MANILA, Philippines—
Iglesia Ni Christo celebrated its centennial anniversary on Sunday with more than
a million faithful followers in Ciudad de Victoria in Bocaue town, Bulacan
province. This celebration is in the process of winning tow more Guiness world
records.
For the worldly records, Ciudad
de Victoria’s centerpiece show, the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena, was earlier
acknowledged as the “largest mixed-use indoor theater” by Guinness, while the
choir that sang hymns throughout the special worship service presided by Manalo
was hailed as the “largest gospel choir” in a single venue.
The choir members who sang
inside the Philippine Arena on Sunday whom the Guinness judge considered was
4,745, but it all, the choir total
members numbered was 10,000, including those at the 25,000-seat Philippine
Stadium nearby the giant dome-shaped marvel.
Since July 2012, the INCE
has awarded a total of eight Guiness Records and five of these are set this year
on INC’s centennial, including the two previous world records accomplished for
the Worldwide Walk for victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda on Feb. 15.
“This is officially the new Guinness world
record,” said Guinness adjudicator Kaoru Ishikawa. To cheer more than 50,000
INC spectators in the arena, Ishikawa presented the new record for the “largest gospel choir” to INC general auditor
Glicerio B. Santos Jr. in the very arena.
It beaten the previous
record of 1,171 people singing gospel music organized by McDonald’s Gospel
Super Choir to celebrate Black History Month, at Newark Symphony Hall in
Newark, New Jersey, which recorded on Jan. 31.
Ishikawa said she was
surprised because INC achieved another record denoting to the Philippines Arena
for being the largest mixed used indoor theater. The arena is made with
outstanding architecture marvel which is both typhoon and earthquake proof.
It has a 3.6-hectare dome-shaped roof with no beams assisting it in the center, making it a challenge to its
builders and architects who came from
the prominent architectural and construction firms in the world.
Guinness totaled 51,919
people inside the arena during the early morning worship service and more
people filled the huge theater, while hundreds of thousands more watched
outside. There are more than 1,180 satellite link sites also allowed the
service to be beamed to millions more of INC followers in the Philippines.
According to Manalo, God
has blessed INC because since 2009 alone, 603 INC buildings of worship have
been built worldwide, 52 are in the Philippines and 51 abroad while there are
349 other buildings of worship are undergoing renovation. One of the cutting-edge
buildings of worship offered to God this July is the Capitol locale, which cost
P347 million.
