia
ni Kristo did not attract much notice until after World War II,
when its highly authoritarian organization and evangelical style
began to fill a need for urban and rural families displaced by
rapid changes in Philippine society. The church, led by clergy
with little formal education, requires attendance at twice-weekly
services conducted in local Philippine languages, where guards
take attendance and forbid entrance to nonmembers. Membership
dues, based on ability to pay, are mandatory. Members are
expected to be "disciplined, clean, and God-fearing." Gamblers
and drunks face the possibility of being expelled. The church
forbids (on penalty of expulsion) marriage to someone of another
faith and membership in a labor union. The Iglesia ni Kristo also
tells its members how to vote and is even respected for its
ability to get out the vote for candidates of its choice.
There are a number of reasons why so many Filipinos have
joined such an authoritarian church, not the least of which is
the institution's ability to stay the decline of traditional
Philippine vertical patron-client relationships, especially in
urban areas. The church also has been successful in attracting
potential converts through its use of mass rallies similar to
Protestant revival meetings. The message is always simple and
straightforward--listeners are told that the Iglesia ni Kristo is
the mystical body of Christ, outside of which there can be no
salvation. Roman Catholicism and Protestant churches are
denounced--only through membership in the Iglesia ni Kristo can
there be hope for redemption.
Although the original appeal of the Iglesia ni Kristo was to
members of the lower socioeconomic class, its puritanical
precepts encouraged social mobility; and many of its members were
climbing the economic ladder. Whether the church would be able to
maintain its puritanical, authoritarian stance when more of its
members reached middle-class status was difficult to predict. The
church gave neither a count nor an estimate of its membership,
but the rapid construction of elaborate buildings, including a
campus for an Iglesia ni Kristo college adjacent to the
University of the Philippines, would indicate that it was
expanding.
Data as of June 1991
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