Iglesia Ni Cristo: A Glimpse into a 100 year-old Distinct Architecture
The Iglesia Ni Cristo, a Philippine Christian church known for its discipline, money and political power, marks its 101th founding anniversary on July 27, 2015.
In line with this momentous celebration of our brothers and sisters in the INC community, let’s take a look at their beautiful churches and how come they came to be impressive statures for worship.
Iglesia ni Cristo church buildings (chapels) serve as places of worship and other religious functions, they are “vehicles for glorifying God.” Culture and customs of the Philippines, a book published by Greenwood Publishing Group, describe them as structures “which employ exterior neo-Gothic vertical support columns with tall narrow windows between, interlocking trapezoids, and rosette motifs, as well as tower and spires.” There are multiple entrances leading to the main sanctuary, where males and females sit on either side of the aisle facing a dais where sermons are made. The choir loft is located behind the dais, and in larger churches, baptistry pools for immersion baptism are located at the back of the church.
Fernando Nakpil-Zialcita, an anthropologist from Ateneo de Manila University, said that INC churches can be uniquely identified for “its exuberant use of fanciful forms and ornaments [and a] brilliant white facade whose silhouette is a cusped Gothic arch or a flattened Saracenic arch.” The distinctive spires represent “the reaching out of the faithful to God.”
A major contributor for designing and building INC churches is Arch. Carlos Antonio Santos-Viola. Other prominent architects, such as Juan Nakpil (a National Artist of the Philippines for architecture) and Carlos Raul Villanueva, were also involved in designing INC churches.
Timeline of INC church
- Chapel structures from 1930’s to the 1940’s were fashioned out of sawali, nipa, bamboo and some wood, which typified the style and materials generally available in those days.
- From 1948 to 1963, during the tenure of Bro. Felix Y. Manalo, concrete chapel structures were built.
- Variation in design were noticeable from 1953 to 1962 because of radical changes.
- From the early 2000, a new chapel design evolved and consequently acquired a distinct and unique character.
The churches of INC continue to progress and leave us astounded with it’s majestic stature. But let’s not forget the essential part of building these churches, it’s to inspire and remind us of our faith. After all, the church is really about the people.
