God really used nations to fulfill his purpose. When America entered the Philippines it was a good thing though there were times that we had conflicts with them. As we know, America brought Protestantism in the Philippines. It changes the minds of many people perhaps they were shocked since what they know all their live is Roman Catholicism. Many missionaries came in. Filipinos became independent somehow in terms of religious matters. Many denominations came in and many Filipino Catholics were converted into different denominations. This shows God really preserve our country. If the Americans did not, perhaps we are still blinded concerning the truth. As we know we are under the control of Spain for over three hundred years and their influence to us is very wide particularly in religious aspects. Perhaps, until now we do not have proper perspective about God or Jesus. What we are believing are all perverted.
This shows that God did his first move in our country. He did a good start. For us today, the history of the church here in the Philippines reminds us that God is telling us to continue the work he has started here. When missionaries came to the Philippines, there was a great revival happened. People were converted. I think for today, it is still possible. We can still guarantee that God will be use those people whom he save to do another revival. There were still many unbelievers around us and they need to hear the good news about Jesus Christ. One way of doing this is to mobilize our churches to obey what Jesus commanded his disciples in Matthew 28. 19-20. Everyone of us should initiate.

It is so encouraging to know that after many struggles concerning many groups who tried to reform the church, there were some people who became on fire in spreading the love of Christ. They were called the missionaries. The truth had indeed touch the hearts of these missionaries to reach people so that they could also hear the word of God. I was just really thinking what if there was no reformation, do the people who do not hear even the word Jesus would know him? Perhaps but in different manner. Since at first the Catholic church taught the people differently about Jesus. Thanks to the missionaries who were used by God as instrument to reach people for Christ including us. One thing that really build up me is the life of William Carey who was known to be the "Father of Modern Missions". I think his life would also inspire other people especially those who wanted to become missionaries. I can't imagine how he continued despite of the circumstances he faced but then he never let those hinder to serve God.

The lives of the missionaries before which were discussed in this course gave me an assurance that God will really use me. Just like them, I know that they offered their life to God to be used by him and so he they were brought by God to different places apart from their homes. The lives of these missionaries gave me excitement for the things that are yet to come when God will use for the expansion of his kingdom.

I have fear in my heart right now knowing that I will graduate soon and not knowing where to go. But then, I always put in my mind to be flexible so that whenever God calls to go me it will be easy for me to respond.

I am a Baptist so when I first heard where my denomination sprang out I really listened to it since for me it is very important. Baptist came out from England. It doesn't mean that they belonged to church of England but they separated themselves from this particular church. The Baptists before, during the reformation were really serious about their spiritual aspect. The means of doing this is to have a correct doctrine which is grounded by the word of God. As we know, the church of England follow a lot of Catholic traditions and the Baptists found out that these traditions are not to be followed, as a result they separated and create their own group, create their own doctrine basing from the Bible.

The information in this course about the origin of  my denomination gave me an overview that I came from a group which really follow what the Bible say. I think this could be a good topic to teach in the church. Because of the nature of this denomination, I am confident to teach it. I think it would be better that the people in the church would their origin. In addition to that, certainly it will give them confidence to continue more in their service knowing that they've started right. 

 I admit that I still don't have enough knowledge about this denomination. It would be much better to study about this group beyond what is discussed in the class so that If I have given the chance to tell this denomination to other people, perhaps to my church mates they would clearly understand it.

It is so frustrating to think that some cause of reformation is not a spiritual cause. The reformation in England is not about spiritual factor but it is caused by political factors. Henry VI wanted to a son to be his successor. But his first wife did not gave her a son and so he decided  to divorce her but the pope would not allow him and so he decided that he will separate his own nation from the Roman Catholic Church. He became the head of the church of England and he was able to divorced his wife. I think it was not only about political factor that he separated from the Roman Catholic Church. Personal factors might be the result. After he had a son, he also had another women. If he was still the Roman Catholic Church certainly he would be opposed. 

In our situation, I heard and observe that some leaders of our churches today became so personal in their leadership that they used the church as their means to fulfill their personal wants and needs. Some leaders might think that because they are more authoritative that the common members, they would used it to create some changes in the church without knowing that they are doing it for their personal means. It so dangerous because in the Bible leaders are taught to be servants and instead of being selfish they should deny themselves. I think King Henry failed to do it. As he did, we might too, so we must be careful.

If God would allow me to be a leader or a pastor of a particular church. I would not force my members to choose my preference all the time and use my authority as a means of doing it.

I find it interesting to learn where some of the doctrines that I believed came from. The reformation indeed brought to me enlightenment on how God sift what is true among his people. When I look back in the history of the church, I see only one church that seems to be true to many people. What I mean is that the people would put their belief in the this church, the Catholic church. As the history went on it seems that there are lot of doctrines which I would opposed which they taught to people. Perhaps they made this doctrine which are not Biblical in nature because they wanted that they people would trust in them alone. As an example is the doctrine of Salvation. The church taught that salvation can be obtained through the church by the sacraments help by the priests. As a result, people who were convicted by this belief leaned their life to the church. As a result they were forced to support the church in many ways. Good thing there were courageous individuals who stand out to point the mistakes made by the catholic church. These are the reformers. They wanted to reform that the church not because of their own ambition but because they saw that the truth in the Bible is perverted. They were truly used by God to point out the truth that is hidden by the Catholic church. As a result people were enlightened. However I found out that the reformers were not perfect in acknowledging the Bible as their source of doctrine. We can still see that they follow some traditions from the catholic church as a result radical group came. Most of these groups came from the Protestants, which also originated by the Reformers. They wanted to follow the scripture. In fact some of them became literal in their interpretation of the scriptures.
As I look at mu past experiences, I did not about these things. It was not made clear to me what really happened in the past. Taking this course is very important to me because it gave an idea how people before struggled for the truth. I think this topic would be applicable to be taught in the church so that people would also have the knowledge where their beliefs came from.
Two steps that I would do first study more on the history of the church particularly about reformation. Second, if given the opportunity, I will teach to our church.

The lesson on the dark times helped me discover the challenges that were faced by the church and how God preserved it. These dark times were consisted of wars killings and invasion of territories. And so if you think about it, it was really a bad era. You might wonder how the church survived. But it did. Because of the dark times, monasteries were establish. I think this is also God's means of preservation. This monasteries help to preserve the scriptures. Without them, perhaps the written word of God are burned to fire. Not just this, monasteries also offered education. Those who entered the monasteries were taught to read and write. The dark times also cause the invention of the clock because those who are in the monastery needs to look at the time of their prayer. Despite of these events happened in the history of the church, good things still happened.
I had experienced also dark times in my life. But then I realize that God is actively working in my life. My past experiences came back to my mind and made me think how did I survive until now. Then I realize that God is working in preserving me. God is indeed very concern for his people. For his church, he let them experience so that they would acknowledge God in their lives.
This gave me a conviction that wherever I go God is with me. I am his man and he is my God. Here are the steps that I will do. First is to trust him in everything and don't worry about the circumstances around me. Second, I would be excited wherever God leads me.

I learned that there was in intimate relationship between the church and state. They cannot be separated because the state itself was controlling the church. It is new to me since what I knew is different. Since I was young I perceived that church and state are different institutions. Much more here in the Philippines. I observe that the authority of the government is very separated from the authority of the church. The Bible shows the same way. During the time of Moses church and state were separated. Moses was the government and Aaron was the in charge of the church matters. At the very beginning we can really identify that the church should be separated from the church.
In our church, we have this teaching instilled in our minds not to participate with government matters. Especially in the area of politics. I think our pastor was really convicted that the government matters should not interfere with the church's and vice versa. I do affirmed on what his conviction is especially now that I learned that the church has really benefits if it is separated from the state.
I do believe that the church is free when it is not under the control of the government. The Americans proved it and so when they came here, they promote church and state separation which gave the people religious freedom. The church really needs freedom especially for its activity for the expansion of God's kingdom.