Advocacy & Popular Education

Advocacy and Popular Education for Good Governance (PEGG)

ISACC’s long years of advocacy culminated in its mobilizing of church communities at the height of resistance to the Marcos regime. It organized Konfes (Konsensiya ng Febrero Siete), a coalition of some Namfrel volunteers and a network of Protestant churches which served as center of evangelical presence at the barricades during the February 1986 uprising in the Philippines.

Its current project under its long-term Popular Education for Good Governance is an on-line talk show, ISIP ISAK, Conversations on Faith and Society, aimed at educating a young crop of thought leaders and influencers in various sectors of society. To reach the next generation, it is stepping up its social media presence.

ISACC intentionally trains young people to become biblically literate, able to apply God’s Word to issues in the public square. A unique feature of ISACC’s educative and advocacy programs is the integration of Biblical perspectives into the analysis of issues.

From time to time, ISACC writes articles and editorials for national newspapers on pressing socio-cultural issues and events. It runs commentaries in Rappler, an online news media with at least 4 million subscribers. It also runs seasonal radio commentaries on social issues from biblical perspectives — in English at 98.7 DZFE and in Tagalog at 702 DZAS.

Faith and Politics

A major initiative during the Presidential Election Season 2022 was a series of webinars on “Faith and Politics.” This was in partnership with a group of Evangelical scholars and experts from various disciplines aiming to help Christians become more socio-politically engaged in transforming our nation based on sound biblical-theological teachings.

The webinar series is a collaborative work among the authors, editors, ISACC, PCEC Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Commission (JPARCOM) and Langham Publishing in the UK. Out of this series, Langham will publish a book introducing readers to key topics related to the intersection of faith and politics in the Philippine context. It highlights how key evangelical thinkers explain the relevance of our faith tradition in addressing important concerns in the political sphere.

Most evangelical seminaries and Bible schools in the Philippines and in Asia overwhelmingly use Western textbooks currently. Hence, this book hopes to be a valuable contribution to the conversations on theology-and-politics in this country and Asia as a whole.

Media Production

Multi-media shows not only serve as culture-friendly learning tools for a people whose cognitive style is largely nonlinear and visual but also as artistic statements of ISACC’s commitment to wholism in social transformation. Through the years, ISACC has produced shows dealing with the gospel as it relates to culture.

Notable productions include:

• Pag-aalay — a 27-minute show on Filipino religious beliefs
• Kapag Nahawi ang Ulap sa Mukha ng Diyos — a multi-projector show retelling gospel stories in contemporary Filipino context
• The Filipino’s Revolution — a 15-minute account of the February Revolution of 1986, with analysis in light of the Filipino’s socio-psychological makeup
• Statue Square — a 17-minute show on the situation of Filipina domestic helpers in Hong Kong
• Media Today: Tomorrow’s Society? — a 7-minute show on Philippine media and its effect on tomorrow’s society
• Onse de Mayo (May Eleven) — a 15-minute documentary on the Philippine electoral system
• Dangal ng Bansa (Pride of the Nation) — a 20-minute show tackling nationalism from biblical perspectives

ISACC Forum

ISACC through the years has stimulated critical thinking on important social and cultural issues. Through publications, seminars, fora, symposia and information campaigns, it has engaged its audience of churches, grassroots communities and the public at large. Notable fora include:

• Philippine Realities Conferences (1981, 1985) — stimulated reflection and concerted church responses to authoritarian rule
• Seminar on Philippine Socio-Cultural History (1984) — for executives of development agencies and church leaders, by Renato Constantino
• Approaches to Social Change and Christian Social Ethics (1985) — by John Howard Yoder, author of The Politics of Jesus
• Theology Encounters Revolution (1987) — by Andrew Kirk, then associate director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
• The State as Servant and Subversive, Romans 13 and Revelation 13 — by Ronald Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger

Other public lectures and symposia have covered human rights, vigilantism, debt, insurgency, US Bases, women and tradition, and other pressing issues.