Activities and Practices as Venues of Religious and Political Socialization

In the course of EI Shaddai's history, many activities have evolved to foster religious and political socialization in the movement. These activities, while intended primarily for religious purposes, are conveniently transformed into venues for political mobilization such as prayer rallies "for peace" which afford the movement ways to articulate its position on pressing national concerns. These have also become means for waging "electoral campaigns", initiated by Velarde himself in order to give his followers- a chance to listen to candidates and to form a more objective and informed choice.

The most important of these activities arethe weekly mass and healing rallies called weekly "Family Appointment with EI Shaddai," the climax of which is the "healing message" delivered by Velarde or by a disciple. With an average of 500,000 - one (1) million attendance each week, these weekly meetings give EI Shaddai members a sense of their overwhelming size and following, and a sense of the "genuineness of the movement of the Holy Spirit in their midst." In the survey conducted by this researcher, 67.5% of the respondents said that they attend their prayer meetings and rallies at least once a month. The mid-afternoon traffic congestion caused by the fellowship in the city's environs and the awesome 'view on TV of people oblivious of bad weather conditions appear to make EI Shaddai members and the public realize the enormity of their size as a group as wellas its political mobilization potential.

The other activities of the group that encourage political socialization as well are: (1) the local weekly mass and healing rallies, held within barangay and parish-based communities attended by as many as 300-1,000 members; and (2) the weekly prayer meetings in out-of-parish based communities held in institutions, factories and offices with about 100-300 attending. In practically every province of the country there are EI Shaddai communities. Each community holds regular meetings in all of their chapters here and abroad. Statistics show that in February 2019, there were already a grand total of 30,100 of these prayer communities in the Philippines and around the world. The meetings in these groups basically follow the format of the "Weekly Family Appointment with EI Shaddai" but a disciple takes the place of Velarde as preacher. There are instances, however, when Velarde himself is invited as speaker in chapter anniversary celebrations. A concrete example of these chapter-initiated activities, where Velarde himself was the speaker, was the one held at the "Batasang Pambansa" or House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress. Employees, EI Shaddai followers within the area;and some members of the House attended the said event. In this particular occasion, he took the occasion to remind the country's legislators of the root cause of the nation's problems and what actually constitutes greatness for a country.

The ministry also holds overnight prayer vigils four times a year to celebrate special occasions such as the following: (1) anniversary celebrations of the foundation, (2) Annual Family Reunions with EI Shaddai, (2) Annual Grand Miracle Crusade for the Feast of Santo Nino de Cebu (4) Easter Sundays, and (5) Pentecost. These are attended by approximately two to three million members and followers. It is usually during these occasions that Velarde invites the president of the country and other government officials to either deliver a speech before millions of EI Shaddai followers or be mere guests of honor. It was in some of these overnight celebrations that Velarde expressed affirmation and support for the achievements and policies of the Ramos administration as well as of other incumbent governments. The presence of government officials in these events also gives Velarde the opportunity to lead the people in praying for both the state and its officials. These prayer rallies often give Velarde not only the opportunity to preach the Words of God.but also to emphasize and inculcate among members certain political values.