Remembering Iglesia Ni Cristo Founder Felix Y. Manalo

THE Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) celebrates on May 10, 2015, the 129th birth anniversary of its founder and first Executive Minister, Felix Y. Manalo. “Ka Felix,” as he was popularly addressed, was the father of Eraño “Ka Erdie” G. Manalo, who succeeded him as INC Executive Minister, and grandfather of Eduardo “Ka Ed” V. Manalo, the current Executive Minister. INC followers consider Ka Felix their “Sugo” (“Last Messenger of God”).

On July 27, 1914, Ka Felix founded the INC in Punta Sta. Ana, Manila, with a handful of followers. Under his dynamic leadership, the religious organization saw phenomenal growth, counting today with millions of members who are active in 5,400 congregations called locales, set up in the Philippines and in 90 other countries. INC conducts intensive relief-evangelical missions here and abroad, as part of its flagship project “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” (My Countrymen, My Brethren).

July 27 of every year is “Iglesia ni Cristo Day” by virtue of Republic Act 9645 on June 12, 2009, to recognize “the exemplary feat of INC in leading its members towards spiritual enlightenment and good citizenry.” In 2014, the INC celebrated its grand centennial, coinciding with the inauguration of its Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, touted as the world’s largest multipurpose domed arena, with seating capacity of 55,000.

Born in 1886 to Mariano Manalo and Bonifacia Ysagun-Manalo in Barrio Calzada in Tipaz, Taguig, Ka Felix was baptized a Catholic and attended Catechism class where he learned the fundamentals of Catholicism. His birthplace was proclaimed a National Historical Landmark by National Historical Commission of the Philippines on January 6, 1986.

He left the Church in his teens, went on spiritual journey, and became a follower of a “Colorum” sect that went on pilgrimages to a sacred mountain. In 1904, he entered the Methodist Episcopalian Church seminary and became a pastor. In 1913, he joined a group of free thinkers, went into intensive study and reflection. He began his mission and founded his own group – the INC – and officially registered it with the Philippine government on July 27, 1914.

Ka Felix left the Philippines in 1919 for the United States, and studied with Protestants. His mastery of the Bible was commended by non-Sectarian Genius Divinical College of Manila, which on March 28, 1931 conferred on him a Master of Biblo-Science honoris causa. When the war was over, he began to build splendid, imposing concrete churches, the first of these in Sampaloc, Manila in 1948. He published the magazine Pasugo that contains Bible-based INC doctrines in 1939. He passed away on April 12, 1963, leaving the INC as his spiritual legacy.