A Historical and Sociological Study of the Church of God International (Ang Dating Daan) in the Philippines

Abstract

The Filipinos like many other peoples, are known for being religious and this can be observed even before the foreign western religions arrived in the country. The natives perform spiritual practices and activities and, they also have gods and idols where the sufficiency of their basic needs like food depend on. Then the Spaniards arrived brought with them their religion, Catholic, and spread it all over the country. From then on the Philippines became a predominant Catholic country. However, there have been New Religious Movements (NRMs) that are emerging today, which are gaining thousands or even millions of recruits from the members of Catholic Church. One of these NRMs in the country is the Church of God International or famously known as the Ang Dating Daan (CG-I/ADD). As a historical study, the research focused on the birth and development of the CG-I/ADD in the Philippines, covering the religious beliefs, religious practices and the organization structure. As a sociological study, the functionalist theory was used in order to find the reasons why many Catholics adhere to the CGI/ADD. In gathering of data, there have been interviews from the leaders and members of the CG-I/ADD, laso the researcher observed and participated in their religious gatherings (pagtitipori), their different publications were studied, also library and internet sources were used. In conclusion, researcher found that many Catholics converted to the CG- I/ADD because of the following reasons: the members found comfort in the church/Convention Center of the CG-I/ADD, the effective way of imposing commandments, the elevation of themselves to be the righteous one, the sense of belongingness of Kapatiran, similar to how real brothers and sisters treat each other, the CG-I/ADD answers the needs of the people, the charismatic approach of Bro. Eli Soriano, the inculturation of foreign religion, the “Filipinization” of Catholicism, the attractive liturgy and the effective use of communication. The researcher then recommends that these reasons should be studied and then apply in order for the Catholic Church to avoid further rejection from its members.