US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim pays courtesy call on Iglesia ni Cristo top minister Eduardo Manalo at the church’s heaquarters in Quezon City, Phiippines on February 12, 2018. INC-PIO
US Ambassador to the Philippine Sung Kim visited on Monday the Iglesia ni Cristo’s (INC) headquarters in Quezon City to pay a courtesy call on Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo.
The envoy’s visit came a few days before President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Manalo as the Special Envoy of the President for Overseas Filipinos’ Concerns.
Kim was welcomed with cheers from INC members and workers, who waived the American and the church’s flags.
US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim pays courtesy call on Iglesia ni Cristo top minister Eduardo Manalo at the church’s heaquarters in Quezon City, Phiippines on February 12, 2018. INC-PIO
An INC official said that the church, which was founded in the Philippines on 1914, was happy with the ambassador’s visit.
“The timing is perfect as the Church is celebrating its 50th anniversary in the West and has grown to around 300 congregations in the US alone,” said protocol officer Joel San Pedro.
The church established its first overseas congregation in Hawaii in 1968.
The church said it has members in 142 countries and territories around the world, with its membership comprising of at least 133 ethnic groups and nationalities.