The Abante International Ministries

MISSION STATEMENT

Inspired and challenged by the mandate of the Holy Scriptures to be witnesses both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth, the AIM intends to fufill such mandate as the Lord will give the opportunity.

The AIM believes that there is no higher service than that of God and that dedication and deep commitment to that service are needed to attain the goals.

The preaching of the Gospel is the greatest intention of the AIM, corollary to that is the training of pastors, workers and missionaries.

There are four mission areas in which the AIM wants to be involved as indicated by Acts 1:8:

Jerusalem which applies to home missions projects;
Judea which we refer as local missions projects;
Samaria which we consider as missions to different races;
Uttermost which will apply to reaching the unreached program.
These might be a very ambitious missions program but the Bible clearly gives us the challenge and we want to believe one of the greatest missions statements of all times:

ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD, EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD!

With these things in mind, the AIM will be asking support from those who in one way or another became a part of the ministry of Dr. Benny M. Abante, Jr., the founder of AIM. These refer to Christians around the world who got saved in his ministry; or, who were taught under his ministry; or, who were trained and discipled in his ministry. The Bible says, “the husbandman must first be partaker of his fruits.”

It is our prayer that God will prosper this ministry and use the AIM as one of the divine agencies of God through New Testament Churches and other believers to preach the Gospel everywhere with a divine intention to start and build New Testament Churches by the grace of God and the glory of God!

DISTRICT EVANGELISM AREAS (DEAR) - January 2002

“Reaching our Jerusalems & Judeas for Christ”  DEAR is a home-based Bible study where other people within the member's neighborhood are invited to come and hear the Gospel preached. Every DEAR is led by a faithful man of the church, oftentimes appointed by the Senior Pastor and is called “evangelist.” DEAR workers are composed of members living within the vicinity of the place of Bible study which is usually the home of a member. The venue might be a public place that is conducive for such meetings. One can easily recognize a DEAR by a special banner that bears the MBBC logo and the place where that DEAR is located. Many converts are direct fruits from this very localized ministry. Presently, we have DEAR in Paco, Leiva, Sta. Ana, Malacañang South.  

METROPOLITAN INTERNATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE ENDEAVOR (MILE) – 2002

In November of 2002, just after the annual missions conference hosted by the Lighthouse Bible Baptist Church in Tatalon uner Ptr. Rueben Abante, am exciting collaborative ministry among the Abante brothers was born. This “holy alliance” among the 3 Abantes has been given a novel moniker to symbolize their aspirations for the furtherance of the Lord's work. In their desire to reach far and wide across ministries of like Baptist faith, they came up with M.I.L.E. or Metropolitan International Lighthouse Endeavors, the first three words taken from the first words of their respective churches. This was launched to host conferences (such as the annual Baptist Heritage Conference) to further bolster cooperation and unity among fellowshipping Baptist churches. The bigger-than-life picture is to bring revival and foster closer ties among their fellow laborers in the Lord's work. The Abantes pray that MILE will indeed go a long, long way as a strong impact player to their co-laborers in God's vineyard everywhere.

PREACHERS' INTERCESSORY NETWORK (PIN)– October 2002

Every Monday, the gates of Heaven are “under siege” by Pastors gathering themselves in a friendly fashion, enjoying not only their togetherness and camaraderie, and the very limited time away that they can have from their busy schedules for the week ahead, but much more the time that they can get closer to their Master in prayer – interceding for each other and their families, for their ministries, and for this nation. It is a very striking contrast to the way some skeptics paint Baptist preachers to be, which is indifferent and envious to each other, always arguing, most especially doctrinally! The PREACHERS' INTERCESSORY NETWORK , better known as PIN is a Monday BIG EVENT that every active PIN partner always look forward to. PIN was conceived by Dr. Abante with some of his closest and old time and all-the-time friends in the ministry during the time of severe economic and political crisis in our country, and exactly a year away from the “A Million Gathering for Jesus” at the Quirino Grandstand. On this day, pastors gather together to pray for just about everything – their ministries, sicknesses, the leaders, big events and our nation. It has since become institutionalized, mostly exclusively for pastors (with their wives in some occasions) and is held for almost the entire Monday morning. During PINs, money is also raised for special needs of pastors. Better still, it is a day when they can simply enjoy each other's company and get more intimate with the Lord!

WORLD HOPE ASIA TELECAST –2002

Seeking to further launch out into the deep and reach more Filipinos to Christ, this TV ministry was launched over ZOE TV to use this very influential medium to get the Gospel heard by as many people as can be reached in an hour's time.  

CHURCH ADOPTION STRATEGY (CAST) - January 2003

One of the major ministries embodied in the Senior Pastor's 15-point plan that he announced at the beginning of 2003 was the C.A.S.T., meaning CHURCH ADOPTION STRATEGY. It is borne out of Dr. Abante's desire to help churches which must themselves be growing ministries. It is a way of nurturing and edifying “adopted” churches which can be non-Metropolitan, establishing partnerships in prayers and fellowships between “sister churches” and making the “adoptee” more missions-minded in the long run. The strategy is not meant to make the adopted church dependent on their adoptee, but that both will exercise greater faith and show more love and concern for other ministries. With CAST the adopting churches will truly experience to be more blessed to give than to receive!

ADOPT-A-FAMILY - Summer 2003

This is a two-pronged ministry which hopes to serve as a compassionate bridge between the church and the underprivileged sector of the society. Firstly, the support of US $30 per family coming from Filipino and American brethren from the US is used to benefit and help the initial 20 families that underwent a stringent screening from community leaders that are long time supporters of Dr. Abante in his political endeavors. Secondly, these families will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel by their regular attendance to church services. As they would hopefully be saved, their lives changed and their way of living as well, they will not only depend on the support given by the church, but will later on find decent means to support their families adequately. Their financial support then would be given to another family that is on the “waiting list.”

One-on-One Discipleship Program- O ctober 17, 2003

Through the discipleship program owned by Rev. John Honeycutt's WORLD IN NEED (WIN) International Ministries, Inc., MBBC was able to have the One-on-One Discipleship Program which is composed of a 10-point lesson that will surely strengthen a new believer in his daily walk with God, and make him know more about the basics of his newfound faith. WIN Int'l. was founded in 1972 “orchestrates strategic regional movements of evangelism and one-on-one discipleship with local church planters. The result is the multiplying if Discipling Centers and local churches that communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.” It's also “back-to-basics” for the discipler, the one who is going to lead the disciple, the one being trained. These two are called discipleship partners. For this program, discipline, patience and strong commitment are required from both because they will together memorize a lot of Scriptures, and write literally hundreds of verses from the Bible (all in all, 6 entire New Testament books!), penning the exact words in their own notebooks with their own hands.

Visitation and Follow-up Ministry

This the ministry that the MBBC Pastor started alone, walking literally to reach places near and far the church so he can talk to people about the Lord. The visitation and follow-up ministry is still very much alive and continuing until now, and those who are actively involved here can be called the workers of the church. Every Thursday and Saturday, soul-winning partners within the CARE groups or within the different Houses, or from within different Sunday School classes go out and visit members of their groups who might be sick or might just be needing encouragement, or to seek out previous visitors of the church (follow-ups) through the yellow visitors' cards they have filled up during their visit to the church. Those followed up through the cards may have already professed or may not have made any decision at all. It follows the biblical principle of going out “two-by-two,” as the one opening the Word of God to a person visited needs a partner to take care of distractions (crying babies, for examples for mothers at home) so that any disturbances to sharing the Gospel can be minimized, if not totally eliminated. Thursdays and Saturdays every week are visitation and follow-up times for the different churches and congregations of MBBC.

The Christian Professional Evangelism Professional (CPEF)

Objective: To reach the busy professional in the Workplace….   While the BYI's main thrust is to impart the Gospel to the busy student, the Christian Professional Evangelism Fellowship was organized solely for the purpose of reaching the hectic professional. Its humble beginnings started upon the creation of the Baptist Youth Alumni (BYI) Association, whose members were the direct alumni of BYI. Later on, this was renamed Baptist Youth Impact Professionals Association which already favored the inclusions of all working professionals. Out of these organizations, the Christian Professional Evangelism Fellowship was organized and inaugurated on November 15, 1986. The tasks entrusted to the CPEF are: •  To financially support church ministries •  To evangelize the locality where a CPEF member is working •  To be an immediate support to the Pastor's vision, burden and even to his physical and family needs As part of the CPEF's endeavor in sharing the Gospel to the professionals, CPEF formed the different Bible Clubs which organized Bible studies in their respective work places. There are 3 Bible clubs actively sharing God's plan of salvation to the busy career people, namely, Makati , Ortigas and Manila Bible Clubs. CPEF has vigorously participated in the affairs of the church. The organization has always been host to the annual baccalaureate services and spearheads welcome breakfasts/dinner meetings with foreign guest speakers. It also co-sponsors with other ministries mini- concerts and other related church activities