Our History

Where it started

The Filipino Christian Church of Dubai (TFCCD) is an evangelical church whose purpose is to answer the calling of God to advance the gospel to all the nations and unite the body of Christ. Every article of our Statement of Faith rests upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is our only hope and source of the forgiveness of sin and the grace of salvation.

In August 1986, 5 Filipino house helpers who love the Lord decided to study God’s Word. They met regularly every Friday and held their Bible studies in the helper’s quarter of Mr. Neil and Mrs. Juliet (Joy) Murray Jones in Jumeirah. They were the Filipino Bible Study Group (FBSG), and were led by Sis. Grace Baladjay, a ‘Youth with a Mission’ (YWAM) discipleship training teacher. After 5 years she was able to lead them to attend and be members of the weekly Friday services in United Christian Church of Dubai (UCCD) of different nationalities, in a villa in Jumeirah, under the leadership of Pastor Don Smith. 

In 1992, FBSG was led by Sis. Aveline Correo, also from YWAM, and Ian Dunshire, a UCCD elder, became their overseer. With much prayer, the small group grew and served the Filipino attendees of UCCD. In 1997, God through Pastor Daniel Splett, UCCD Senior Pastor, appointed Brother Ferdinand Santos, also YWAM graduate as the leader of FBSG. He is faithfully serving God and the church, along with his wife Sis. Ghie Santos until now.    

By the grace of God and much fervent prayers, the church leadership was structured. Ptr. Ferdie Santos organized the leadership and ministry teams of the church with the help and assistance of Reverend Raul Santos. The Advisory Council (Elders of the Church) was formed. The members of the Advisory Council were Ptr. Ferdie Santos, Andrew Carbonquillo and Nena Rolle, Arthur Masong and Ernie Rolle  from 2001-2006.   The Nominating Committee whose function is to nominate leaders of the church was also organized. The Nominating Committee members were Juliet Murray Jones, Nena Rolle and Marilyn Cagomoc. The Church continued to grow through prayer and devotions, from 50- 60 people. The side room in the UCCD villa where FBSG met every week to pray, worship and study God’s Word together became too small and congested to accommodate the growing number of people.

FROM FBSG TO FCCD

God made a way, and from October 19, 2003, FBSG started to meet together in the UCCD main hall every Friday. Due to the growing number of people we were given a bigger hall to hold a weekly worship service. From that day on FBSG or Filipino Bible Study Group was called FCCD or Filipino Christian Church of Dubai. The attendees doubled from 60 to 120 and reached to 150 people every week. The UCCD main hall was used every Friday until the Dubai Municipality ordered the villa to cease being used for meetings in June of 2006.

So in June 2006, with the guidance of the Lord, FCCD transferred to Dubai Evangelical Church Center and has been holding their weekly service every Friday afternoon. 

In 2007, with the support and help of Reverend Raul Santos and FCCD leaders, the Constitution and By-Laws were drafted. During that time too, with the help and encouragement of Reverend Joel Marquez and his wife, Sis. Lolet Marquez, our faithful ministry partners, the Men’s and Women’s Ministry was formed. With the continued growth of the church, the leaders saw the need for a full-time pastor and so a pastoral search committee was formed. In the meantime the church attendees grew from 150 to 250 and more.

FCCD TO TFCCD

In 2008, the FCCD leaders decided to change the name from Filipino Christian Church of Dubai (FCCD) to The Filipino Christian Church of Dubai (TFCCD) because there was a church in Abu Dhabi that would be using the name if they expand in Dubai. That same year along with the celebration of TFCCD’s 5th anniversary, God answered their long time prayer and provided the church with a full time pastor in the person of Pastor Ronel Rubrica. 

From 2009, Under Pastor Ronel’s leadership, an organizational framework and governance structure was created for TFCCD. The Board of Elders was established, and they headed the development planning and ministries of the church namely Nurture Ministry, Worship Ministry, Missions and Evangelism, Member Care and Resources Support Ministry.  

We have been blessed to be led and served by Pastor Ferdinand Umali, Pastor Richard San Pedro, and Bro. Lito Bascara as elders but eventually they were called to serve God elsewhere.

Through the years we have seen that as the congregation grew, the different ministries grew and developed. We have seen how our church is becoming a prayer saturated church as our prayer meeting held every Tuesday has grown.  What started as a few people in the house of Mr. Neil and Mrs. Juliet (Joy) Murray Jones, has become 70 to 100 people in the House of Prayer Ethne, DECC who are faithfully praying for the church, our nation and the rest of the world. 

Our members have also been nurtured and equipped with God’s Word through many different trainings like Discipleship training, 4SL and NLD training, Mature & Multiply, Max Lucado’s 3:16, Christian Essential Foundation, Teacher’s Training, Facilitator’s Training, Biblical Theology, and Bible Overview. We’ve had invited speakers from the Philippines conduct several seminars and conferences like Sis. Marie De Jesus, Pastor Roly, Sis. Maloi Salumbides, and Ptr. Chi, to name a few. We also conducted a church camp in Liwa that was full of fun, adventure and also a time of reflection.

Also, adults are not the only ones learning about God but our young children aged 18 and below as well. The Children’s Ministry’s curriculum changed from AWANA to Children Desiring God.  They are the Young Ambassadors for Christ (YAC).  

We have also seen how the Care Groups have expanded and grown all over Dubai from places like Al Nahda, Al Quoz all the way to Discovery Gardens to Palm Jumeirah and even Sharjah. We have witnessed how so many people are hungry for God’s Word and faithfully meet in their care groups every week. 

The Men’s and Women’s Ministry that was first led and organized by Pastor Joel and Sis. Lolet Marquez, have each grown in their ministry as they meet every 2nd week of the month. They have held many seminars, book reviews, retreats, flea market and teachings of basic life support for the men, among others that have enriched the men and women in TFCCD. 

The Holy Spirit is definitely working through the Worship, Ushering, and Follow Up Ministry. Every Friday service we worship God together, hear His Word and welcome newcomers each week and share to them the Gospel. 

Of course, we cannot forget about Missions and Evangelism Ministry, one that is close to God’s heart. God is using this ministry to open the eyes and hearts of the TFCCD members to reach out to lost souls by conducting trainings like Kairos and Hanap Buhay, and raise funds by conducting yearly flea markets. Also we have sent volunteers to Morocco to reach lost souls.  

We also thank God for using Pastor Ronel teach and train men of TFCCD (the Band of Brothers) to see their gifts in teaching and preaching the Word of God  and see their full potentials and be the kind of person God wants them to be.

2017 saw TFCCD go through a season of change as Pastor Ronel with his wife Sis. Lycel bid us farewell as they were called to serve God back in the Philippines. During this transition TFCCD faced a time of trial, testing and discipline where we learned to trust that God is in control, He is the one who established this church and is the one who will sustain it. We learned to humble ourselves in fervent prayer, submit the church to God and persevere in serving God and moving forward. 

That year made us grow closer to God and closer to each other as a church. We were shepherded by our remaining elders - Pastor Abraham Espeso, Pastor Ferdinand Santos, Bro. Emmanuel Pananganan and Pastor Emil Ruidera (a faithful servant who fought the good fight of faith and is back home with the Lord). 

After studying Covenantal Community, Pastor Abraham Espeso proposed the ratification of the Constitution and By-laws during the Congregational Meeting on 12 May 2017. A Rationale for the Proposed Constitutional and By-laws amendment was submitted in the Board of Elder’s meeting on 17 July 2017. On 20 October 2017, the proposed ratification of the Constitution and By-laws was approved in the congregational meeting. It was also proposed that a new council will need to be in place - the Council of Elders instead of the Board of Elders and the proposed Council of Deacons on 19 January 2018. On December 7, 2018 the proposed Constitution and By-laws was ratified by a majority in the congregational meeting.

April 2, 2019 saw Bro. Arthur Antonio installed as an elder and the Deacons and Deaconess installed as well. On August 30, 2019 Pastor Abraham Espeso was then installed as TFCCD’s Senior Pastor. Then on May 20, 2020 Pastor Ferdinand Santos and Bro. Emmanuel Pananganan were installed as elders.

2020 is a year that can never be forgotten not just for the whole world but for each TFCCD member. As the COVID 19 cases increased in the world and in Dubai, and lockdowns were enforced, churches had to stop meeting physically. But this did not stop TFCCD from holding their weekly Friday service, Tuesday prayer meetings and Bible studies. We thank God for through technology and internet, we were still able to worship God together as a church, although virtually. We were even able to fellowship with other TFCCD members scattered all over the world. Also, it is a true blessing to see that our kids of the Young Ambassadors of Christ (YAC) grow in their faith as they meet each other online. They learned to share God’s Word to each other and even encouraged family and friends in the Philippines to join them.

As restrictions were lessened towards the end of that year, we were given the means by God’s grace to worship God as a church in person through our Wednesday Midweek service at Emmanuel Hall in DECC. What a joy to meet each other again face to face and worship God together. 

So in 2021, with this in mind, the online prayer meeting got transferred to Mondays and we still continue with our online Friday worship service in the morning. Praise God also how He added members to TFCCD in spite of this Pandemic. We also hold online meetings every month for our Expositional Bible Study, Joint Bible Study, Women’s and Men’s Fellowship, and Kairos.   

Indeed as we look through time and through TFCCD’s church history, we have seen God’s hand move through every detail, harvesting souls into His Kingdom through TFCCD. Yes, the pandemic has affected each and everyone but trusting in God has strengthened our faith as a church and made us take stock on what is important. Though the pandemic is not over yet, we believe that our God is Sovereign and in control. We continue to stand amazed at what God has done, is doing and will do through TFCCD.

Let us continue to glorify God with One Mind, One Heart and One Voice. To God be all the glory!