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Central United Methodist Church was foundedonSunday of March 5, 1899 as the first Protestant church inthePhilippines to minister the spiritual needs of thousandsofAmerican soldiers and civilians alike who were then residinginManila. It was also referred to as “The American Church” orthefirst ever “ English-Speaking Church” in the Philippines housedina temporary chapel located along Nozaleda Street (presentlycalledGeneral Luna Street), where the Department of Tourismbuilding nowstands.The strategic location of Central United Methodist Churchhasprovided inspiration and expedite the American ProtestantMissionin the Philippines that began with the first Protestantservice bya Methodist Chaplain, George Stull, on August 28, 1898held at theSpanish dungeon facing the bay. Although his primaryduty then wasto minister to the soldiers but was attended by someFilipinos aswell until seven months later, a establishment and apresence of anew church was greatly needed preferably close to theWalled Cityof Intramuros (a long time stronghold and cradle ofpolitical,military and religious center of the Spanish Empire inAsia), tosignify that the enemy was not only Spain but also theRomanCatholic Church, which had corrupted local peoplesthroughmisguided sense of dogma and superstition for over 300 yearsofrule. Thus, the conviction was that Protestantism would bringforththe best of Christianity as another approach of civilizingprocessand an indication that Christianity is Protestantism in theeyes ofAmerica.With the establishment of the first Protestant church inthePhilippines following the hostilities between American soldiersandFilipino revolutionary forces which escalated quickly onFebruary4, 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declaredwaragainst the United States on June 2, 1899. The war wasacontinuation of the Philippine struggle for independence thatbeganin 1896 against the Spanish which officially ended on July 4,1902against America.The war and American occupation had changed the cultural settingsofthe island with the disestablishment of the Roman CatholicChurch toseparate the Church and State, and the introduction ofthe Englishlanguage as a primary language in government,education, business,industrial and in the future decades.Despite the on-going Filipino-American war, 1901 marks thebeginningof a drastic improvement in the island. Fort Santiagobecame theheadquarters of the Philippine Division of the UnitedStates Armyunder the military government, and the gathering ofearly Protestantmissionaries in Manila to further discuss theterritorial divisionof ministry to avoid future conflicts amongthemselves and theirconverts.About 93% of the islands’ land area was already held by theAmericangovernment and William Howard Taft, newly appointedGovernor-Generalof the Philippines, argued for a liberal policy sothat a goodportion could be sold off to American investors as partof hiseconomic development under the Taft Commission, also knownas ThePhilippine Commission.By October 1901, in anticipation to Governor-General Taft’slandredistribution program and an initiative to the declarationofManila as open to all Protestant denomination and missionagencies,the Official Board of Central Methodist EpiscopalChurchimmediately acquired a property lot for the church at thecorner ofSan Luis Street (now T.M Kalaw Street), and Gen. LunaStreet.