Bread of Life Ministries International

Bread of Life Ministries International (BOLMI; previous name Bread of Life Christian Fellowship; simply known as BOL or Bread) is a Filipino Evangelical megachurch founded by Rev. Caesar "Butch" L. Conde.Anderson, Allan and Tang, Edmond. (2005) Asian and Pentecostal: the charismatic face of Christianity in Asia.] London: Regnum Books (p 392 to 395) Its stated mission and vision is to "stabilize and expand what it has learned from God in prayer and the Word of God and to pass it on to other people, and also the beginning of revival in the country", which is inspired by Acts 1:8.

BOL celebrated its 35th anniversary with "The Ancient-Future Way", a celebration held at Crossroad Center, Quezon City, Philippines on November 19, 2017. The event was attended by local and international members.

History

In the early 1980s, Pastor Butch Conde originally wanted to start a halfway house for prostituted women in Olongapo City, where the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay was located. In August 1982, 12 people including Pastor Conde started a new church in Loyola Heights, Quezon City. Maryknoll College (now Miriam College) offered its auditorium to launch the Bread of Life Christian Fellowship and the first service gathering was held on November 14, 1982. Attendance steadily increased.

In 1984, from a gathering of 120 members at Maryknoll College, weekly attendance climbed to a thousand, prompting BOL to temporarily move to the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City on January 8 and 15, 1984. On January 22, BOL worship gatherings moved to Celebrity Sports Plaza in Capitol Hills, Quezon City in order to accommodate 1,200 members. Pastor Conde wanted to show that God provides for Filipino churches, and that Filipinos must break free from colonial mentality and become independent from foreign missionaries.

After the People Power Revolution in 1986, Pastor Conde drew inspiration from his Korea Prayer Study Tour and Prayer Mountain experiences in South Korea. BOL then acquired a piece of land in the mountains in Antipolo, Rizal to build the country's and Southeast Asia's first Prayer Mountain facilities in 1988.

On April 5, 1987, BOL services moved to Circle Theatre (now Circle Events Place) located at Timog Avenue, and started to divide into four worship gatherings every Sunday. Between 1989 and 1991, it was one of the fastest-growing churches in the country with membership of up to 2,000 people in 1992. BOL then changed its name to Bread of Life Ministries. BOL also planted another central church in Makati, and had been planting church satellites nationwide.

In August 1993, BOL began building its own ministry center along Mother Ignacia Avenue in Quezon City. BOL is an indigenous church, built without foreign help, financial assistance, political support, or church partnership.Anderson, Allan and Tang, Edmond. (2005) Asian and Pentecostal: the charismatic face of Christianity in Asia.] London: Regnum Books (p 391 to 392)Anderson, Allan. (2004) An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity. London: Cambridge University Press(p 131)

In 1996, BOL started international outreach to Filipinos and other nationalities by founding BOL USA in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego, California. On November 29, 1998, the church dedicated Crossroad77 (now known as Crossroad Center) and weekly attendance averaged up to 2,500 each of the four service gatherings.

In 2001, BOL Makati split into two centers and transferred its worship services from Mondragon building to a larger space. BOL Makati is now located on Glorietta 4 (G4), and Greenbelt Onstage, the latter located at th
Project Mosaic
3F Greenbelt 1, Ayala Center, Makati.

In 2002, BOL established the Meridian International Learning Experience, a multilingual Christian school.

On November 25, 2007, BOL marked its 25th anniversary. The theme was the "Global Village 25/25", attended by thousands of members from BOL local and international outreaches. The celebration was held at Ynares Center, Antipolo, Rizal.

Bread of Life 30 Years

In 2012, Pastor Conde announced his retirement as senior pastor, having served as such for the past three decades. He now serves as the Pastor Emeritus of the church. On May 20, 2012, one of the associate pastors and head pastor of BOL Makati and Singapore, Rev. Noel Tan, was installed as the new senior pastor.

BOL celebrated its 30th anniversary with the theme "Perlas Ng Silangan: Bread of Life 30th Anniversary". The celebration was held at the SMX Convention Center on November 18, 2012 with approximately 15,000 attendees from different BOL outreaches worldwide. In the same year, BOL Glorietta 4 in Makati was transferred to F1 Hotel in Bonifacio Global City, and eventually transferred its worship gatherings in SM Aura, Taguig. This was later named BOL BGC (known as Mosaic BGC).

Crossroad Center (Bread of Life Ministry Center)

Construction of the Crossroad Center (formerly Crossroad77) at Mother Ignacia Ave., Quezon City began in August 1993 and was completed in November 1998. It serves as BOL's international headquarters. Crossroad Center has five stories, two basement levels and two parking lots. It houses a 2,500-seat "Convenarium" for Sunday worship services and young adult ministries and a number of halls for other ministries covering different ages and life stages. Groups meet once a week for Bible study, fellowship and ministry work. The 3rd, 4th and 5th stories of the ministry center were also used as a community center which was supported by BOL.

Core values

BOL's statement of faith includes its beliefs that:

* The Holy Scriptures are the verbally inspired Word of God in its entirety, sixty-six books consisting of the Old and New Testaments, the final authority for faith and life.
* There is one triune God, eternally existing in three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfection.
* Man's necessity to be born again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, in which he is no longer conformed to the world's system but redirected to the things of the Spirit in order to be saved; and that the only way to salvation is to turn in genuine faith from the heart to Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.
* The Church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of born-again persons, not any specific organization.
* The ''great commission'' is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all mankind.

BOL's ongoing vision is to build a strong national uniqueness by becoming independent from foreign sources to rediscover Filipino Christian indigenous spirituality. BOL emphasizes the independence of the indigenous church and challenges other denominational churches to revive their identity through God's word as well. This belief is founded on the distinction which BOL applied to the uniqueness of the Christian journey by emphasizing the centrality of Christ, the foundation of Scriptures, prayer, and worship, operated by the power of God, the way of service through sacrifice and being people of faith.

Congregations

BOL have established satellite outreaches locally and internationally. There are 11 satellite outreaches with weekly attendance of around 15,000 to 20,000 people within Metro Manila. Provincial congregations have a total of 20 satellite outreaches. BOL Crossroad Center, BOL Makati and BOL Cebu serve as the Philippines' central churches. Additionally there are 13 international outreaches in Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East and Europe.

Multimedia and online church

In the 1990s, BOL sermons were broadcast on 702 DZAS-AM radio, but this has since been discontinued. In BOL USA, live streams and video archives of sermons were shown on its website.

Controversy

On October 18, 2004, BOL released a paid advertisement in the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled “Misplaced Priorities Can Mislead the Nation” as part of the Kingdom Of A Higher World series, written by then-BOL Pastor Bong Saquing. The article featured an eleven-year-old girl, Faye San Juan, who claimed to win in an “Intercontinental Science Quiz Net” in Australia. The story tells that Faye topped the contest with the support of the Japanese embassy and was not accompanied by the Philippine government. After further scrutiny in the media, BOL began an investigation about the backgrounds of the girl and the mother, and found the whole story a hoax created by Faye's mother who is mentally ill. BOL and Associate Pastor Jesmael M. Montaña (head of the ''Kingdom of a Higher World'' write-ups) issued a public apology to the media and cancelled the column.Pascual, Federico. "Post Script", It's official and final
- Faye told us a Fairy Tale
." The Philippine Star, Manila, November 14, 2004

See also

* Protestants in the Philippines

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20160109174713/http://breadinternational.org/ - Bread of Life Main - Official Website
* https://web.archive.org/web/20080907210653/http://www.projectmosaic.info/ - Bread of Life Makati Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bread Of Life Ministries International
Evangelical megachurches in the Philippines
Christian organizations established in 1982
Churches in Quezon City
1982 establishments in the Philippines