The Philippine-Micronesia Field held Nazarene Discipleship Summits on every district to teach, train, and equip Nazarene members to make Christlike disciples in their sphere of influence through small groups.

Each summit included plenary sessions and workshops on topics such as starting and leading small groups, writing small group materials, and mentoring leaders.

The first summit was held at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary near Manila last summer. Most of the approximately 250 delegates came from the Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, and Bicol districts.

“We would also like to thank you for organizing such an amazing event like this one," one participant wrote. "It was informative, helpful and beneficial to our local churches. I personally learned a lot. To God be all the glory!” Soon after this summit, several churches began forming small groups in their local church, schools, and workplaces.

After the successful summit at APNTS, plans were made to host summits throughout the central islands of the Philippines, known as the Visayas. The speakers included those who spoke the local languages of these islands and had experience in starting and leading small groups. Summits were hosted on every district in the Visayas, on the islands of Negros, Panay, Cebu, and Leyte. At the Panay summit, attendees were transported via bus to allow large numbers to attend. One summit, hosted by the Central Visayas District, directly resulted in a newly planted church in the southern part of the island of Cebu.

The movement continued to the southern island of Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines. Both the East Mindanao and West Mindanao districts hosted their summits during their district conventions to allow as many people as possible to attend. After this, the final round of summits was held on the largest Philippine island of Luzon. The Luzon and Metropolitan-Luzon districts hosted a joint summit 11 May at Philippine Nazarene College in the city of Baguio. With a final summit hosted by Eastern Visayas District in August, now there has been a Discipleship Summit hosted by every district in the Philippines.

“We are committed to being disciples of Jesus and to inviting others to become His disciples,” said Ernalyn Longcop Fausto, who led the planning of the summits throughout the Visayas and Mindanao. “We are committed to providing the means through which believers are encouraged to grow in their understanding of the Christian faith and in their relationship with each other and with God. We understand that discipleship includes submitting ourselves to obeying God and to the disciplines of the faith. We believe we can help each other live the holy life through mutual support, Christian fellowship, and loving accountability.”

The Nazarene Discipleship Summits throughout the Philippines were an initiative of the Philippine-Micronesia Field Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries with Field SDMI Coordinator Dick Eugenio. The summits were planned in partnership with Asia-Pacific NYI through Regional Coordinator Janary Suyat de Godoy.

--Church of the Nazarene Asia-Pacific