10/09/2026
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐?
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What if the person you greet at church is carrying a weight you cannot see?
What if it is the person you are discipling, the one who shows up eager, who sometimes seems distant, and you are not sure why?
Or the person sitting quietly beside you during worship.
A ministry leader who serves faithfully but goes home exhausted in ways that are hard to explain.
Someone you love, and perhaps someone you have misunderstood without meaning to.
This is where our journey begins.
In our first lecture, ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐, we open a conversation to better understand it, and how we, as a church community can respond with greater awareness, understanding, and compassion.
In the Philippines, the World Health Organization estimates that more than 500,000 people are living with bipolar disorder. Yet the same assessment found that treatment coverage reaches only 5% of those who need it.
That quiet number holds a world of pain. How many among us are struggling without understanding, without support, and without access to professional help?
We also know, from broader research, that faith communities do not always know how to respond. In a study by Stanford and McAlister (2008), 41% of Christians with a serious mental illness reported being told by their church that they did not have a mental disorder. That study was not conducted in the Philippines, so we cannot map it directly onto Filipino churches. But it is a signal worth hearing.
๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ง, ๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ซ?
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Because it is not just a statistic. It is a reality in our communities, churches, and homes. And behind every number is a person who matters.
They are people we meet.
People we disciple.
People who worship beside us.
People we love.
This is why we are opening a conversation not only to learn about the disorder, but to better understand the people who may be experiencing it.
๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ญ:
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We are also pleased to welcome ๐ซ๐. ๐ฑ๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐, who will join us to share his personal testimony, sharing a lived perspective to our conversation about bipolar disorder, faith, relationships, and community.
He is a professor of conducting at St. Paul University Manila and serves in worship ministry at Union Church of Manila.
7:30 - 8:00 PM - His Personal Testimony
8:00 - 8:15 PM - Live Q&A with him
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๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
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๐ฟ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ 1 | ๐พ๐๐๐น๐ผ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐โ๐๐๐๐กโ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐
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๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ค๐๐ซ: Dr. Linda Bubod
๐๐ก๐๐ง: September 29, 2026
๐๐ข๐ฆ๐: 6:00 - 9:00 PM (PHT)
๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐: On-site or Online via Zoom
๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง:
You can register through our online registration form.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfkcRqa0KA839stl4pNooHunDyMNztBhx-FpppondEUaTmdyg/viewform?usp=header
For further queries, kindly message Pastora Mikha Cambang Necessario.
๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐น๐น ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐:
We highly encourage all participants to join the community group for important announcements, session updates, resources, and continued conversations related to the lecture series.
๐ฝ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐พ๐๐๐น๐ผ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐โ๐๐๐๐กโ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐บ๐๐๐ข๐
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1FsXwSPwXb/
This is a space to learn, reflect, and engage so that we might see one another with greater understanding, deeper compassion, and the kind of love that does not look away.
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Sources:
[1] World Health Organization. (2020). Philippines WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health Situational Assessment. Table 3: GBD 2017 prevalence estimate of 0.5% for bipolar disorder (520,614 people) and treatment coverage of 5.0%.
[2] Stanford, A., & McAlister, T. (2008). Demon or disorder: A survey of attitudes toward mental illness in the Christian church. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 10(5), 445โ449.
