After 'Surreal' Beginning, Philippines' First Woman Bishop Works for UMC Unity

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UPDATE: Information regarding the Christmas Covenant has been corrected below.

A United Methodist Insight Exclusive

The first clergywoman elected bishop in the Philippines Central Conference still finds her new experience as an episcopal leader "surreal."

"When people call me 'bishop,' I turn around to see who they're talking to," said Bishop Ruby-Nell M. Estrella, episcopal leader of the Manila Area of the Philippines Central Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Estrella spoke to United Methodist Insight during a reception for the three new Philippines bishops in advance of orientation with the Council of Bishops in Dallas, Texas, during the week of Jan. 16.

"At my election there was such euphoria," Bishop Estrella said. "By the time I was elected it was the 19th ballot, and Bishop (Thomas) Bickerton had declared it would be the last ballot. But then I got 300 votes, and the bishop asked the people if they wanted another ballot. I was elected on the 20th ballot.

"We were all crying. Everybody was crying, everybody wanted a picture," she said. "It was like a challenge that we were able to prevail with God's grace."

Bishop Estrella talks a lot about God's grace, because she said she has experienced grace in every unexpected turn of her life. Beyond the spiritual wonder, she's now encountering the realities of being a United Methodist bishop.

"The responsibilities are great; the expectations for the first woman bishop are really high," Bishop Estrella said. "It's like they're expecting me to do something spectacular."

Even so, not everyone shared in the joy at her election.

"There are some who are just waiting for me to do something," Bishop Estrella said. "This is a sad reality, the politics of the church. But God empowers us for this time."

Like some United Methodist clergy, Bishop Estrella came to ordained ministry as a "second career" pastor. She was baptized and grew up at Tangos United Methodist Church in Navotas City with her parents and three sisters. She graduated with a bachelor of accounting degree at Polytechnic University of the Philippines and passed the license examination for certified public accountant in 1986. She didn't start her own practice but instead worked as junior auditor in a group of companies in Makati, according to the report of her election by UM News correspondent Gladys P. Mangiduyos.

Her accounting job "failed to bring her joy," Bishop Estrella told UM News. Instead, she left accounting and volunteered as church secretary at Tangos UMC until she responded God’s call to ordained ministry by becoming a licensed local pastor in 1987. In 1994, she graduated with a master of divinity from Union Theological Seminary and was ordained elder in 1995.

Answering God's call to ordained ministry meant sacrifice on her part, she acknowledged.

"At first I thought I wanted to be a deaconess; the deaconess movement is very active in the Philippines," Bishop Estrella said. "But my pastor insisted I should try to become ordained. I prayed and asked God to direct me.

"God gave me positions I thought I couldn't handle. I became a pastor, then a district superintendent. Men who are older than I am, with more experience in the ministry, had their eyeballs raised when I was named a district superintendent."

Now that she holds the highest office in United Methodism, Bishop Estrella sees her biggest challenges as the Philippines' first woman bishop are to face expectations to "prove" herself and to work for UMC unity.

"As a woman, you have to prove you are capable, that you can do what the men can do," Bishop Estrella told Insight.

Aside from overcoming sexism, the bishop said that she sees sustaining United Methodist unity as her most pressing challenge.

"Many churches, especially in the United States, have voted for disaffiliation," Bishop Estrella said. "But we have been saying, 'Let's wait.' We don't want the Philippines church to be splintered, especially because we see the issue is for the American church. We are fighting a lot of misinformation.""In the Philippines we don't have same-sex marriage, but pastors are scared that they will be forced to perform same-sex marriages," the bishop said. "They don't want to be associated with a church that allows it."

Because the UMC's ban on pastors performing same-sex marriages is in the Book of Discipline, "I will uphold that," Bishop Estrella said.

"But I challenge pastors not to pass judgment on LGBTQ people, to accept them, respect them, because they are fellow servants of God with gifts and graces," she added.

Because of Filipino United Methodists' concerns about how the UMC's American segment has controlled church policies in the past, Bishop Estrella said she supports the Christmas Covenant, a proposal that would reorganize the worldwide UMC into geographical regions with autonomy to create operating rules consistent with their respective cultural contexts. Cavite Philippines Annual Conference, a part of the Manila Area, originally submitted the Christmas Covenant legislation to General Conference in February 2020, so it will be considered by the 2024 General Conference. Another conference, South Nueva Ecija, endorsed the Christmas Covenant last year.

Her biggest hope for the entire United Methodist Church is that the church will heed God's guidance in its current crisis, just as she and others have followed their discernments of God's will.

"When I don't know what to do, when I'm facing a problem, I pray, 'Lord, give me the wisdom, I'll do what You want,'" Bishop Estrella said. "God will use whatever I have, my gifts, graces, training. When I answered the Lord's call to ministry, I thought I had disregarded my (CPA) license, only to realize when I became treasurer of the Philippines Central Conference that the Lord will use that. It's amazing."

Insight asked Bishop Estrella what she'd like women in the UMC to understand, based on her own faith journey.

"That they can do a lot, by the grace of God!" the bishop exclaimed over the noise of post-dinner conversation in a Chinese buffet restaurant. "They simply need to get a chance to serve. Women must really assert ourselves. We have a place – a big place – in the church."

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011 as a media channel for under-served and marginalized voices in The United Methodist Church. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.