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 readership on pressing socio-cultural issues and events. It runs commentaries in Rappler, an online news
media with at least 4 million subscribers. Its editorials in the Philippine Daily Inquirer can also be viewed online at this link: http://opinion.inquirer.net/byline/melba-padilla-maggay. ISACC also runs seasonal radio commentariee.
From time to time, ISACC writes articles and editorials for national newspapers on pressing socio-cultural issues and events. It also runs seasonal radio commentaries on social issues from biblical perspectives. These can be heard 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. Langham will publish the book the main ideas of which will be presented in the webinars. There will also be responses to the presentations by theologians and church leaders from other traditions. To maximize its reach, churches and faith-based organizations are being invited to partner with us in disseminating the webinars to their constituencies.
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 [the] book. [ the main ideas of which will be presented in the webinars. There will also be responses to the presentations by theologians and church leaders from other traditions. To maximize its reach, churches and faith-based organizations are being invited to partner with us in
disseminating the webinars to their constituencies.
As conceived, the book will introduce readers to key topics related to the intersection of faith and politics in the Philippine context. It highlights how key evangelical thinkers in our country 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, as with Pag-aalay, a 27-minute show on Filipino religious beliefs, or Kapag Nahawi ang Ulap sa Mukha ng Diyos, a complex, multi-projector show that retells gospel stories in contemporary Filipino context.
Shows on politics and specific advocacies have also been produced. Among these were :
- The Filipino’s Revolution; Frightening Away the Dragon that had Long Swallowed the Sun, a 15-minute account of the February Revolution of 1986, with some attempt at analysis of what it is in the light of the Filipino’s socio-psychological makeup.
- Statue Square, a 17-minute show that presents the situation of Filipina domestic helpers in Hongkong through a series of interviews and raises questions about the viability of the migrant labor industry.
- Media Today: Tomorrow’s Society?, a 7-minute show that presents the state of Philippine media and poses the question of media’s effect in shaping tomorrow’s society.
- Onse de Mayo (May Eleven), a 15-minute documentary show which discusses the traditional Philippine electoral system which is personality-based as against the alternative system of being issue-based. It provides some pointers in choosing leaders wisely.
- Dangal ng Bansa (Pride of the Nation), a 20-minute show that tackles nationalism from biblical perspectives. It is aimed at providing a tool for discussion in churches on the Filipino Christians’ basis for socio-political involvement to stimulate the Church’s participation in national affairs and development.
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 into a ‘hermeneutically suspicious’ reading of events and issues. Some of the fora we did were:
- Philippine Realities Conferences (1981, 1985) which stimulated reflection and concerted church responses to authoritarian rule
- Seminar on Philippine Socio-Cultural History (1984) for executives of development agencies and church leaders, done by Renato Constantino, nationalist thinker and scholar
- Approaches to Social Change and Christian Social Ethics (1985) both courses done by John Howard Yoder, known for the book, The Politics of Jesus, and a leading thinker on active non-violence
- Theology Encounters Revolution (1987) a course on tensions confronting theology in a revolutionary situation, 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 and chairperson of Evangelicals for Social Action
- other public lectures and symposia on human rights, vigilantism, debt, insurgency, US Bases, women and tradition and other such issues, done by national experts and leaders.