Rev. Samuel Aberia

EFCP PRESIDENT

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT

Dear EFCP family,

I step into the office of Interim President for 2026–2028 with one settled conviction: no single person was ever meant to carry the church of God alone. When Moses tried to shepherd Israel by himself, he was warned that the thing is too heavy for you... you are not able to do it alone (Exodus 18:18, ESV). I take up this trust in that same spirit — as one elder among many, a fellow servant rather than a solitary head. 

This is the pattern of Scripture itself. The apostles appointed elders for them in every church (Acts 14:23, ESV) — always in the plural, entrusting God's flock not to one ruler but to a shared, accountable leadership. It is also who we are as a denomination: we foster the multiplication of corporate and servant leadership, pursue consensus and cooperation on corporate decisions, and honor and edify our local churches in every region. 

That is why our focus for the year ahead begins with strengthening and stabilizing our local churches — healing wounded relationships, practicing honest financial accountability, and building healthy systems that will last. A church grows strong not through the strength of one, but through many members joined together in love.

All of this serves our mission: to glorify God by multiplying healthy, transformational churches in collaboration with like-minded people and organizations, in the Philippines and beyond — until every EFCP church is healthy and reproducing. Such churches are built, not born overnight; each believer is being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22, ESV). 

So I invite every pastor, elder, leader, and member: take up your place in this building. Heal where there has been hurt. Strengthen what remains. Lead and serve alongside one another. And together — never alone — let us make the love of Christ known, that the world may see in us the household of God, built as one, for His glory.

In His service,

Rev. Samuel "Sam" Aberia

Interim President, 2026–2028

Evangelical Free Church of the Philippines