BASIC ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES, PHILIPPINES

Introduction
They are called, by various names, in the many languages of the Philippines — Gagmayng
Kristohanong Katilingban, Simbaan Sangakarrubaan, Mimting Samba-yanang Kristiyano, etc. —
but they are all Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs). There are more than 50,000 of them all over
the Philippines, and they aire a dynamic force in Church and social renewal.
BECs began in Mindanao in the 1970% taking an inspiration from the South American experience
of Basic Ecclesial Communities. They soon took on an identity in themselves and became rooted
quickly in the local culture and Church structure with a vision of its own: Kingdom of God-
World ; Priest-People : Parish-BEC.
Throughout the long dark years of MartialLaw, they represented a prophetic Church that was
battling social evils and injustices. And they suffered because of this prophetic stance. But in
suffering they grew and spread. In the BECs, the people in the grassroots and their pastors
confirmed their faith. The BECs themselves went through various growth stages: liturgical,
developmental, and liberational. Today all these aspects of growth are integrated in the same BEC.

The Pastoral Vision and Thrust of the Church in the Philippines

So dynamic was the Church in the BEC that dioceses all over the Philippines began to look at this
model of Church as one hope of the future. In 1991 the Bishops at the Second Plenary Council of
the Philippines surveyed the national situation and found it fraught with economic, political, social
imbalances and divisions, reinforced by ambivalent and negative cultural values. They believed
that massive poverty was the social problem.
They then envisioned a new evangelization for the country which they called "renewed integral
evangelization" that would respond not only to the spiritual aspect of human life but also to its
material and temporal dimension. To embark on such a journey of integral evangelization, the
bishops envisioned a comprehensive renewal of the Church toward a magnificent vision: a Church
of Authentic Discipleship, a genuine Community of disciples, a Participatory Church, an
Inculturated Church, and a Church of the Poor.
To provide a concrete example of such a Church, they offered the model of the Basic Ecclesial
Community:
Our vision of the Church as communion, participation, and mission, about the Church as
priestly, prophetic and kingly people and as a Church of the poor— a Church that'is renewed
— is today finding expression in one ecclesial movement. This is the movement to foster
Basic Ecclesial Communities (PCP-II Text, no. 137).
PCP-H, indee hot identify the BEC as the ust of the Chur
pasto
the Philippines. But that the Bishops placed the greatest importance to the building
of Basic Ecclesial Communities to implement the pastoral vision is quite clear
from the PCP-H decrees. Seminarians are to be given opportunities to experience
the life and activities of different movements and especially of BECs (PCP-ii
Decrees, no. 77, #2). Even the members of traditional organization* "should be
encouraged to be involved in BECs" (PCP-II Text, no. 609). PCP-IL ; in fact, has
seven distinct sets of decrees related to the BEC (see Title XI1, section 3. Basic
Ecclesial Communities, nos. 109—112).
In 2001, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of PCP-II,'the church in the
Philippines held a National Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal. It evalu-
ated the work of church renewal initiated by PCP-H. To facilitate the task of
renewal, the Consultation identified nine major priorities, the fourth of which is
"the building and strengthening of participatory communities that make up the
parish as a community of communities." Here the assembly explicitly mentions
in the first place the Basic Ecclesial Communities (Church Renewal, "Behold 1
Make All things New," Message of the NPCCR, Proceedings of the NPCCR
CBCP2001,p.59).
The Nature of the Basic Ecclesial Community
Given the importance of the BEC in the realization of the pastoral vision of the
Church in the Philippines, and given the various names by which it is called, the
question naturally arises: What really is the Basic Ecclesial Community?
The following is a working description; The Basic Ecclesial Community is:
• a small grassroots community of believers;
k that brings together families and individuals in intimate personal and social
relationships based on faith;
• whose members gather together with their leaders to worship the Lord;
• listen prayerfully to the Word of God, reflect upon it, apply it to their daily
lives; -
• take nourishment in the Eucharist;
• share with one another, serve and support one another;
• in a true fellowship of faith, hope and love —
• in a word, to evangelize others and at the same time to be evangelized.
The Biblical Model of the BEC
The formation of the BEC harks back to the community of the early Jerusalem
Christians pictured in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35 indicate
the following characteristics of the Jerusalem community:
• Devotion to the teaching of the Apostles;
• Unity of mind and heart;
• Praying together in the Temple and praising God;
• Breaking the Bread in their homes;
• t Believing in Jesus and his Resurrection;

• Sharing of possessions;
• Distributing goods according to one's needs;
 • Enjoying the good will of the people;
• Increasing the number of believers.
In today's language we would describe the Jerusalem community as a, believing and
praying community, centered in Jesus and the Eucharist, devoted to orthodoxy as well as
to orthopraxis, living in solidarity with the poor, serving as a contrast cortimunity, and
attracting many to this new way of life, a new way of
being community.

Characteristics of the BEC

In the light of this biblical model of Christian cbmmunity, the following charac
teristics of the Basic Ecclesial Community can be better understood:
a) Faith-based. A BEC is first a community of believers in Jesus. Their life together
usually begins at the liturgical level. The emphasis is on coming together as a
community of faith in order to pray, read and reflect on the Word of God in Sacred
Scriptures. By this the members of the BEC confirm one another's faith and celebrate
the faith they hold in common. Bible Sharing and Bible Services are regular weekly
activities. The Bible Service is also celebrated on the occasions of birthdays,
anniversaries, wakes, etc;,
when no priest is available to celebrate the Eucharist.
b) Christ-centeredness. BEC people speak of Jesus as God and Savior at the very
center of their lives as well as of their community. He is the Word of Lift and the
Bread of Life, the Eucharist. His life and message in the Gospels serve as inspiration
and norm of behavior and action. BEC people speak of the Kingdom of God that
Jesus proclaimed as the goal of salvation history. They regard the Kingdom of God as
"the new heavens and the new earth where^ according to his promise, the justice of
God will reside" (see Revelation 21:1-4; 2 Peter 3:13). In their situation of poverty
and deprivation, they
speak of Jesus as Healer and Liberator, Teacher and Guide.
c) Community-orientedness, Co-Responsibility* Solidarity; These flow fun-
damentally from a deep sense of community among the members, their striving to be
of one mind and heart. They have a strong senseof co^responsibi-lity and solidarity, in
the sense of a "firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common
good; that is to say, to the good of ajl and of each individual because we are really
responsible for alPV (John "Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38). Such values operate
in the BEC partly because the families belong to the same neighborhood, know one
another and usually have some form of daily interaction. Moreover, members and
leaders are formed and educated to be "pro-people" and "pro-community." Hence they
have a strong awareness of their personal and social inteMelatedness in terms of
rights, obligations and tasks in the community. Their prayers, their liturgies, their
socio-economic projects have an explicit community orientation that draws out the
social dimension of prayer, the sacraments, and of
Christian living.
 d) Participatory* Participation is based on the understanding of and respect for the
different charisms given by the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Confirmation. "There are
different gifts but the same Spirit; there are different ministries but the same Lord; there are
different works but the same God who accomplishes ail of them in everyone. To each
person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:4-
12). For this reason, participation is absolutely necessary in the BEC. It is a fundamental
dimension of community organizing. The widest member-participation possible
characterizes the selection of BEC leaders, the process of decisionmaking, the liturgies and
prayer sessions, planning, and implementation of BEC decisions. This is to assure not only
community bonding but also effective community action. 'While, governance of the BEC
remains the responsibility of the parish priest, the day-to-day leadership of the community
and of its prayer life, centered on the Word of God, lies in the hands of lay leaders trained
for these purposes.
e) Service and Sharing/Explicit in the consciousness of BEC leaders and* members are the
values of service arid sharing. These inspire them to be other-orierited rather than self-
oriented, to give rather than to take, to serve . rather than be served. This attitude requires a
lot of humility. One of the harshest evaluations that members couldgive would bethat their
leaders are arrogant and self-serving. For them, leadership has to be patterned after that of
Jesus, who was ready even to lay down his life for others.
f)Love. This is the value that underlies all others. It is the giving of oneself for others because
of one's friendship with the Lord and with one's neighbor (see 1 Corinthians 13; Luke
10:25-37). Only love can really adequately explain the persevering service of lay leaders in
Basic Ecclesial Communities during the dark days of Martial Law when many of them
were suspected as subversives, picked up, detained, and even tortured. Some were in fact
killed.
The above values are deliberately emphasized in BEC formation sessions. They not only
become buzzwords among BEG leaders and mernbers but also become principles of livings
acting and relating. They are likewise used as explicit norms for evaluating leaders and
members.
With the above characteristics, the BEC as church at the grassroots manifests a newway of
being Church. It is, indeed* a vibrant and dynamic community of believers, rnainly among the
poorvstriving to be authentic disciples, participatory, a Church 6f the Poor, and struggling to
transforni their own economic, political, and social situation in the light'.of the Kingdom of
God.
The Family in the BEC
The 2001 National Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal identified "the Family as the
fociis of Evangelization" as the third pastoral priority of the Church in the Philippines, As the
focus of evangelization, the family is meant to be both subject (agent) and object of
evangelization, to which all evatigelizing efforts in the parish are to be oriented. The family is
thus both a primary target of evangelization as well as a principal agent of evangelization.
This pastoral priority has long been implemented in the BEG/If the BEC is the church at the
grassroots, the family ay the church in the home, or the domestic church, has the most
prominent role in the BEC. Without "family groups" there would be no BEC. Indeed, the BEC
is a community of communities since it consists of several families, perhaps seven to 15
families in some types of BEG (more in other types). Prayerful Bible.sharing sessions are often
held alternately in the homes of the different member-families. Fathers and mothers are
supposed to lead their families in the activities of the BEC. Families bond together for prayer,
for mutual help, and for community discernment and action.
Organizationally, the family structure of the BEC facilitates communication, consultation, and
coordination in the-pansh. it enables the pansh pnest to have a rather quick access to various
sectors, thus facilitating his work as shepherd of the whole parish community. &

BEC Formation and the Word of God r'<

This. .«ew way of being Church is not possible without proper faith formation. This is why BEC
members undergo a lot of formation sessions in integral faith, i.e., in faith that can respond to
the daily material or temporal problems of life, to problems of poverty and sickness, injustice,
and perhaps lack of peace in the community.
Much of the formation is Bible-based and uses the method of Praxis-Reflection. This approach
makes it possible for people at the grassroots, sometimes with little formal education, to reflect
on their life-situation in the light of the Word of God — in the Scriptures and in the Church.
Thus the catechetical part of BEC formation is explicitly related to the Word of God and to the
realities of life. Particularly emphasized is the history of salvation as on going, the Paschal
Mystery of Jesus as the new Exodus, participation in Church and society by virtue of the
sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, and the Eucharist as central to Christian life.
Formation seminars to evangelize BEC members almost invariably use this dia-
logica! process of praxis and reflection. This is how fhe BEC people appropriate
biblical teachings and the teachings of the Church, and apply them to their daily
life. It is a way, too, of investing daily life with the dimension of faith. BEC
members thus learn the meaning of God's Word by the light of their experie/iCe
and at the same time Team the meaning of their experience by the light ef God's
Word. ' ■\ .:
Hence, BEC faith is not dualistic. It does not compartmentalize and separate faith and life. It
understands faith as flowing into daily life. BEC• faith is community-oriented, it is
transformative'.'.of social relationships and structures. It is not ri uaJistic but realizes that
beyond the mere practice of devotions and the ritual offering of sacrifice are their deeper
meanings of mercy, justice and peace, truth and love.
BEG formation thus begins with biblical form As a result, Bible sharing and Bible Services in
the BEC are both occasions of prayer and also of faith-forma-
 tion. In praying with the Bible, BEC members catechize and
evangelize one another.
Faith Discernment in the BEC
The same process of praxis-reflection is used for Christian discernment for the purpose of arriving at a
decision and making a proper Christian response to a pastoral situation. The general question that is
usually posed for discernment is: In this particular situation what does my faith tell me to do? What does
the Word of God say to me? What am I supposed to do as a Christian?
These questions arise during Bible sharing as BEC members apply the Word of God to the problems of
their families or of their community. They listen to the Word of God. They prayerfully reflect on it, just
like Mary who "treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).
If the BEC needs to know whether or not a particular situation in their family or in their community
"leads to death" or "leads to life and peace" (see Romans 8:6), it is subjected to the double optic of the
Bible and of the teachings of the Church, the official and authoritative interpreter of the word of God. If
the situation leads to death, the response would be denunciation and rejection. If to life, the response
would be affirmation and positive action. Such faith-responses manifest authentic discipleship, the
following of Christ, and of the quest for the Kingdom of God.
Dynamic Movements of Change through the BEC
As people go through the processes of BEC formation and BEC living, they undergo fundamental
movements of renewal. They move:
• from faith-dualism to faith-integration;
• from mere private ethics to an ethics of social involvement and participation;
• from individualism to community.
As Church they also move:
• from institution-centeredness to pastoral program-orientation;
• from top-to-bottom decision making to co-responsibility and participation;
• from rote ritual to worship "in spirit and truth."
Indeed, liturgy in the "BEC.is far from "dry." As the people bring the context of their lives to prayer or to
the ritual offering, the liturgy becomes a celebration of life, its pains and joys. It becomes an experience
of God's active saving presence,
a participation in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus.
BEC Spirituality
Such dynamic movements of change do not simply happen. They flow from var
ous processes of BEC formation such as in catechesis, lay leadership, youth formation, family life
ministry, social action, etc. Ultimately, renewal flows from
constant, on-going formation in BEC spirituality.
It is a formation to authentic discipleship. It is concerned with how the poor follow the way, the life, and
the truth of Jesus in their situation of poverty and
deprivation as well as their struggle for fairness and equity—justice —in the world. Terms such
as "spirituality of the poor," "spirituality of struggle/' "spirituality of persecution and
martyrdom," "spirituality of liberation" have been used to describe such a spirituality.
BEC spirituality is really a spiritual process or jrJurney of discipleship with a two-fold
immersion — in the life of the poor and in the life of Jesus. The first immersion makes us grow
in our fraternal concern for the least of Christ's brothers and sisters (Matthew 25:31-46), deepens
our love of preference for the poor, helps us think, suffer and rejoice the way they do, and
transform affective
compassion into effective action on behalf of the poor.
The second immersion —- in the life of Jesus — makes our, pro-poor orientation truly God-
ward, Christ-centered. It enables us to know Christ more deeply and love him more intimately.
Immersion in Christ enables us to love and serve not as ideologues but as disciples of the
Lord. Both processes of immersion bring us into communion with Christ and with the poor.
Indeed, BEC spirituality is a spirituality-of communion.
With communion comes mission. For BEC leaders and members, already immersed in their own
poverty, such a spirituality brings with it a transforming awareness of personal dignity, of their
being favored by Jesus who is God made poor for our sake, of their active role in God's saving
plan and mission. Communion impels them to participate actively in transformational action to
help build the Kingdom of God "now here and yet still to come" at the end of time. BEC
spirituality is also Kingdom spirituality^ spirituality of involvement and
action.
The Word of God figures prominently in BEC spirituality. The Word of God calls to conversion
as the first step on the journey of discipleship. Keep in mind the call of the Apostles and how
they had to "leave everything behind" in order to follow Christ. Jesus in the Gospels speaks
■ about humble faith and confident hope. Discipleship requires personal surrender, a
repeatedly
willingness to "leave" home, father and mother, one's family — even to the point of losing one's
life in the following of Jesus (Matthew 10:37 ff; Luke 14:26 ff.).
The Word of God presents the values of the Kingdom, expressed in the Beatitudes, as necessary
for authentic discipleship. Discipleship is a witnessing, to Jesus, his life and message, even the
manner of his death. God's Word offers the pattern of Christ's death as the pattern of discipleship
(see Philippians 3:10). Indeed, this is a requirement for disciples to be immersed in the
sufferings of the poor and take up their cause as Jesus himself did. Ultimately, discipleship is a
witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus, the new life that Jesus now lives with the
Father and the Spirit.
In the BEC there is also a spirituality of leadership. It is the spirituality of the participatory
servant-leader. We find the necessary spiritual qualities of the servant-leader in the Scriptures, in
the various images of shepherd, false and true (e.g., Jeremiah 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 23:1-2, 4; Psalm
23:1-4; Ezekiel 34:2-10). The image of the truly spiritual leader culminates in Jesus the Good
Shepherd (John 10:1-6,
 8

10-16; Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:3-7). His spirituality embodies humility ant! utter self-
giving love, servanthood and shepherding especially those who need the greatest care — even to
the sacrifice of self so that all might have life and have it to the full (John 10:10).
Given all the above, it is evident that prayer and prayerfulness are indispensable in BEC
spirituality. To be rooted in Christ and be in communion with Him means prayerfully and
faithfully listening to God in the Scriptures and in the Church. For BEC people, prayer
empowers and prayerful action transforms.
Conclusion
What the BEC is really all about is the idea of a "contrast community." The BEC stands in stark
contrast to the wider society that is fraught with division and conflict, imbalances and
dichotomies, lack of participation, neglect of the poor and marginalized, and lack of solidarity. It
is also in contrast to the old type of parishes where the poor rarely have a chance to participate,
where people in the big poblacion hardly know one another, much less the people from the
barrios, and where participation is often limited to the better off in society and to members of
religious organizations.
Truly the BEC is a new way of being Church, It represents a new paradigm of Church. It is a
Church that is genuinely a "community of families," making the parish a "community of
communities." It is a Church at the grassroots that is transforming itself into a Church of the
Poor, a Church of servant leadership by the clergy and religious with full participation by
empowered lay people, particularly by the poor. It is finally a Church that is engaged in
transforming the wider community into a better reflection of the Kingdom of God.

Most Rev. Orlando B. Quevedo, OM.L, D.D.

Archbishop of Cotabato Chairman: Basic Ecciesial Community (BEC)
Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)