INC History

The Iglesia ni Cristo congregation in Waipahu, Hawaii, United States

Beginnings

The Iglesia ni Cristo was first preached by the late Brother Felix. Y. Manalo in the Philippine capital city of Manila. Its first local congregation was established in Punta, Sta. Ana. On July 27, 1914, the Church was registered with the Philippine government.
In 1915, Brother Felix Manalo, as the first Executive Minister of the Church, started training ministers to assist him in the propagation of the gospel. By 1918, ministers and volunteer preachers were being sent to provinces around Manila. In its tenth year, the first ecclesiastical district was organized in Pampanga province.

Domestic growth

By 1939, the Church had already expanded to as far as Ilocos Norte province in Northern Luzon to Cebu province in the Visayas with the addition of 14 districts. It reached farther south in Mindanao in 1946 with the establishment of a district in Cotabato. When Brother Eraño G. Manalo assumed overall administration in April 1963, the Church had established districts in more than half of all Philippine provinces.

Overseas

On July 27, 1968, the incumbent Executive Minister officiated at the first worship service of the Church outside the Philippines. This gathering held in Ewa Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii marked the establishment of the Honolulu Congregation, the first overseas mission of the Church. The following month, the Executive Minister was in California to establish the San Francisco Congregation and lead its inaugural worship service.

The Americas

In 1971, the Church set foot in Canada. In June 1987, the US Main Office (USMO) was set up in Daly City, California to assist the Central Administration in supervising the then 11 districts of the Church in the West.
The first local congregation in Latin America was established in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1990. The following year, the Church reached Mexico and Aruba. From 2000 and beyond, congregations rose in the Central and South American countries.

Europe

The first local congregation in Europe was established in England in 1972. The Church came to Germany and Switzerland in the mid-70s. By the end of the 1980s, congregations and missions could be found in the Scandinavian countries and their neighbors.

Mediterranean

The Rome, Italy Congregation was established on July 27, 1994; the Jerusalem, Israel Congregation in March 1996; and the Athens, Greece Congregation in May 1997. The predecessors (prayer groups) of these full-fledged congregations began two decades earlier. Meanwhile, the mission first reached Spain in 1979.

Africa

The first mission in northern Africa opened in Nigeria in October 1978. After a month, the King William’s Town Congregation, in South Africa was established.

Asia, Australia, and Oceania

A congregation was organized in Guam in 1969. In Australia, congregations have been established since mid-1970s. The Church first reached China by way of Hong Kong, and Japan through Tokyo also in the 1970s. Missions have also opened in Kazakhstan and Sakhalin Island in Russia.
In Southeast Asia, the first congregation in Thailand was established in 1976 and missions have already been conducted in Brunei since 1979. In addition, there are also congregations in Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia.