Our History
A Testament of God's Grace
Our story is a testimony of how the graciousness of God could raise a church from almost nothing, and enable it to faithfully follow the biblical model of a local church.
Exciting Times
On February 18, 1996, 43 people gathered at an old house in Quezon City to celebrate the first Sunday worship service of Higher Rock Christian Ministries. To many, the very old acetate projector held together by masking tape was indicative of the tenuousness of the fledgling church’s future. But the Lord had other plans.
The following week the church moved to a small function room at the Camelot Hotel; the service was attended by 79 people. In May, the church leased an apartment on Timog Avenue for its administrative offices, library, and ministry meetings.
These were exciting times. The new church was surviving financially on a week-to-week basis. But God was faithful and the support of the brethren was tremendous. Over time, the small function room could no longer accommodate the growing congregation, and the service was transferred to the ballroom of the hotel. A scant six months later, a second service (Tagalog) was started in the original function room.
Camelot Hotel was to be the home of HRCM for close to six eventful years. As it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).
In November 2001, God gave the church family a new 450-sq.m. home on the third floor of a spanking new building on Timog Avenue. To this day, it is a reminder to the congregation that God is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).
Contending for the Faith
Higher Rock was founded by God as an independent church at a time when the prevailing philosophy of the age was opposed to the very idea of absolute truth, when doctrinal and moral compromise wore appealing, user-friendly faces. The young church therefore chose to set its course by the sufficient, inerrant, and unchanging Word of God as it pursued a wholly-Scriptural ministry.
The Lord also saw fit to bring Higher Rock together with like-minded churches in the Communion of Christian Ministries, a fellowship of churches throughout the country, established for mutual accountability, support and cooperation in the glorious struggle to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
Solid Lives, Built On Solid Truth.
As the church looks to the future, the vistas unfolding before it fill God’s people with humble amazement. To go on in their journey under the firm and gracious guidance of the Great Shepherd of the sheep; to continue making wondrous discoveries of the richness and sufficiency of the Scriptures; to grow together into the church the Lord wants it to be, in purity of doctrine and holiness of life; to become even more faithful in its stewardship of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ; and to present to a dying and lost world the work of God’s invincible grace in their “solid lives built on solid truth” -- these surely are foretastes of heavenly delights!
May the testament of God’s grace to Higher Rock Christian Church be used by the Most High in calling sinners to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in edifying the saints and building the most precious institution on earth, the Church, the Body of Christ, and in glorifying His name. “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:36)