History

History of Bethel Baptist Church of Malaybalay

by Daniel C. Asuncion

The Gospel ministry in the Province of Bukidnon started in the very heart of God who called a young American to come and preach Salvation in Christ alone in 1929. Henry De Vries was a student at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, when he heard a speaker present the need for missionaries in the interior regions of the Philippines. He saw on the Philippine map the island of Mindanao where at the very center of it was the word “Unexplored.” He responded by committing to come as the Lord led and God used him to bring the Light of the Gospel of Christ in Bukidnon.

Henry De Vries was a member of the Wealthy Street Baptist Church in Michigan. According to his son Buddy De Vries at the 23rd Biennial Conference in Malaybalay in 1997, his father sold all that he had in America, and with just his church committing to support him as missionary with only one Sunday evening’s offering each month, he and his new wife, Gladys, headed for Mindanao, arriving here in 1929. Mrs. De Vries was pregnant when they sailed for the Philippines and delivered their firstborn son David, at the U.S. Army facilities in Zamboanga City where they first set foot on Mindanao.

Rev. De Vries came to Bukidnon despite U.S. military advisories that they did not send patrols beyond the Mangima Canyon (then known as Tangkulan–the Manolo Fortich area now), because the native Magahats were known headhunters. But fully convinced and knowing well that God called him to preach the Gospel, Rev. De Vries and his family proceeded on horseback and bought a 2-hectare lot in Sumpong, Malaybalay.

Rev. and Mrs. De Vries had three children, namely: David, Gene and Buddy. After they were settled, Pastor De Vries spent a few weeks going around making friends and inviting them to the first Sunday service held under his house where he was doing carpentry work. That first Sunday, only a few people came. The Cudals and Asuncions were among the first few people who attended and who got converted through the ministry of Rev. De Vries. Mr. Eusebio Asuncion, testified that he and his son Leandro were among the first seven converts here in Malaybalay.

Grandpa Asuncion (Mr. Eusebio Asuncion), in an unpublished narrative entitled: A Brief History of the Gospel Ministry in the Province of Bukidnon said, “The first group of men who gathered for worship, true to their knowledge of the Word of God, testified to the members of their families and to their friends and acquaintances in their field of employment, in government offices. Their little group was already a small church by itself”. According to Grandpa: “No time was lost in sowing the Word. Every opportunity.

The De Vries was seized and used to good advantage. The early missionaries labored undismayed amidst trials opposition and sufferings, but fully trusting in God. Their devotion to the cause of Christ and their faithfulness to the noble calling to which they have dedicated their lives soon struck a responsive chord in the hearts of the people of Bukidnon.”

Rev. de Vries organized the church in Malaybalay. These were the very first deacons of our church: Mr. Lancero, Mr. Pedro Hidalgo, Mr. Illuminado Sayson, Mr. Villegas; Mr. Eusebio Asuncion, Mr. Ramon Bueno and Mr. Mansamay.

In 1930, Ms. Rhoda Little and Ms. Beatrice Kuer came to serve as nurses in the province. The Lord blessed the ministry here in Malaybalay. A compound was built by Rev. De Vries in Sumpong in 1938. It included the construction of a Church building, Girls Dormitory and the Cogon-roofed Dispensary (the forerunner of Bethel Baptist Hospital). This is the same compound where Bethel Baptist Hospital is currently located.

Malaybalay, in the 1930s, although being the capital of the province, had the appearance of a small and undeveloped barrio. In the absence of lodging quarters in Malaybalay, a Girls Dormitory was constructed and run by the missionaries under Ms. Beatrice Kuer as Dorm Matron. The missionaries saw this as an avenue to win the lodgers for Christ. All the dorm girls were required to attend church services and many of them came to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As the mission work progressed, Rev. De Vries prayed for more missionaries to come and help. In 1931, Rev. David Anderson and his wife Marjorie – a nurse, came. Mrs. Anderson became a resident nurse while Ms. Little was the traveling nurse. Ms. Little learned to speak Binukid and became very effective in communicating the Gospel to the natives.

Besides the clinic in Sumpong, another clinic was opened in Casisang. Ms. Little rode a horse to go between clinics, visiting the sick and witnessing to them about the Lord. She also made mission trips to the mountains with a team to reach the Manobo tribe. Using a carabao for their packs, the team trekked on trails around the mountains, stopping in every barrio for meetings with the people.

Rev. De Vries, whose heart was given to reach the lost here in Bukidnon, became an evangelist traveling all throughout the province. He was accompanied by his trained converts. He taught them how to study the Bible and how to teach Bible truths using their own illustrations. Among his trainees were: Filomeno Sinagda, Felix Kinontao, Francisco Siblian, Faustino Gonlivo, Cipriano Sagaral and Nicomedes Industan.

In 1932 Rev. Anderson started the Saturday School — later known as the Bukidnon Bible School Institute where the Sunday School lessons were taught to 21 interested lay people on Saturdays, for them to impart on Sundays. The trained teachers were sent in pairs to 8 different barrios. Of the 21 members who enrolled, only 3 students finished the 1-yr course, namely: Mr and Mrs Kinontao and Mr. Nicomedes Industan. Pastor Kinontao was assigned to Casisangand Pastor Industan opened the work in Maramag.

The Lord blessed the church in Malaybalay. By 1934, there were already around 250 names in the membership rolls of the Berean Church — the original name of Bethel Baptist Church. In 1939, after Rev. De Vries arrived from furlough where he joined the ABEO (or the Association of Baptists for Evangelism in the Orient — which later became the ABWE) the word “Baptist” was added to the names of the churches hereabouts. That same year, Robert and Grace Kholer and Ms Louise Lynip, a nurse, arrived to take the place of the Andersons and Ms. Kuer who resigned and went back to the U.S.

WWII broke out on Dec. 8, 1941. The De Vries family was caught by the Japanese and placed in concentration camps, first in Impalutao where Gene almost died of dysentery, then in Manila and then to Los Banos where they were later rescued by American liberation forces.

The Kholers and Ms. Lynip stayed in the west side of Mt. Kitanglad at Miarayon but were later evacuated by submarine at Macajalar Bay and then brought to Australia and back to the U.S.A.

WWII, replete with the horrors man’s inhumanity to man, was truly a difficult time of testing for both the American missionaries here and the Bukidnon Christians. At that time when the Christian members evacuated to the jungles, they did not forget to witness for the Lord. The Gospel continued to be preached and souls were saved. This was a blessing in disguise. It was similar to the time of the early churches when they were persecuted, that even in the midst of their suffering, they went everywhere preaching the Gospel. Rev. Industan went to Agusan to pastor a church. Mr. Casiano Kinontao returned to teach in the public schools under the Japanese government.

Because the members of the churches had been taught, The first group to gather for worship testified about Christ to the members of their families, friends and acquaintances.

To tithe and to give messages with their own illustrations, the churches and pastors did not depend upon Americans. As a result, the churches prospered and grew in Bukidnon. Because the churches were indigenous from the beginning, there were more churches after the war than before the war.

Malaybalay was declared a military zone, and was bombed a few months later so that as early as April 1942, the Berean Baptist Church and the churches in Casisang and Kalasungay were closed.

By permission from the Japanese authorities stationed in Malaybalay, some of the members of the church in Malaybalay met together in the church to worship by themselves. The services though irregular, were carried on up to 1943. The officers of the church took turns to lead in the service. In the absence of a pastor, the elders of the church — one among them, Mr. Ramon Bueno, led in the worship service when it was possible for them to meet. The horrors of the war did not dampen their desire to worship God.

To the people of Bukidnon, their bitter experiences of the War were over by May 1945 when the Liberation Armies of Gen. Douglas MacArthur reclaimed the Philippines from the Japanese.

By June 1945, a good number of the members of the church in Malaybalay, with one of the elders as a leader, resumed the work of the church. They returned to the towns from the valleys and hills where they had taken refuge during the dark days of the war.

They invited Chaplain Fresto, an American Lutheran pastor from the army to be their preacher. A tent was put up for their meeting place, since the old church building was destroyed during the war.

The American pastor rendered services to the members until they left Bukidnon for America. The administration of the church was left to the hands of the elders of the church. This continued until Rev. De Vries returned in 1948 amidst the cheers and unprecedented gladness of all believers in the whole province, who gathered at the Sumpong compound to celebrate this big event in the history of all Baptist churches in Bukidnon. With an ardent love for the work which he pioneered and for which he labored so hard to make it grow and survive, this dedicated missionary put himself into the task of rebuilding the demolished church buildings all over the province. He encouraged the workers of the churches to construct buildings where they could gather for worship.

After the liberation period, other American missionaries came to Bukidnon. Ms Rhoda Little had returned. Rev. & Mrs. Alfred Conant stayed in Malaybalay for a short time. Then came Dr. & Mrs. Lincoln Nelson, Rev. and Mrs. Ron Esson, Rev. & Mrs. Earl Calberg, Rev and Mrs. Humbert Tentarelli, Miss Alma Shoemaker, Miss Rosemary Ullery, Miss Ryden Taylor, Miss Kaye Mollohan and others — all of them have in some way contributed a part of their time and labors toward the ministration of the Berean church which was renamed after the War, the Bethel Baptist Church of Malaybalay.

In 1951, when Bethel Baptist Church was fully weaned off from the American missionaries, Mrs. Marcela A. Cudal donated land where, presently, the church building stands. The “donation” was formalized with a proper Deed of Sale (for a token price of One Peso) during the term of Pt. Eliezer Catanus.

In 1955, Bethel Baptist Church hosted the 3rd Biennial Conference. (This was the first of the three Biennial Conferences that we’ve hosted here in Malaybalay. The 2nd was in 1975, and the 3rd was in 1997).

After the retirement of Rev. De Vries from the service of the church and his subsequent departure for the homeland in 1951, the Bethel Baptist congregation was served by different pastors, namely: Rev. Antonio Ormeo, 1952-1955; Rev. Mariano B. Leones, 1955-1957; Rev. Richfield A. Cudal, 1957-1958; Rev. Jemon Alparaque, 1958-1960; Rev. Richfield A. Cudal, 1961-1962; Rev. Francisco Bisco, 1962-1964; Rev. Herminigildo U. Azores, 1965-1969; Rev. Lemuel Selorio, 1969-1970; Rev. Eliezer Catanus, 1971-1975; Rev. Jessie Celiz, 1975-1977; Rev. Samuel Capaque, 1977-1980; Rev. Benjamin Ustares, 1980-1983; Rev. David Serajosef, 1984-1990; Pastor Ariel Abadiano, 1990-1998, and Rev. Rector Cadayday, 1998.

The AWANA, Bible Club and Sunday School ministries are helping our children in church to know that they can serve God even in their younger years. Many of  our church members are actively involved in the ongoing Religious Instructions (RI) brought to public school children throughout the province.

Bethel Baptist Church is, and will continue to be a Missions-minded church. Today, 75 years since God used Rev. Henry De Vries to declare the Gospel in Bukidnon, in obedience to the Great Commission, Bethel Baptist Church continues to propagate that same Gospel to reach the lost.

Consider the impact of the life of Henry de Vries who came to Bukidnon 75 years ago, whose heart burned with the passion for lost souls. Just like the Apostle Paul (who did not “count my life dear unto myself.. to testify of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20.24) . . . .Just like Christ — “who came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). As we think of the years ahead and the millions still who are lost, may we who have found salvation in Christ continue to faithfully declare as Paul does in Rom. 1:16 “For lam not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.”

Sources:

• Asuncion, Eusebio R., “A Brief History of the Gospel Ministry in the Province of Bukidnon,” unpublished article, December 1969.
• De Vries, Buddy, personal testimony shared during the 23rd Biennial Conference, 1997.
• Kennedy, Elaine J., Baptist Centennial History of the Philippines, Published by CSM for ABWE, 2000.
• Kohler, Robert P., From Mountain Top to Ocean Depths (From Bob Kohler’s Diary of WWII), 1999.
• Lynip, G. Louisse, intermittent interviews during visits at Bethany Christian Home for Children, Talakag, Bukidnon, 2003.