Grace Christian Mission, Inc
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| Bringing the good news of Christ's kingdom |
| Honorary Doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary for Arsenia D Banaga 2005 |
A CITATION
For 36 years, Gordon-Conwell alumna Arsenia Banaga has served the “least of these”- poor,and abandoned children in the poverty-
stricken rural barrios of the Philippines. As founder and Executive Director of Grace Christian Mission, this tiny woman of giant faith and
determination has, by God’s grace, built a ministry that began with three needy children in a remote mountain village and now serves
hundreds of children through an orphanage, three schools and four churches.
Arsenia was born in the Philippines to devout Christian parents who had both been orphans. Her mother’s stories about cruel treatment
as a child pierced Arsenia’s heart. “Is that an orphan’s life? No love?” she would wonder. Whenever she saw an orphan, she would
think of her mother. Ultimately she determined to do her best to take care of the fatherless and motherless. Arsenia graduated from
Manila’s FEBIAS College of Bible and earned a Bachelor of Science in Education degree at Philippine Christian University. She then
served for eight years as missionary, teacher and church worker with tribal people on Mindanao Island. Her enjoyment of languages
and passion to bring the gospel to unreached peoples led to her gain fluency in six native languages and English. In 1963, she received a
scholarship to continue her studies at Gordon Divinity School, but contracted tuberculosis while on the mission field. It would be 1966
before she was able to pursue theological education in the United States. Two years later, she was awarded a Master of Religious
Education degree from Gordon Divinity School.
While Arsenia is in America, her father purchased 12 acres of land in Sto. Nino, Tanay, Rizal, a remote, mountainous area east of
Manila. His vision to build a mission on the site was cut short by his death in 1968, and the task fell to Arsenia. In 1969, she returned to
the Philippines to begin building an orphanage for the first three children. With three staff members, she performed carpentry work,
farmed the land for food, and braved steep mountain trails and swift, overflowing rivers to secure supplies and share the gospel. On one
such trip to purchase rice for the children her brother-in-law was swept to his death by raging water. By 1992, Arsenia and her
dedicated staff were serving 60 children, and moved the orphanage to Boso-Boso, near Manila. By 1999, a team of six was serving
120 young orphans.
From the beginning of Grace Christian Mission, Arsenia realized that her orphans needed an education in order to rise above their
circumstances. She led the development of a fully accredited technical high school in Boso-Boso, where children receive academic and
spiritual preparation, and also learn how to raise chickens and pigs. Several years later, when the only school closed in the remote
community of Badian, Oas, Albay, Arsenia and her staff built a second school. The first structure was so primitive that high winds blew
it down. The second had dirt floors and no window panes. Yet grateful parents even sold their property, so eager were they to send
their children to school. Today, a more modern building is under construction and the mission serves 650 students in an elementary
school and two high schools. Arsenia’s remarkable kingdom building has inspired at least two generations of Grace Christian Mission
orphans and students to become highly qualified and intensely devoted workers at the mission. All but two of the 14 teachers at Boso-
Boso are graduates of the orphanage or school. One of Arsenia’s orphans, Roberto Sonio, is presently a student at Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary, and will assume leadership of the mission's educational ministries when she retires.
Students and graduates overflow with gratitude for their education. “At the school,” says one young man, “for the first time, I heard the
Word of God. So many people who come through Grace Christian Mission are encouraged and enabled to get a high school education,
and a large portion are sponsored to go on to higher education. In the Philippines, this is very, very rare.” Another student comments,
“There is always the presence of Christ. Witnessing Arsenia’s dedication to Christ, I was so challenged. I had a desire to study so that I
could help the children.” For her remarkable contributions to the education and welfare of children, Arsenia was given the prestigious
Golden Service National Award by the Philippine Experimental and Educational Resource Society, Inc. in 2005.
Whenever Arsenia now goes in the communities her mission inhabits, this single woman with no children of her own has hundreds of
children in Christ who “rise up and call her blessed.” They come up to touch her, to walk with her, to hold her hand. Her work for the
Lord has been accomplished with limited resources, much faith, great love and constant prayer. Therefore, in recognition of her
remarkable life of service to her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and her steadfast commitment to “look after the orphans… in their
distress,” on the recommendation of the Honorary Degrees Committee and by unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees, we honor
ourselves this 7th day of May, 2005, by presenting for the degree
For 36 years, Gordon-Conwell alumna Arsenia Banaga has served the “least of these”- poor,and abandoned children in the poverty-
stricken rural barrios of the Philippines. As founder and Executive Director of Grace Christian Mission, this tiny woman of giant faith and
determination has, by God’s grace, built a ministry that began with three needy children in a remote mountain village and now serves
hundreds of children through an orphanage, three schools and four churches.
Arsenia was born in the Philippines to devout Christian parents who had both been orphans. Her mother’s stories about cruel treatment
as a child pierced Arsenia’s heart. “Is that an orphan’s life? No love?” she would wonder. Whenever she saw an orphan, she would
think of her mother. Ultimately she determined to do her best to take care of the fatherless and motherless. Arsenia graduated from
Manila’s FEBIAS College of Bible and earned a Bachelor of Science in Education degree at Philippine Christian University. She then
served for eight years as missionary, teacher and church worker with tribal people on Mindanao Island. Her enjoyment of languages
and passion to bring the gospel to unreached peoples led to her gain fluency in six native languages and English. In 1963, she received a
scholarship to continue her studies at Gordon Divinity School, but contracted tuberculosis while on the mission field. It would be 1966
before she was able to pursue theological education in the United States. Two years later, she was awarded a Master of Religious
Education degree from Gordon Divinity School.
While Arsenia is in America, her father purchased 12 acres of land in Sto. Nino, Tanay, Rizal, a remote, mountainous area east of
Manila. His vision to build a mission on the site was cut short by his death in 1968, and the task fell to Arsenia. In 1969, she returned to
the Philippines to begin building an orphanage for the first three children. With three staff members, she performed carpentry work,
farmed the land for food, and braved steep mountain trails and swift, overflowing rivers to secure supplies and share the gospel. On one
such trip to purchase rice for the children her brother-in-law was swept to his death by raging water. By 1992, Arsenia and her
dedicated staff were serving 60 children, and moved the orphanage to Boso-Boso, near Manila. By 1999, a team of six was serving
120 young orphans.
From the beginning of Grace Christian Mission, Arsenia realized that her orphans needed an education in order to rise above their
circumstances. She led the development of a fully accredited technical high school in Boso-Boso, where children receive academic and
spiritual preparation, and also learn how to raise chickens and pigs. Several years later, when the only school closed in the remote
community of Badian, Oas, Albay, Arsenia and her staff built a second school. The first structure was so primitive that high winds blew
it down. The second had dirt floors and no window panes. Yet grateful parents even sold their property, so eager were they to send
their children to school. Today, a more modern building is under construction and the mission serves 650 students in an elementary
school and two high schools. Arsenia’s remarkable kingdom building has inspired at least two generations of Grace Christian Mission
orphans and students to become highly qualified and intensely devoted workers at the mission. All but two of the 14 teachers at Boso-
Boso are graduates of the orphanage or school. One of Arsenia’s orphans, Roberto Sonio, is presently a student at Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary, and will assume leadership of the mission's educational ministries when she retires.
Students and graduates overflow with gratitude for their education. “At the school,” says one young man, “for the first time, I heard the
Word of God. So many people who come through Grace Christian Mission are encouraged and enabled to get a high school education,
and a large portion are sponsored to go on to higher education. In the Philippines, this is very, very rare.” Another student comments,
“There is always the presence of Christ. Witnessing Arsenia’s dedication to Christ, I was so challenged. I had a desire to study so that I
could help the children.” For her remarkable contributions to the education and welfare of children, Arsenia was given the prestigious
Golden Service National Award by the Philippine Experimental and Educational Resource Society, Inc. in 2005.
Whenever Arsenia now goes in the communities her mission inhabits, this single woman with no children of her own has hundreds of
children in Christ who “rise up and call her blessed.” They come up to touch her, to walk with her, to hold her hand. Her work for the
Lord has been accomplished with limited resources, much faith, great love and constant prayer. Therefore, in recognition of her
remarkable life of service to her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and her steadfast commitment to “look after the orphans… in their
distress,” on the recommendation of the Honorary Degrees Committee and by unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees, we honor
ourselves this 7th day of May, 2005, by presenting for the degree
| DOCTOR OF DIVINITY honoris causa Arsenia Banaga |
