History of the School

Kingdom Message Ministry School was started by Merlinda Muhmenthaler-Berongoy, of Filipino origin, who had lived in Switzerland since 1988, but moved back to the Philippines in April 2010. She went with a great burden in her heart for the gospel of the Kingdom of God to be brought to the Philippine islands. But she did more than just bring the gospel in words; she added actions to her faith. As she wanted to see the needs of the children in the Philippines met, she went out and located a building for a school. Then, she took $10,000 of her own money and began to renovate this building. Once the building was in order, she went out into the community to get the children for the school.

You have to understand: in the Philippines, they don’t have schools where people can go fully for free. In order for your children to be able to participate in any kind of education, including free-public schools, you have to be able to pay for the numerous projects related to your child’s academics. Also, the number of children in the classrooms is so high that the final learning results are very poor. For these reasons, many people prefer to send their children to private schools where they can get full or at least partial sponsorship as well as better education.

Merlinda wasn’t looking for anybody that had money; in fact, she looked for the poorest of the poor. She went into the community that surrounded the school and her only requirement was that the parents had to be so poor that they couldn’t afford to have their children educated.

As she talked to the different mothers, they were all astounded. They were saying, “Who is this woman who offers to teach my child for no pay?” For all of them, it was an opportunity of a lifetime! Merlinda informed them, “Well, the only requirement that I have is that the children are not only going to learn the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic, but we are going to teach them the Word of God and Who God is.”

Merlinda managed to bring together forty-five children and started educating them in June 2010 (the school year in the Philippines starts in June and runs through March). She hired three teachers and one registrar. She bought uniforms for all the children. Out of those forty-five, thirty of them could not afford to pay anything, so their tuition was free. The other fifteen could afford about one-third of the normal cost (a full tuition is about $30 dollars a month).

The school originally started with forty students and three levels – Nursery and Kindergarten 1 & 2., but has expanded greatly during these several years of its operation. In 2012, 115 students have been taught from Nursery through Grade 2 and in June 2015 six classes have been opened with 180 pupils. In just a few years, the whole operation has reached far beyond the efforts of one individual. The school is now supported from three continents – North America, Europe and Africa – and a major part of its operation is conducted from the United States. We have received a large vision to teach many more children and invest in them while they are young.

The history of the school is progressive. We are looking into the future with hope and trust that many more lives of the young generation in the Philippines will be touched.

It says in the Bible in James 1:27, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. It continues to say in James 2:14-17, What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.