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A CITATION
For 36 years, Gordon-Conwell alumna Arsenia Banaga has served the “least of these”- poor,
orphaned 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,
orphaned 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 |
| Paul said: By everything I did I showed you should work to help everyone who is weak. Remember that our Lord said "more blessings come from giving than from receiving". Acts 20: 35 - CEV |
race Christian Mission, Inc.