Bacolod Evangelical Church

The Bacolod Evangelical Church is one of the oldest Protestant Evangelical Christian churches in the Philippines. It is located at the corner of Rosario and San Juan Streets, Bacolod City. The church was established in 1902.HistoryThe Bacolod Evangelical Church emerged when the people of the Philippines rejected the Spanish religious and political control at the time. The religious shift was enhanced by the political control from American occupying forces on the island. On the island of Negros, this control was welcomed by the leaders of the Republic of Negros. They welcomed the American Army and one of the island leaders, Don Eusebio Luzuriaga, requested the participation of several American Protestant ministers in local affairs. Thus, when the American Protestant Mission Board met in the United States to plan a strategy for a cooperative evangelization of the island, the American Baptist Board favored working in Western Visayas.The first Baptist missionary in the Philippines was Dr. Eric Lund who, along with Braulio Manikan, the first Filipino missionary, arrived in Iloilo City on May 3, 1900. They translated several of the gospels into Ilonggo, a Filipino dialect. In 1900, Dr. Lund and John Dean, a YMCA secretary, made their first visit to Bacolod City. They called on the civil governor and a number of prominent families to secure permission to hold religious services for Filipinos in the local military hospital.