GRADUAL TRANSITION TO NATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Despite the feelings of nationalists such as Nicolas Zamora, The Methodist Church was deliberately moving forward toward complete indigenous leadership. The change-over was gradual, however, and in this the Methodists moved more slowly than such groups as the Presbyterians, the Evangelical United Brethren and the Congregationalists. For example, by the year 1914, the Presbyterian work in the Philippines withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America to become the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, an indigenous, independent church.⁸⁰ In 1929, the three above-mentioned denominations united to form the United Evangelical Church of the Philippines, an autonomous evangelical church under national leadership.
As has already been stated, Methodism in the Philippines, although moving increasingly toward self-government, retained its connectional status under the General Conference of The Methodist Church in America. Even today it comprises a Central Conference under the General Conference of the mother Church, following what has been a pattern in most countries where American Methodism has spread. Until very recently, the few independent Methodist churches that have been formed, as in Brazil and Korea, have been the exception rather than the rule. This pattern appears to be changing now, however. Thus, at the 1964 General Conference of The Methodist Church, six more overseas churches were authorized to become autonomous.

We have noted that work in the Philippines began as part of the Malaysia Conference and was supervised locally under missionary district superintendents. As the work spread rapidly, the General Conference was petitioned to send a resident bishop to supervise the Philippine work. Finally, after ten years of effort and petitioning by the leaders of the Church in the Philippines, the General Conference of 1912 granted the request, and Bishop William Eveland became the first resident bishop of Methodism in the Philippines.⁸¹ By 1914, there were five districts into which the work was divided, each district being under a missionary superintendent. With the Conference of 1915, however, two new districts were added and, with this move, two Filipino district superintendents were appointed: Catalino Santos in the Bataan District and Lorenzo Tamayo in the Paniqui District.⁸²

In 1926, the Annual Conference, meeting at Central Students' Church, went on record as favoring a fully indigenous church. The Conference stipulated, however, that such could become a reality only if self-support, self-government and self-propagation were fully accepted by the Church as a whole.⁸³ Evidently it was felt, although not explicitly stated, that self-government could be fully expressed within the structure of the General Conference. In political terms, one might say that the Methodist ideal has been similar to "commonwealth" status, rather than that of complete independence.

As part of American Methodism, the Philippine Islands Annual Conference sent delegates to the General Conference, every four years. There it represented Philippine Methodism and took its part in the deliberations. Until 1928, the delegates elected from the Philippines had always been missionaries. Illustrative of the gradual transition to national leadership, was the Annual Conference of 1924. Of the two General Conference delegates elected at this time, one was a missionary, Joshua Cottingham; the other was D.D. Alejandro, who has the distinction of being the first elected Filipino delegate to the General Conference.⁸⁴

The next significant milestone that we note occurred in 1932. In that year, the twenty-fifth Philippine Islands Annual Conference met at Knox Memorial Church in Manila. When the appointments for the following year were read, the Rev. B.O. Peterson was replaced by a Filipino as district superintendent. This event marked the beginning of placing all districts under Filipino superintendency.⁸⁵

The work of the Church continued to grow and expand. By 1935, the following statistics were recorded:⁸⁶

Full members - 39,466
Probationers - 36,813
Ordained preachers - 98
Church buildings - 296

Thus it was that at the 1935 Annual Conference, meeting at Central Students' Church, the Philippine Islands Annual Conference, was divided into two conferences: the Philippines Annual Conference and the Northern Philippines Annual Conference.⁸⁷ In 1936, the General Conference was memorialized for the Philippines to have its own Central Conference and its own national bishop.⁸⁸
This was the time, of course, immediately preceding the union in America of The Methodist Episcopal Church; The Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and The Methodist Protestant Church. At the first General Conference to meet after union – in 1940 – the Enabling Act was passed which paved the way for national bishops. This authorized the Philippines to elect its own bishop; and four years later, in 1944, Dr. D.D. Alejandro was elected as the first Filipino bishop.⁸⁹

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