Where We Work:
Bohol, Philippines
Local Church
The
Arms of Love Children's Home is most closely affiliated with
the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Tagbilaran City, which
is located about five miles from the site of the Children's
Home. The children and the staff of the Children's Home
attend Sunday morning services at the Vineyard Tagbilaran
and also participate in Saturday outreaches to nearby
communities. The senior pastor of the church, Bonie Colarte,
is one of the houseparents in the Arms of Love Children's
Home. Other staff in the children's home, and some of the
older children, are also involved in leadership within the
church, such as serving on the worship team or on the board
of elders. The pastor of the nearby Sikatuna Vineyard church
is also a houseparent in the children's home.
The facility in
Tagbilaran City that hosts the services and activities of
the local church also serves certain functions for Arms of
Love. For example, some of the Arms of Love staff have
offices at the church facility, and some of the other rooms
in the facility have been used as a "transition home" in
previous years. This allowed us to accommodate new children
who were staying with Arms of Love on a temporary basis
while being considered for admission to the Children's Home.
John and Juli Mory, who helped establish the Arms of Love
project in the Philippines, moved to the island of Bohol in
1995 and established a leadership school which trained and
released new full-time Filipino pastors. The first church
the Morys helped establish was the Vineyard Christian
Fellowship of Tagbilaran City. Between 1995 and 2003, about
fifteen other Vineyard churches were planted around the
island of Bohol. The Morys returned to the United States in
November 2003.
