WHAT IS CREC? | OUR CHURCH HISTORY | MISSION OF THE CHURCH | ABOUT THE PASTOR

What is CREC?

Calvary – Calvary was the place where Jesus was crucified. There too was the garden where he was buried, and where he rose again from the dead. Since that time, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God has been at the very heart of the Christian message. By using the name Calvary, we are saying that the chief desire of our church is to preach Jesus Christ, crucified and risen again from the dead.

Reformed – In the 16th Century, the Christian Church experienced tremendous upheaval. Views which had become dominant during the Middle Ages began to be challenged, and men began to look again at the Christianity of the Bible and of the Christian Church in its earliest years. As a result, they realised that much that was foreign to the true teaching and spirit of the New Testament had crept into the Christian Church, and they sought to reform the Church according to the Word of God. We belong unashamedly to this Reformed tradition.

As Reformed Christians, we believe in the Holy Scriptures as the ultimate authority for our faith, and that the Word of God must have central place in our services of worship.

Reformed Christians are also committed to the doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone – the conviction that a right standing with God cannot be attained by our religious or moral good works, or by any holiness which we may have or hope to attain, but solely through faith in Jesus Christ.

And when we ask, ‘Where does this faith come from?’ we answer that it is not from ourselves; it is the free and gracious gift of God, who has produced it in our hearts through his Word by the Holy Spirit.

Evangelical – The word Evangelical identifies us as a church committed to proclaiming this message of God’s grace to everyone, without distinction or exception. We want to proclaim to men and women indiscriminately that ‘Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Romans 10.13).

Church – As a Christian Church, we are a local expression of the worldwide community of Christian believers. Each of the members of Calvary Reformed Evangelical Church personally professes his or her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. But our services of worship are open to everyone. In particular we encourage anyone who wants to know more about the Christian Faith, or who is concerned about his or her relationship with God, to come to our worship services, and to hear the Word of God preached.

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Church History
Calvary Church can look back to 16 years of God's faithfulness. First organized as a home Bible study in a small house in Barangay Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City comprising only 5 people, the group grew to more than 20 people mostly residing in Mandaluyong and San Juan, with more than half of the attenders being alumni of Jubilee Christian Academy. With the transfer of the Chengs to Greenhills East, the home Bible study moved with them. Early on, the Outreach began a Saturday Greenhills Bible Club for children, and hosted Christmas Bible Schools, and Vacation Bible Schools during summer. Its home Bible study group is now on its 17th uninterrupted year, having welcomed many to study together the Scriptures for life application, continues to be one of the main teaching ministries of the church today. Several of the members of this study went on to be baptized and became members of the JEC Mandaluyong Outreach.

In 1994, the Bible study group requested to be recognized as a gospel point. In early 1997, the San Juan Outreach merged with the Mandaluyong Jubilee Gospel Point. In July, 1997, Mandaluyong Jubilee Gospel Point became a daughter church, and was renamed Mandaluyong Jubilee Gospel Center in a simple afternoon service held at Green Valley Country Club. After moving from place to place, and locating in Pasig City, the daughter church simply adopted the name, Jubilee Gospel Center.

Beginning in 2000, Pastor Amos C.S. Lim assumed the pastorate, preached on Romans, taught the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and helped to set up the church library. He resigned in 2004. Joshua Ong became our preaching pastor until 2005. Pastor Gilbert McAdam, who had preached occasionally in our church, was asked to become our preaching pastor in mid-2005.

In September, 2005, the Overseers of the Gospel Center petitioned the mother church to become an independent church. In November, the Jubilee Evangelical Church gave its approval, and preparations for an Inaugural Service and Pastor Gilbert's Installation began early the following year. The Overseers sought recognition from the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-profit religious organization, which was granted in April, 2006. Calvary Reformed Evangelical Church was inaugurated, its members covenanted together in fellowship as a church, and its first Resident Pastor, Gilbert McAdam, was installed on July 30, 2006 at Wack Wack Golf & Country Club in Mandaluyong City.

Today, CREC has a membership of 60 and is growing in grace. We look back in awe at what God has done, and look forward in anticipation at what He yet will do for us. Great are His deeds. He is faithful and his love for His people endures. We thank the Lord Jesus for organizing and sustaining the Calvary Reformed Evangelical Church."

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Mission of the Church

The mission of CREC is to glorify God as a local manifestation of the Body of Christ by fulfilling the responsibilities which Christ the Head of the Church lays upon us. These responsibilities include the proclamation of the Word of God, both for the building up of believers and evangelization of the lost; the promotion of fellowship among believers and between Christian churches; regular prayer and worship; the administration of the sacraments; and the defense of 'the faith once for all delivered to the saints.'

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Pastor Gilbert was born in Scotland in the United Kingdom, but grew up in the south of England. He professed faith in Christ and was baptised when he was sixteen years old. Soon afterwards he came across the Reformed understanding of God's plan of salvation, which at first he resisted. His reading of the Scriptures convinced him, however, of the truth of God's sovereignty in salvation and he came to believe the 'doctrines of grace.' After experiencing a period of doubting the reality of his own conversion, in January 1971 he came to a very personal assurance of his acceptance with God through Christ, through reading a sermon of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Romans 4 verses 4-5, entitled 'Justifying the Ungodly'.

Gilbert studied at the Royal Academy of Music, then after working for some years in the Civil Service he studied theology for a year at London Bible College, then for three years at the Free Church College, Edinburgh. It was during this time he began to be challenged about the possibility of working overseas, though this was something he was by no means anxious to do.

After his theological studies Gilbert worked for a time for a Theological Publisher in Edinburgh, then briefly as a piano teacher before being called to Trinity Baptist Church, Dundee, where he was pastor from 1990 to 1997. In 1991 he visited Thailand, and this was the beginning of his interest in Asia. In 1995 and again in 1997 he visited the Philippines, and was asked to consider returning to teach in Grace Ministerial Academy. He came to live and work in the Philippines in November 1997.

In September 2003 Gilbert married Emily, a Filipina. Emily is a teacher by profession, but worked for several years as a housemother in the Christian Compassion Ministries' home for street children. They have a daughter named Claire Elizabeth. Pastor Gilbert first preached in the Jubilee Gospel Center in March 2004, and he became preaching pastor of the Center in January 2006.

When Calvary Reformed Evangelical Church was inaugurated in July 2006, Pastor Gilbert was installed as its first Resident Pastor.

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