A Reflection on the Development of C4GOD at Our Ministry's Regional Hub in Palo, Leyte.

Over the past year, The Community Church for GOD (C4GOD) has grown significantly on our campus in the Philippines. As part of a broader effort to unify church development across all regions where GOD International serves, the Philippines church has begun adopting the same structure first implemented at C4GOD in Nashville, Tennessee. This model includes seven core aspects that guide the church’s functions and ensure consistent values and practices across all locations. These aspects address various church roles and demographics, helping maintain continuity from Nashville to the Philippines.

The seven aspects are:

• Sunday Service

• Accountability groups

• Banqueting Table

• Community Prayer

• Events & Retreats

• Youth Group

• Church Bible Study

Each part of the church carries our core values of who we are, as understood through our study of the Word of God.

Our team in the Philippines has faithfully held Bible studies and gatherings for different demographics for over a decade. With this recent initiative, the goal was to reorganize their team’s ministry efforts to capture all 7 aspects of the church. At the end of 2024, our team held its first official church service for several of the different groups that had previously been gathering at our location independently according to their demographic: Mothers, kids, youth, and young professionals. For more, you can read here.

Since the beginning of 2025, our team has continued to implement the church model. Our church meets biweekly for Sunday Service, which consists of worship, testimonies, and a sermon. During Sunday services, the church had started with going over parts of the book of Genesis before recently moving to the Gospel of Mark, following the same sermon series taking place in Nashville at C4GOD on the Gospel of Mark. In the off weeks from Sunday services, our different demographics gather on campus, including our youth, kids, and women. Our children’s church programming has been focusing on stories from the book of Genesis, accompanied by a game and crafts.

In addition, our youth group meets every other Sunday. We hold a quarterly Banqueting Table, where each family contributes a dish. Every Friday features a Bible study, fulfilling the church’s role in providing regular teaching. Community prayer also officially began this summer, initiated by Institute graduate Brittan Botzum during her study abroad.

Amidst the development of our church in the Philippines; Clark Miller, Cooperative of G.O.D. Int’l, noted the excitement among our staff in the formalizing of C4GOD in the Philippines. He added that this has led to staff stepping up in varying ways of volunteering and taking responsibility to ensure everything is done for the programming to operate.

This is more than just another church development in the Philippines—it’s the fruit of a decade of God’s work in our team there. C4GOD’s motto, “Be the Church,” reflects the belief that church is not a building, but a people God can dwell with. Being God’s church means actively living in obedience to Him. What’s happening in the Philippines shows our team truly becoming the church—not just through formal services and operations, but through their identity as God’s people.