Bishop Eliezer M Pascua leads a church that lives at the intersection of uncertainty and faith.
Pascua, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), has seen 26 pastors and lay leaders killed over the past five years for the Christian positions they have maintained on a number of social issues.
Church leaders who continue to speak out for the nation's marginalised do so not knowing how the military and government might react. Imprisonment or death could result.
Nevertheless, the UCCP holds fast to its conviction that faithfulness requires the church to be advocates for people who are disenfranchised.
"As one of the largest mainline denominations, we believe an integral part of our mission and ministry is to get involved in the struggles and hopes of the people," said Pascua, an ecumenical delegate at the recent 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
"The whole UCCP carries this conviction."
Pastors and lay leaders frequently address issues related to poverty, landlessness and corruption, Pascua said. The denomination also has issued official statements condemning military abuses and human rights violations.
The UCCP encounters anger in part because the government fails to differentiate between the UCCP's peaceful advocacy for change and guerilla groups who pursue violence, Pascua observed. He noted that other Protestant groups, particularly those that have sprung up in recent years, are not openly advocating for oppressed people.
"This is one of the reasons why we are easily mistaken by the government, the military or police as leftists, communists and terrorists," Pascua said.
