Tarlac Philippines Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, Inc.

What we've been through

Going back to history, Tarlac first belongs to Philippine Island Mission Conference from 1905 to 1908. In 1909 to 1913, it became part of the Central District of the Philippine Islands Annual Conference. The Pampango District was formed in 1914 putting together all Pampango speaking Churches. In 1924, Tarlac District was created to include all churches in the province. However, in 1934-36, the all Pampango speaking churches were joined again as one District and called Pampanga South Tarlac District.

With the establishment of the Philippines Annual Conference in 1936, the Pampanga South Tarlac District was among the districts that comprised the new Annual Conference. In 1961, The Middle Philippines Annual Conference was created with the Pampanga South Tarlac District as member of the new Annual Conference. However, the favour for self governance as a district, became so intense, it petition the Annual Conference to separate South Tarlac from Pampanga.

In 1962, the Middle Philippines Annual Conference approved the separation of South Tarlac as a District. The District was included in the West Middle Philippines Annual Conference from1997 to 2001. In the 2000 Session of the Philippine Central Conference, passed the formation of the Pampango Philippines Annual Conference covering the two districts of Pampanga, the Tribal Mission Churches (Aeta Churches), and the South Tarlac District.

Due to continuing growth of churches in Tarlac, resulting to the establishment of another District (Central Tarlac District) in 2003 and in recognition of its capability to stand as a separate annual conference, The Philippine Central Conference in its 2004 Regular Session, approved the separation of the South Tarlac and Central Tarlac Districts from the Pampango Annual Conference and now composed the Tarlac Philippines Annual Conference.

The new Annual Conference started with 53 local churches, 61 clergies and 20 deaconesses and 11,131 members. It held its inaugural Regular Session on April 12-14, 2005 at The United Methodist Church- Rev. Ricardo Del Rosario Memorial, Poblacion, Bamban, Tar-lac. Likewise, Episcopal supervision was transferred from Manila Episcopal Area to Baguio Episcopal Area effective the start of Conference year 2005-2006.

The COVID19 Pandemic came in March 2020 and most of the gatherings were prohibited for safety protocols. After 2 months, all gatherings from church services to lay organization activities were held both face-to-face, with safety measures, and online. The 2021 Regular Session was held online while all Districts gathered in one place and connected through Zoom Video Conference. In 2022 onwards, Regular Sessions were held as usual.