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==Historical Background== | ==Historical Background== | ||
The origins of the Faith Presbyterian Christian Reformed Church on Guam date back to the 1950s, when military personnel from the Protestant Reformed Church worshiped together at the Navy Chapel. Filipino contract workers assisting with Guam’s postwar reconstruction would eventually join this group. A serviceman and elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church by the name of John Reynolds led the first Bible study classes in a Quonset hut at the camp. As interest in the church grew, Navy Chaplain Lynn Wade granted Reynolds permission to hold regular Sunday worship services. The church continued its expansion, attracting both military and civilian followers. A group of civilian families who belonged to the Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, would provide the next step in the church’s development. These families successfully contacted their home church in Michigan about adopting the Guam church as a missionary project, as the church was then operating independently from the military.<ref>"Faith Presbyterian Christian Reformed Church", in "Guampedia", https://www.guampedia.com/faith-presbyterian-christian-reformed-church/, accessed 24 February 2020.</ref> | The origins of the Faith Presbyterian Christian Reformed Church on Guam date back to the 1950s, when military personnel from the Protestant Reformed Church worshiped together at the Navy Chapel. Filipino contract workers assisting with Guam’s postwar reconstruction would eventually join this group. A serviceman and elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church by the name of John Reynolds led the first Bible study classes in a Quonset hut at the camp. As interest in the church grew, Navy Chaplain Lynn Wade granted Reynolds permission to hold regular Sunday worship services. The church continued its expansion, attracting both military and civilian followers. A group of civilian families who belonged to the Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, would provide the next step in the church’s development. These families successfully contacted their home church in Michigan about adopting the Guam church as a missionary project, as the church was then operating independently from the military.<ref>"Faith Presbyterian Christian Reformed Church", in "Guampedia", https://www.guampedia.com/faith-presbyterian-christian-reformed-church/, accessed 24 February 2020.</ref> | ||
='''Seventh-day Adventist Church Records'''= | |||
==Writing for Records== | |||
==Historical Background== | |||
During World War II, two American servicemen by the names of Henry Metzker and Bob Beckett played key roles in the origins of the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Guam. Beckett, a nurse in the 204th Army General Hospital in Hawai`i, was one of seven Adventists bound for Guam during the war. Before leaving Hawai`i, Beckett’s pastor approached him about establishing a church on Guam, a place where they had not had much success in the past. Upon landing on Guam in 1945, Beckett’s military outfit pitched tents to function as a hospital for war casualties. On the first Saturday of their arrival, a small group of Adventists came together to worship, and thus held the first Seventh-day Adventist service on Guam. The following week, attendance grew as more men from the 373rd Station hospital joined them. Before long, one sailor, Henry Metzker, asked if he could bring Chamorros to the worship service. Beckett embraced the idea and immediately visualized the establishment of a permanent church with Chamorros included in the congregation. | |||
Metzker first encountered islanders interested in the Seventh-day Adventist church after scouring the villages in search of a church. Although he did not find a Seventh-day Adventist church, he did come across a local family who expressed interest in the church that kept Sabbath on Saturday. That family included Maria A. Ulloa. Because she knew nothing about the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ulloa agreed to listen to Metzker give a Bible lesson. In time, Metzker made several more visits to the family to provide further teachings about the church. Shortly thereafter, the Ulloa home served as a place of worship for Seventh-day Adventists. | |||
The believers were left on their own for two years until the arrival of Filipino Pastor Jose O. Bautista, who arrived on September 5, 1947 from Palau where he was doing work. By December 25, 1947, another baptism of six believers from the Miguel Taitano family took place. On May 21, 1948, Pastor Robert E. Dunton arrived from California. The Far Eastern Division later sent V.T. Armstrong and C.P. Sorensen to help establish the Guam mission. | |||
The church on Guam was organized on May 29, 1948, just after Pastor Dunton’s second Sabbath on Guam. Members continued to meet in the makeshift chapel attached to the Ulloa home in Dededo. This would ultimately be the location of the first Dededo church. | |||
In 1950, the second and third churches began in Talofofo and Inarajan, respectively. Four years later, the Inarajan church would fold into the Talofofo church, and on June 11, 1960, the Agana Heights Seventh-day Adventist Church opened. The Agana Heights chapel was dedicated to Mrs. Ana T. Gay, an early convert who donated the property for erecting a church for the Guam-Micronesia Mission. | |||
A fourth church was organized in Agat on Nov. 19, 1963. The Yigo church was organized in 1987, beginning with several families who had come from the Dededo and Agana Heights church. A Micronesian church was also organized in 1987 under the guidance of Pastor Willy Nobuo, who arrived on Guam from Palau in 1986. A Korean church began in the summer of 1987, with Hugh Kim as lay leader of the group.<ref>"Seventh-day Adventists: History on Guam", in "Guampedia", https://www.guampedia.com/seventh-day-adventists/, accessed 24 February 2020.</ref> | |||
=References= | =References= | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||