About US
UMC DOC is an Evangelism and Discipleship model of the Manila Epsicopal Area of the United Methodist Church in the Philippines headed by its Resident Bishop, Rev. Dr. Rodolfo A. Juan. UMC DOC focuses on Small-Group ministry which is patterned after the Classes, Bands and Societies of John Wesley, a ministry that brought significant growth in the Methodist movement in the 18th century. Today, we call this small group ministry as CARE-group. The word CARE is an acronym for Consolidating Arm to Reach-out and Empower.
The aim of this web site is to be a communication link , a venue to impart remarkable experiences and to share some best practices in the implementation of UMC DOC Care group ministry. It is also a venue wherein we encourage everybody not only to share their stories but also post materials that would be helpful to encourage and motivate Care group leaders to continue in their passion to fulfill the Great Commission. Our Mission is to bring back Christian Believers to the Basics of our Faith and Heritage. There is a saying that "if you don't do the basic you will be sick."
Basic Habits of an Effective Christian Disciple & Disciple-maker:
1. Personal Daily Devotion with Journaling
2. Weekly Attendance in a Care Group meeting
3. Weekend Worship attendance in a Local Congregation
4. Regular attendance in Network gathering and equipping seminars
"IF YOU DON'T DO THE BASIC YOU WILL BE SICK"
History of UMC DOC
One of the program thrusts of the Manila Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church is in the area of “Developing Vital Congregations.” Vitality only happens when there’s a “healthy congregation” where the spirit of unity, love, and genuine discipleship truly manifest.
We all dream for our churches to grow both in quantity and quality. Some of our local congregations within the connection has somehow is in the process of achieving this dream and they can help many of our local congregations/churches if they will be given a chance to share to us some of their best practices that contributed to church growth. We need stories of those churches and actual modeling of what Discipleship strategy they used in achieving their dream not only to develop a vital congregation but also to multiply and make a significant impact in the community where these churches are founded or located.
One of the emerging Models of Discipleship that brought a significant growth to these churches is the G12 Vision and Strategy. This model has made both positive and negative impact to those churches that implemented it.
Positive, because those churches that caught the vision, its core values, having the right spirit and attitude and implemented it with full understanding of the system and strategy had benefited from it. They made the right transition because they have proper consultation with the church decision makers of the local congregation. They were able to implement the G12 strategy without changing the UMC traditional program structure and has made G12 system compliment with the Nurture, Outreach and Witness ministries. By doing these, those churches has benefited very well with this G12 model.
Negative, because the implementer and how it was implemented do not match to how it was implemented as described above.
Our beloved Bishop, Dr. Rodolfo A. Juan has called a meeting of all “G12 Practitioners” among Clergy, Church Workers and Lay Leaders from the MEA last March 12, 2013 at the Episcopal residence in New Manila, Quezon City for consultation with regards to the G12 Vision and Strategy.
The following subjects were discussed in this G12 Summit:
1. Emerging issues both positive and negative with regards to “G12”.
a. Some churches in BulPAC, MidPAC, PAC, PAC Cavite, and Rizal PACE practicing G12 have reported some significant growth in their Sunday worship attendance.
b. A warning was given to those practicing G12 Model not to remove unnecessarily those “Traditional Church program and activities” like Sunday School, Bible study, Visitation, Prayer meetings and others in replacement of G12 activities without consultation and proper action from the Church Council or other related agencies of our church as prescribed in our Book of Discipline in order to achieve positive result.
c. There were some disappointments raised by some key Lay Leaders and church members who want to implement G12. They said they could not implement the G12 strategy when the Administrative Pastor is not yet knowledgeable about the system. They are willing to wait and pray for their Pastor to understand and consider the G12 Model of Discipleship in their local church. They will continue to support and submit to their Pastor because one of the core values they learned from G12 is submission to authority.
2. Evaluation and feedback on the degree/level of involvement of the UMC in the MEA and the influence of the G12 Vision and Strategy on both our Church Workers and Lay Leaders of our Churches practicing it.
a. Most churches who practiced G12 Strategy had already small groups (cell group) existing in their churches. The “Primary cell group” was headed by the Administrative Pastor in their churches. These cell groups function also as an Evangelistic arm in winning new believers for Christ and likewise become the “follow-up group” to consolidate new believers in the church.
b. They had undergone the process of the Pre-Encounter, Encounter Retreat, and Post Encounter also known as P.E.P.
c. Some was able to start the School of Leaders known also as SOL which has three (3) Levels. Level 1 – is about Basic Christian Doctrines and Giving Value to Family as the first priority in our ministry. Level 2 – is about doing Mission and Ministry through Intercessory prayer and sharing “One Verse Evangelism” a pattern used to share the Gospel. Level 3 – is about Leadership and Forming a Small Group Ministry and How to multiply it.
3. To come up with a unified UMC Discipleship Model and strategy that would parallel to the G12 model and fitted to the UMC mission and culture.
The G12 Vision and Strategy authored by Cesar Castellanos of Bogota, Columbia, is one of the biggest and multiplying Cell Church today. He was influenced by David Yonggi Cho with regards to the cell group ministry. Yonggi Cho is the founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church, one of the biggest congregations in South Korea. He was also influenced by John Wesley, founder of Methodism, regarding small group ministry using Bands, Classes and Societies. Although G12 has Wesleyan influence in it and those who implemented the G12 Vision and Strategy among the UMC churches highly commended G12 model, yet there is still an immediate clamor among the UMC in the Philippines today to come up with a parallel model that we could call our own.
There are several reasons why the UMC need to make a parallel model for our church:
1. There are great number of our young people who were already involved in G12 Cell groups in their Campuses and Universities and some of them had move out from our UMC churches to find spiritual care from other denominations practicing G12 Strategy.
2. There are great number of Pastors that are sympathetic to G12 and most of them have implemented the system in their local congregations.
3. Most of our UMC Pastors were mentored by G12 Practitioners that came from other denomination or independent churches. The help we got from those G12 Mentors from other Evangelical Churches were highly commendable and we recognize and appreciate very much the support they have extended in helping us in the implementation of the G12 Vision and Strategy into our UMC churches. The United Followers of Christ Training Center headed by its Director, Sis. Lourdes Juane and Sis. Olive de Leon, the program coordinator for the Philippines is one who trains church workers and introduce the G12 Vision. Another is the Aldersgate Renewal Conference who trained most UMC Workers to become motivated in the implementation of G12 Model of Evangelism and Discipleship. In the 2012 Aldersgate Conference held in Baguio City, Rev. Mark Juane, Rev. Joseph Zabarte and Bishop Oriel Ballano were among the speakers who imparted their experiences and best practices in fulfilling the Great Commission and how these contributed to church growth.
4. Now, we have UMC G12 practitioners and some model churches that could help in coaching and implementing a parallel system to our churches. That’s why this is the proper time that UMC Pastors practicing the G12 Discipleship Model to help and starts to coach fellow UMC workers.
5. There are those Church Lay Leaders and Pastors that have negative experiences when G12 was implemented wrongly to their church and brought conflict among church leaders and pastors. But if given the proper orientation and having caught the very spirit of the Great Commission and with proper coaching there is a great possibility that a parallel model will succeed.
4. A suggestion to adapt and use the name UMC–DOC (United Methodist Church – Disciples of Christ) instead of G12 to the whole MEA connection. Use our Methodist terminologies that are UMC friendly and is congruent with our Wesleyan heritage and culture.
Our users
You are very welcome to post "PERSONAL" stories, testimonies, and pictures that is RELATED to actual implementation of UMC DOC. We encourage Pastors and Local Churches who already have their UMC DOC Small Group Ministry or have regular CARE Group meetings to post stories and testimonies that could inspire and motivate our UMC DOC practitioners of both Clergy and Lay.
Thank you! May God continue to empower us with His wisdom and strength as we fulfill Christ's Great Commission. God bless!