Sacapano, Felonito (1918-1987)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 31 Dec 1987 p. 2

Birth date: 1918

text of obituary:

Philippines Church Leader Dies at 68

Salunga, Pa. — The founder and chairman of the Missions Now Church in the Philippines and founder of the Philippine Mennonite Biblical Institute died Oct. 6. He was 68.

Felonito Sacapano was a former army officer who learned about the teachings of Menno Simons in 1971 when he visited the U. S. to look for a North American agency to partner with Missions Now. He made contact with the Metamora (Ill.) Mennonite church.

Missions Now dates to 1952 when Sacapano and his wife, Maria, began a Bible study in a home in Laguna. Today the church has 22 congregations and outreach fellowships with a membership of 2,500. The Bible institute was organized in 1979.

Sacapano also organized Faith Woodcrafts, a family business which employs people to make carvings to sell through Mennonite Central Committee Self-help Crafts program.

Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions worker Melvin Thomas, who worked closely with Sacapano from 1980 to 1985, described him as a pioneer and a church statesman, one who generously shared his goods and gave himself unsparingly to the work of the church.

Sacapano is survived by his wife and seven children.

Transcribed by Ralph Shetler, Oregon