The History of Christ's Church in Makati
Early in the summer of the year 1992, a group composed mainly of young couples gathered at the Picnic Grove in Tagaytay City, Cavite. They were invited by two young pastors of the Churches of Christ in the Philippines. They were Pastor Tito Pel who have just returned from his studies in the United States where he obtained a Masters Degree in Theology and Pastor Efren Nola who was then serving as minister of the Church of Christ in Economia. These two pastors are known for their radical and innovative approaches in leading people in churches that they have served in. Among the ministers of the Churches of Christ, they were the ones who were frequently invited to speak in their special events and gatherings. Those who gathered in Tagaytay City came from several local congregations. Some of them met the others for the first time. Most of them however were known specially by the pastors who invited them to be promoting innovative ideas on how to make their congregations become more relevant in the communities where they exist. Many of them are either executives in the companies they work for or owners of medium sized businesses.
At the meeting, the two pastors alternately spoke to the group about their dream to introduce new approaches on how they can reach out to more people in the Philippines. They presented a vision of establishing a church in the most progressive city in the country at that time, Makati. They believed that by doing so,they will be able to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the professionals and to the business leaders. They also expect that when they become successful in evangelizing these people in that city, they will be able to raise money that can support Christian missionaries to the nations that are located in what they call the 10/40 window of the globe.
The first meeting was followed by small group discussions that happened weekly in the office of one of the couples who were present in Tagaytay. Mr. Rene Avecilla and his wife Daisy who has an office in JP Rizal Street in Makati at that time became the regular hosts for the meetings. Other people who were not in the first meeting eventually joined the weekly meetings The group which began to grow in numbers were finally convinced that the pastors’s dreams were worth pursuing. They began the process of securing a legal identity for the church that they intend to establish. They decided to name the church, Christ’s Church in Makati.
After more than three months of weekly midweek group meetings, they decided to start Sunday Worship Service. The first Worship Service was held in a small ice cream parlor located right above the office of the Avecilla couple. After several months of regular Sunday Services, the regular attenders grew and the place became too small to accommodate the crowd that continues to become bigger. Eventually, the group decided to move to a much bigger place. They moved to the old Kowloon Restaurant in the middle of the commercial district of Makati. When this place was demolished to give way to bigger and more more modern buildings, the church moved its Sunday Services to the Mondragon House in Buendia Avenue. It remained there until the owners decided to stop renting it out.
The church membership has reached close to 400. They decided to rent one of the Ayala Cinemas at the Glorietta in Makati. They used the place for their Sunday worship services until they learned that the cinema will be renovated and converted to smaller but multiple cinemas. Before this take place however, the church was already contemplating to establish satellite churches in two locations in Metro Manila and suburbs. Many of the members hail from places like Cainta, Taytay, Paranaque, Taguig and Las Pinas. The members in these areas are good enough to sustain regular Sunday Worship in those localities. The leaders of the church also found out that they will incur lower rental and transportation costs if they gather these people in places close tho where they live. The main church returned to the old place where they started. By then, the office of the Avecillas was moved to some other location. This old office was converted to become a worship hall during Sundays and a school from Monday to Friday.
In early 2005, the first satellite church was started in Taytay, Rizal. In 2007, another satellite church began in Las Pinas. A year after that, a third satellite church was established in Malolos City in the province of Bulacan. During all these years, the church was involved in sending missionaries to Indonesia. The two persons who originally started in the church are now involved in other mission work. The one who studied in the USA went back there and is now pastoring a church in Indiana. Pastor Nola is now pastoring a church which is in the city of Las Pinas.
The church moved also to a different location in Makati in 2009. It is now at the third floor of the BDO Building in JPRizal, cor. NGarcia. It is still pursuing its vision to become a church that will send missionaries locally and internationally. It has adopted the most modern approaches in training and equipping its members and by doing so, it believes that one day soon, it’s vision will become a reality.