A small prayer group of 20 attendees was formed in the garage of #56 Chicago St., Quezon City, the home of Gene and Pilar Sanchez. Bo, their fourteen year old son, led those Tuesday night prayer meetings. Not knowing what to name the prayer group, Pilar Sanchez asked two leaders of the Renewal to pray for any inspiration they might receive. Without the two of them speaking to each other, both call
ed Pilar to tell her the name should be, “The Light of Jesus.” It was indeed a God-given name, for it contained their primary mission to this day: to share the Light of Jesus to others as effectively and widely as possible. In 1982, thirty people from the prayer group made a deeper commitment to be a community. They met separately for more teaching, and during weekends, went out to give Life in the Spirit seminars. As the years went by, more and more people joined this budding community—and many chapters were created in different parts of Metro Manila and beyond. Today, the Community has three major tasks: Community Building; Media-Evangelization; and Mercy Ministry. The task of Community Building is in full swing. Aside from almost thirty LIGHT OF JESUS chapters in Metro Manila and its suburbs, we have a chapter in Cebu City as well as in Ontario, Canada. Media-Evangelization has been phenomenal under SHEPHERD’S VOICE, publishing one of the widest-circulated Catholic literatures in the country. Their work, which includes KERYGMA, GABAY, DIDACHE, and COMPANION have become very familiar in Catholic households today. Their next project is to use radio and TV to bring God’s Word to many more people. The Community also has ANAWIM as one of its mercy ministries. Located in Montalban, Rizal, this five-hectare property is the home of abandoned elderly and a few orphans. A second mercy ministry is the LIGHT OF JESUS Counseling Center, which offers telephone counseling, face-to-face counseling, and training seminars. In all of these, the LIGHT OF JESUS Community is still young and has only began, barely touching the surface of its God-ordained mission. It will continue to run the race until Jesus comes again in glory. Who we are trying to reach
Because we are a community organized into several chapters, spread out in different areas, we are able to target different classes of people. Some chapters have the urban professional as their target, while other chapters—by their geographical location and membership composition--aim for those from the lower economic bracket. Recently, we’re moving farther into the suburbs of Metro Manila—in the areas of Bulacan and Laguna. We hope to continue to build LOJ in the provinces. It is true that because we used English in our larger gatherings for many years, we have attracted mostly the urban professionals. But we will continue to include more of the use of the Filipino language into our main assemblies—so that we can reach a wider audience. Our MISSION
Our mission is to share the Light of Jesus to others as widely and effectively as possible, through evangelism, discipleship, community, ministry, and worship. Our VISION
By the year 2020, we dream of having 100,000 members attending our gatherings, 50,000 attending our caring groups, all committed to daily time with God, giving tithes regularly, and always striving to bring others to the community. We dream of 10,000 ministry leaders lovingly leading and feeding their sheep. We dream of 1000 chapters and chapter leaders all over the country and beyond. We dream of 300 gifted lay teachers in the community. By the year 2020, we dream of SHEPHERD’S VOICE reaching 5% of the Philippine population, with KERYGMA (and other feature magazines) printing 1 million copies; DIDACHE/GABAY (and other daily reflection guides) printing 3 million copies; COMPANION (and other scripture diaries) printing 1 million copies; Audio tapes and books selling 50,000 copies per title; and a weekly TV show reaching 5 million viewers. By the year 2020, we dream of ANAWIM having 10 branches in different parts of the country, caring for 500 of the poorest of the poor. By the year 2020, we dream of the LIGHT OF JESUS COUNSELING CENTER offering 24-hour telephone counseling, correspondence counseling, individual and group counseling, recovery support groups, training of counselors and teaching communities to become healing communities--directly helping 5000 people a year. By the year 2020, we dream of the LIGHT OF JESUS WITNESS CITY built on a 10 hectare property, containing a Retreat House and Prayer Center, an ANAWIM Center, and a few residential homes. By the year 2020, we dream of the LIGHT OF JESUS building, a community office with multi-function halls in the heart of the metropolis. The goal of this vision is to present to God as many Christlike disciples as we can on the last day. Consequently, Rodriguez Chapter has been headed by two respected elders of Light of Jesus Community, Bro. Dreaming that our chapter will grown to the fullest and serve as an instrument to encourage not only the elders of the said community but as well as the youth to offer their life in serving others and preaching God's Word. Be one of us...(^_^)
