Filipinas Mag

When America’s founding fathers followed the lead of earlier pilgrims who left England for America in search of religious freedom, Presbyterianism was one of the denominations they brought with them. In 1706, the first American Presbytery was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About two centuries later, a Filipino immigrant couple, Steve and Marie Reyes from the cities of Iloilo and Tacloban, landed in San Francisco, California in search of the American dream. In June 2008, the stars aligned for the English-born church and the Filipino couple. Their grandson, the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow was elected Moderator of the 218th General Assembly, the highest elected post, of the 2.2 million-strong Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). From a field of four candidates, he was the only non-white, the only one not used to wearing a necktie, and the youngest.

The election was groundbreaking. Not only is Reyes-Chow the first Filipino American to head a major denomination, he is also entrusted with the responsibility of taking the church to the future, of appealing to younger and ethnically diverse demographics, and of putting a new face to a church whose membership has gradually declined. To meet this challenge, the church leader is harnessing the power of the Internet.

A native of Stockton, California, the 40-year old Bruce Reyes-Chow graduated in 1990 from San Francisco State University, majoring in Asian American Studies, Sociology and Religion. He was ordained a pastor in 1995 after graduating from the San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is married to Elder Abigail Pugh and has three daughters Evelyn, Abigail and Analise.

He earned his stripe in 2005 as the founding pastor of the Mission Bay Community Church of the San Francisco, California Presbytery whose congregation is predominantly young professionals under 40, are information technology-savvy, and who live a trendy urban lifestyle.

“The magic wand to reach my congregants was to become like them and be a fan of their lifestyle,” says Reyes-Chow. The energetic, motorcycle-riding pastor easily blended with his community. He engaged his congregants in an ongoing online conversation about their lives. He brought his ministry out of the silence of his presbytery to the din of roadside cafés where he likes to hang out and talk with his congregants about their everyday problems. “People interact with each other on social networking sites like Facebook, so I got on that bandwagon to connect with them. My ministry became literally virtual. In fact, I make as many pastoral calls by email as by in-person visitation,” Reyes-Chow relates.

At the same time, he is a traditional pastor who cares about the theology that life is a complex journey with God. “My duty is to walk alongside people in their journey of faith, be a part of their lives, and create a space for them where they can openly question the relevance of their faith to the daily realities of the world around them,” he explains. He has guided couples with relationship problems, stayed with congregants through physical and spiritual crises, introduced people to the Christian faith, and brought back those who have left the church.

“We paid special attention to our members who are 20-30 years old and addressed their unique needs and unpredictable life expectations. We took seriously the well-being of our transient members as they embark on new chapters in their life’s journey,” Reyes-Chow relates. His ministry is about service to ordinary people. So passionate is his commitment to his faith that his mother, Sarah, followed his footsteps, enrolled in a seminary, and is now the pastor of Bethel Presbyterian Community Church in San Leandro, California.

Technology Is the Message
To keep in constant touch with his congregants, Reyes-Chow maintained a state-of-the-art web site and extensive electronic communications at his Mission Bay Church. For its creativity in reaching its congregation and sharing the Christian faith in its local community, his church was awarded in 2007 the Sam and Helen Walton (founders of WalMart) Award for outstanding new church development.

“I am a computer geek, a technophile, and an avid blogger,” Reyes-Chow describes himself. His web site, “Nurtured by our Past, Embracing our Future” seeks to reinvent ways of bringing Christ to people. For defying conventional pastoral practices and for his belief that blogging and twittering are forms of spiritual discipline and pastoral practice, many Presbyterians initially found it hard to embrace his approach.

Unconventional as he may be to some, Reyes-Chow is also a firm believer in history and heritage. “Too many people want to simply toss aside all that has come before them, and that leads them to wander at times,” he says. “I always carry with me my Asian heritage and traditions, both maternal (Philippines) and paternal (China), with gratitude for what they have done to help us have a different and better life. Our church must adopt the same attitude as it moves to the future.”

“My hope is that the church in general and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in particular will be a place that my children will attend not out of obligation, duty, or coercion, but out of that yearning for personal and communal relationship with Jesus Christ,” Reyes-Chow says. “And this is what the world simply needs today, if we are to dispense service and teach social justice to people.”

In addition to implementing the approved initiatives and policies of the General Assembly, Reyes-Chow as Moderator intends to pursue four issues that are close to his heart, three of which concern the poor and impoverished of the Third World: Cuba, the Philippines, the Jubilee Bill, and the Employee Free Choice Act.

One of his first initiatives as Moderator was to lobby the U.S. Senate for the passage of the Jubilee Bill that was approved in the U.S. House Representatives in 2008. The bill, if enacted into law, would break the chain of indebtedness of Third World countries to the U.S. by forgiving their debts that were illegitimately transacted with U.S. lenders by past corrupt dictatorial leaders of these countries. “The Jubilee Bill would rewrite the economic history of the Philippines and would usher the country into new positive economic footing”, says Reyes-Chow. If enacted into law, Jubilee would free the Philippines from $27 billion external debt to the U.S. that was transacted by the Marcos regime.

A Filipino Still
Reyes-Chow’s attachment to the Phi-lippines stems from his roots. His Filipino grandmother worked for the U.S. military for years and his Filipino grandfather worked the fields in California’s Central Valley and as a bartender. “But their hardships never stopped their generosity and goodness. They helped establish my home church, the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Stockton, and were always committed to serving the needs of my community,” he reminisces.

Within a year of his election as Moderator, Reyes-Chow already visited the Philippines twice on fact-finding missions. In February of this year, he met with Philippine Senator Manny Villar and his wife, Philippine Congresswoman Cynthia Villar, to discuss among other things, ways of improving the working conditions of overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

Last August, he preached at the Church Workers Convention of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, as part of his on-going efforts to maintain close pastoral cooperation with UCCP.
Over the next few years, Reyes-Chow plans on visiting the Philippines for extended periods to explore how he can best use his position and influence to do the most good. “I hope…to engage in a long-term relationship with the Filipino people and work on meaningful and lasting projects. My prayers are for the complete healing of the pain and heartaches of the Filipino people and that the Philippines finds full communion with the beauty of its land and the optimism of its people with the mystical Body of Christ.”

Meanwhile, the spiritual leader of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) remains the e-accessible pastor that most people know him to be. He shuns the trappings of his office and eschews the time-honored tradition extended to moderators, of church members standing up when he enters the room or is introduced. He still rides his 2003 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle and still follows the games of his hometown’s Oakland Raiders and Golden State War-riors. The one thing that’s new is his wearing a necktie for his Sunday worship service. “This journey of being the Moderator is one humbling experience for me. When I race through the finish line, I hope people will remember me as the one who created a space for them so that they can come together in meaningful and faithful ways in their presbytery,” Reyes-Chow says.

Author’s credit: Nick Vicera writes from Miami, Florida.

Reyes-Chow (right) confers with the Rev. Eli Pascua (left), General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) on the issue of pastoral cooperation.