SINGAPORE COUNCIL OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES (SCCC)
VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES
(January 14-17, 2014)

Praise the Lord for the opportunity to visit Cebu, Ormoc and Tacloban with our partners, the Philippines Council of Christian Churches (PCCC) exco members.
The picture above from left: Pastor Levi (Philippines), John Ching (Life BPC member), Pastor Oscar (PCCC Treasurer), Pastor Fidel (President, FECCC), Elder Peter Lee (SCCC Treasurer), May San (Emmanuel BPC), Pastor Luis (PCCC Secretary) and Pastor Tan Eng Boo (President, SCCC).

Our trip to the Philippines was undertaken to have a deeper understanding of the situation in the Typhoon hit Leyte region (Ormoc and Tacloban), via Cebu. Pastor Yap Kim Sin (Committee member, SCCC) and Elder Foong (Zion Serangoon BPC) were also with us for a short while as they visited their church missionary and ministry in Cebu.

Picture above shows us ready to sail for Ormoc (15 Jan), a three hour sea journey, which got some sea-sick. It was a rough journey, especially the trip back to Cebu (17 Jan). Thank God for His grace and mercy in helping us to get the ferry tickets for the boat trip back to Cebu, as we were stuck in Ormoc on 16 Jan because of rough sea and all ferry services had to be cancelled. God is good to us in giving us a safe trip back to Cebu in a rough sea condition on the morning of 17 January.

Picture on the right is a group photo of PCCC, SCCC and Pastors from the typhoon hit areas of Ormoc and Tacloban. Pastor Fidel (FECCC President) gave a timely message to encourage the Pastors. We had an edifying time of fellowship with the Pastors, and we also heard their testimonies. Life is tough for many of them as their churches have been damaged. Thank God for being a part of PCCC's relief work to help these Pastors rebuild their damaged churches (picture below of a damaged church).
SCCC has so far remitted S$60,000 to the PCCC. We are so glad to be in the Philippines to see how PCCC disburse this fund. They have done a wonderful job of assisting churches in their needs. We had an informative meeting with PCCC on the last day of our stay in Cebu (17 Jan). I am grateful to both, Pastor Luis and Pastor Oscar for putting in much work to give us clear and precise information on the way the finances is used.
This trip was also a good opportunity for SCCC members to get to know their PCCC counterparts. This is our first meeting with the Exco members of PCCC. It was a good meeting as the picture above showed our business meeting. Perhaps we should consider a fellowship gathering of PCCC and SCCC Exco members in the future. We have many things to learn from them.

Thank God for working with this wonderful group of believers in the Philippines.

Pastor