The Philippines: Christian, or Not?

One Million Bibles

As of 2020, 90.8% of the Filipino population claims to be Christian, and 95% have access to the Christian message.¹

If these statistics are really true, then why the need for sending Bibles to the Philippines? From our distant point of view in the United States, the Philippines appears to be thriving as a Christian nation. In fact, they’re the largest Christian-majority nation in all of Asia.² However, only about 14% of the population claims to be evangelical Christian.³ This disparity likely comes from the fact that a large majority of this 90.8% would adhere to Catholicism. To get an accurate read on what’s actually going on in the Philippines, we need to hear from ministry workers on the ground:

The gospel may be a common notion here in the Philippines, but nobody really would be able to explain to you what it is…you would get out of 20 people, 17 different definitions of what the gospel is…. There are churches, but there is a lack of pastors and ministers who are trained to do church in the way the Bible teaches.
—John Hofileña, Lead Pastor of Redeemer Christian Church Manila

Those looking at the Philippines from an external point of view would see our nation as a Christian nation. In fact, a lot of people would say that we are the only Christian nation in Asia. However, for true Christians here, we know that this isn’t really true. There are definitely evangelical churches here, and God has been very merciful in allowing the gospel to spread, but it is by no means a Christian nation at this point.
—Ray Caguin, Pastoral Intern at Community Bible Church Marikina

We are known as a Christian nation, as most people know, but it is clear from our vantage point that there is a lot of Christian nominalism taking place in the Philippines. Many people grow up with believing parents who are part of a local church. As a result, they and their children are being ministered to, but their hearts are not transformed. Instead, they’re just going through the routine of coming to church and not really experiencing what transformation looks like biblically…. I would say that Christians are oftentimes distracted with the many messages they are receiving or subscribing to because of the multitude of opportunities that are given to them today. In doing this, they lose the focus of really keeping the main thing in view in terms of how they should devote their lives to Christ and how they should engage with the local church.
—Franco Ferrer, Director of iDisciple Manila

These ministry workers lament that their Filipino brothers and sisters lack an accurate understanding of the truth about God through the Bible. But because of these men and others like them, ministry partners have brought in accurately-translated Bibles that ministry leaders and lay believers alike can learn from. As a result, Ray points out that his church has seen change taking place:

In the past decade or so, the Lord has allowed revivals to take place that have caused people to come to love the Word and really want to seek it out. There have been a lot of people pulling information from various places in the past, but now there is a desire for pastors not to just get formally trained, but also for people to preach and teach from the full counsel of the Word. As a pastoral intern, I am so happy to see that.

The Lord is on the move in Manila, Marikina, and surrounding areas, and true gospel transformation is slowly beginning to take place. As part of the One Million Bibles initiative, Crossway will provide Bibles at our manufacturing cost (no margin) and will use a portion of donated funds to underwrite shipping costs to supply places in the Global South with Bibles. This will enable our ministry partners to resell these Bibles at affordable prices to those who desperately need a Bible, and to invest their proceeds toward distributing more Bibles.

Would you consider giving to this initiative in order to provide John, Ray, Franco, and others with quality Bibles to share with the people in their ministries, for the growth of the Kingdom?