Since the beginning of the church, God had enabled it to open thirteen (13) daughter churches. Had there not been people who committed their lives to God and to missions and pioneering works, maybe these churches could not have been born or it may have taken a longer time for them to be born. At present, five (5) churches are being supervised and supported; these are considered outreaches or daughter churches of LTAG.
At Present
The church in Pual, Atok is being led by Ptr. Jessie Manuel; the church in Bilis, Atok is being led by Ptr. Jason Simeon; the church in Japos and Bineng is being led by Ptr. Joni Simeon with the help of Ptr. Wilma Cosente and the church in Kibungan, which became a daughter church in October 2008, is being led by Ptr. Hanzel Caoile.
The church in Longlong which is being led by Ptr. Erl Reyes was transferred to the supervision of the section in November, 2008.
Several ministries are in place where the church members may choose to participate and commit based on God’s conviction. There are eight (8) regular ministries, three (3) special ministries and five (5) other ministries. It is not the practice of the church to force its members to actively involve themselves in church ministries and activities. Participation is voluntary and commitment is upon one’s conviction. All members are merely constantly being encouraged to join the wonderful experience of serving God thru these ministries.
Oftentimes, parallel to church growth is divergence. As the members are increasing in number and knowledge, several ideas and innovations arise. An order must be in place toaccommodate these ideas and innovations; certain guidelines must be followed and so the Church Code or By-laws was reviewed and revised.
Its revision was concluded in December after 8 months of rigorous deliberations by the church council and ministry heads. This was ratified by the church members in December 28, 2008, 12:08 pm. Its implementation will be started on January of 2009. With this, the church shall now be called The Highland Metropolitan Assembly of God Church instead of La Trinidad Assembly of God Church.
Our Future
Moving forward, the church shall be guided by God thru the vision we uphold. This vision is stated and expounded by our Senior Pastor, Rev. Walter T. Caput.
“Our vision for this church is for people to come and be transformed by the power of God, and as a result they will become members of the family of God, be matured spiritually and serve God faithfully until Jesus comes. The believers who are interested in this church are encouraged to join this church mainly as members and make it as their home church.
They will worship the Lord God Almighty in spirit and in truth: They will be instructed clearly with the word of God: They will learn to fellowship with one another in love: They will also evangelize the community and beyond with their life testimony and with the Word of God.”
“To put into practice this vision: We will strengthen our spirituality through prayer meetings, discipleship training and Christian education. We will enhance our financial giving to the church and to missions, by teaching and encouraging our people to give their tithes and offerings. We will obey the great commission by planting more churches and help the believers grow numerically and spiritually.
We will participate in foreign missions by sending missionaries to foreign land and supporting them in prayers and finances. We will improve and extend our facilities so we can have more activities and programs for people to be involved in ministry.
We will follow the holistic approach to ministry which is: we will minister to the spiritual, physical, economic and social aspects: That is the reason why we have our cooperative ministry (named EPIMELEOMAI), the Christian School (Super Kids Learning Center) and the children development program (Compassion).
We will train young leaders for the future: We want to develop their God-given skills for ministry. We do all these things under the anointing of the Holy Spirit who is our great Helper for the glory of the Lord God, the author and finisher of our faith. The scope of our ministry is La Trinidad and beyond as the Lord will give us open doors for ministry. We will do these ministries willingly as unto the Lord until He comes to receive us”.
Reminiscing the past do not just bring a feeling of nostalgia but more importantly, it causes one to reflect on the past, the present, and think of the future. Rev. Leonardo Caput Sr. gave us some words of wisdom…
“Church Anniversary Celebration is a time to look back into the past; it is a time to evaluate weaknesses and strengths. Weaknesses and shortcomings should be dealt with and improved while our strengths should be strengthened and developed further” .
Note: The church history was compiled and written by documentary group headed by Dr. Antonette P. Agpas. The documentary is a project of the CARE Ministry under the direction of Ms. Cherlyn Pinas during the time of this publication.
The church anniversary should have been celebrated in September but because of the proximity of Christmas celebration, the church agreed that the anniversary and Christmas program be held together in one Sunday in the month of December to lessen expenses and be good stewards of God’s finances.
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