Children's ministry at EMC Dagupan: Sidewalk Sunday School & Feeding

"Every child you encounter is a divine appointment."

Children are magical. Really, they are. They have an innate ability to steal your heart when you're not looking. Their innocence takes you back to a time when the world was an open frontier full of endless possibilities and the smallest smile can melt your heart no matter how hardened or frozen your heart is.

Mimi teaching the children

Every week EMC Dagupan ministers to about 75-80 children ages 4-12, via feeding programs and Sidewalk Sunday school. Sidewalk Sunday school takes place (you guessed it) on sidewalks and side roads and provides children with knowledge of who God is. In our last mission, our missionaries had the opportunity to evangelize and teach children during sidewalk Sunday school.

Today one the biggest problems the children of Lasip chico face is malnutrition. As I've mentioned before, Lasip chico-pantalan is a poverty stricken barangay. The parents here cannot afford to consistently feed their children. If they are able to provide meals, often they are very small and insufficient to provide proper nutrition. For many of the children, breakfast (if available) is composed of just rice mixed with coffee to provide flavor. If the parents can provide some money, the children can then buy lunch school. But many times, that is not the case. It is difficult to tell how many times a child eats a day or worse yet, if he/she eats at all on a daily basis.

Alfred preparing the food

Each child gets ONE. JUST ONE

When Pastor Ferdinand and Tita Hannah first began their ministry in Lasip chico-pantalan, they saw how malnutrition ran rampant in the surrounding barangay and began a weekly feeding program. As of today, almost all the children who attend Sidewalk Sunday also receive food from our feeding program. EMC Dagupan does its best to provide nutritious meals to every child. The children are fed porridge, champorado (rice porridge with chocolate), lugao (plain rice porridge), and arozcaldo (chicken soup). However some months, there isn't enough funds to provide food and sometimes EMC Dagupan can only afford to provide the children with biscuits.

Most of us live in places where food is at our fingertips. Many of us have been blessed with the kind of life where we never have to wonder where and when will we get our next meal. These children do not have such a life. Many of them have never even seen the inside of a fast food place like Burger King or McDonalds. EMC International and EMC Dagupan struggles to provide nutrition to children trapped in an endless cycle of poverty and malnutrition. I am confident that God is with us and will continue to be with us as we reach out to the children. God will not only do miraculous things, but we will use us to change lives and help break this cycle of poverty and malnutrition. Will you answer God's call and help us break this cycle?

-Melissa M

Spotlight: EMC Dagupan

EMC Dagupan is our home base in the Philippines. Located in the barangay Lasip Chico-Patalan, Dagupan City, EMC Dagupan is led by Pastor Ferdinand Balmores and his wife Hannah Balmores. But enough geographical information, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

EMC Dagpuan was the church we first worked with when our short term missionaries arrived in the Philippines and it also holds a special place in our hearts.  With the cooperation and help of the youth and its leaders, we were able to reach out to universities, adults, youth, children and the surrounding towns all for the glory of God. 


But EMC Dagupan is more than just another church to us. EMC Dagupan is our family. EMC Dagupan members are our friends, our brothers, ours sisters, our aunt and uncles, our mothers and fathers. A few nights before we left, we had a goodbye party and not a single eye was dry. Some of us could barely speak as we choked out our goodbyes. Even though we are miles apart, the missionaries understand that we are one family, with one goal under the same loving God.


 



Pictured left: Our first night with EMC Dagupan Youth                                                                                                                                               

Today EMC Dagupan has about 30 adults with 25 young people. We are in the process of finishing an outdoor bathroom and the outer walls to give our worshipers a little privacy. We are also in the process of finishing work on the roof as it was destroyed in the mega typhoon last year.


But aside from the physical and mechanical aspects of church life, EMC Dagupan faces the challenges of reaching out to a neighborhood in serious need. Lasip Chico-Pantalan is a poverty stricken barangay where drinking is rampant but food is in constant shortage. Pastor Ferdinand and Tita (Auntie) Hannah have implemented the D3 program to disciple others in faith. Their desire is to be able to reach out to the entire community and to also develop leaders who will further the cause of the gospel.

This past July we were blessed to celebrate our  1 year anniversary of being together with EMC Dagupan and all of our other Philippine EMC churches. God has truly done amazing work in the Philippines and we are confident that God will continue to do amazing things not only in Dagupan City, but throughout the entire Philippines.


As EMC International we are committed to helping and supporting them in every way possible. As the Philippines mission coordinator, I pray that God would move through Dagupan city and use EMC Dagupan and EMC International as a tool to reach the broken hearts, the addicted and the unloved. I pray that as you're reading this right now. Your heart will be moved to pray for us and help us in any way you can. And although the task ahead seems daunting, we know that we "can do all things through Christ".


-Melissa M
EMC International: Philippines coordinator.


If your heart has been moved, in the coming weeks there will be a way for you to donate to this site. All proceeds go to our EMC Philippine churches. But above all, continue to pray for us. Below are more pictures. CHECK IT OUT!!! (or I'll be really sad)

Roof Undersconstruction

Bathroom underconstruction

One Year anniversary celebration!

Bathroom almost fixed! (We all love a good toilet)