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City Harvest Church
City Harvest Church (simplified Chinese: 城市丰收教会) or CHC is the largest megachurch in Singapore.[1] It bases its values on Charismatic and Pentecostal teachings, with doctrinal emphasis on the Great Commandment, the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate. It has been described by the Charisma magazine as "one of the largest congregations in Asia."[2] It is the largest independent church in Singapore, with a membership of 32,731 and a monthly average of 28,134 attendees in its weekend services.[3] The church's highest record attendance was 57,691 during City Harvest's Christmas services in 2008. 47.3% of its members are below the age of 25 years.[4]Its income for the year ending on 31 Mar 2009 was $34.7m which mainly came from tithes and offerings. [5]
The church is a full member of the National Council of Churches, Evangelical Fellowship of Singapore and Festival of Praise Fellowship. It has multiple, multi-lingual weekend services at two locations, its church building in Jurong West and the Singapore Expo. In Singapore, it operates various internal ministries and two affiliate organisations and companies. Overseas, CHC serves as the spiritual resource centre for related churches based in Asia, and has active relationships with churches and bible schools across Asia, conducting joint conferences and seminars with them annually.
Mission Statement
The church has a mission "to build a church with a strong spiritual atmosphere of faith and purity, where every member is released into ministry, discipled in the Great Commandment to obey the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate."[6]
This belief spawns from the two beams of the cross: the "vertical" beam of loving God wholeheartedly, and the "horizontal" beam of loving people fervently, both representing the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
The third aspect of City Harvest's ministry is the Cultural Mandate, also known as Christ in Culture, where its members are encouraged to engage culture in innovative manners.
Together with its Mission Statement, City Harvest Church has 17 statements of faith,[6] which form the basis of its teachings to the congregation and the foundation of its various ministries.
History
City Harvest Church was founded by Kong Hee with 20 people on May 7, 1989. During its early years, CHC met at various venues such as the Katong Park Hotel, NTUC Auditorium, Ministry of Environment Building, National Productivity Board Auditorium, Hotel Grand Central, Orchard Hotel, World Trade Centre and the Westin Hotel.
On June 4, 1995, CHC leased the former Hollywood Theatre at Tanjong Katong Road and held services there for six years.
On April 29, 2004, City Harvest was awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certification for quality management and process management.[7][8]
December 15, 2001 marked the day when the church moved to its 2,300-seater venue at Jurong West Street 91. Starting from December 11, 2005, the church rented another worship site at Singapore Expo Hall 8 for its weekend English services to accommodate its rapidly growing congregation. In addition to its services at the Singapore Expo, CHC introduced two additional weekend English services at its Jurong West premises on 2 December 2007, increasing the number of English services to four.
Staff and Committees
The senior pastor of the church, Kong Hee, and Pastor Choong Tsih Ming hold honorary positions and are not on the church’s payroll. The church has 10 licensed pastors on its payroll, with eight of them ordained as Reverends. The church employs 154 full-time staff at two locations - its Jurong West premises and its corporate office at Suntec City.[9]
City Harvest Church has 15 committees:
(Weekly Services
Ministries
Usher
Strikeforce
The Millennial Orchestra
Talking Hands (For The Hearing Impaired)
This ministry seeks to help to meet the needs of the hearing impaired with support groups, recreational and tuition programs.
The volunteers befriend the hearing impaired and help them in developing their social skills. These volunteers are expertly trained in Sign Language courses conducted by City Harvest Community Services Association. [18]
Terminally-Ill
In order to be properly equipped for this ministry, the volunteers will attend training courses at the Communicable Disease Centre before they start to serve.[19][20]
Affiliate Organizations
School of Theology
City Harvest Community Services Association
Main article: City Harvest Community Services Association
[23]
City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA) currently employs 8 full-time staff and was registered with the Registry of Societies (ROS 162/97 WEL) on August 16, 1997. It received full membership with the National Council of Social Service on January 7, 2000. The current President of CHCSA is Toh Poh Chin Eileen. On April 29, 2004, CHCSA attained the ISO 9001:2000 certification. In 2009, CHCSA’s staff and volunteers provided 19,196 services to 14,227 different individuals in Singapore. These include services to prison inmates, drug addicts and ex-offenders. In 2009, CHCSA made 5,107 home visitations per week to help the community of Singapore. CHCSA received the Outstanding Community Partner Award 2009 for its partnership with Singapore’s Southwest CDC. [24]
Culture
Cell Groups
According to CHC's senior pastor, as the Church grows larger in numbers, "Cell groups provide the optimum context for effective discipleship"[25], where members can still forge close relationships with fellow Christians in a much smaller setting. Positive peer pressure can also be exuded in smaller cell groups, fostering strong bonds of friendship among church members.
Missions & Church Planting
Broadcasting
Publications
On 1 April 2009, Harvest Times launched its monthly online edition and is available at
www.harvesttimes.com.sg.
In addition, City News, a Christian news broadcasting sector of the church that publishes its newspaper weekly was started in 2009 and celebrated its first-year anniversary in Feburary 2010.
Awards
List of awards received.[34]
Emerge Conference
territories.[37]
Asia Conference
The first inaugural Asia Conference was held from 19 to 23 November 2008 and drew over 20,000 foreign delegates from 63 countries. Speakers included Kong Hee, Phil Pringle, Chris Pringle, Ulf Ekman, A. R. Bernard and Benny Hinn. Don Moen, C3 Band, Carola Häggkvist and True Worshippers also performed during the conference.
The event used up 3 Expo halls and 26 rooms for the 10 conference sessions and 53 elective workshops.
The next Asia Conference will be held from 26 to 30 May 2010. Confirmed speakers include Kong Hee, Phil Pringle, A. R. Bernard, Steve Munsey, David Yonggi Cho and Reinhard Bonnke.
Church Building
The present, main church building located at Jurong West Street 91 was completed in 2002. Construction of building cost approximately S$48 million (US$26.6 million) and it seats up to 2,300 attendees. [38]
It is the first titanium-clad building in Asia and is modelled after the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Special limestone for part of the building was imported from Europe. The frontage of the building has a fountain wall which is lit up at night. There are more than 200 parking lots within the building. The lounge area on the first floor has plasma television monitors built into the walls featuring local news program or video recordings of past church services. The building also encompasses a café, a rooftop garden, a children’s playground and wading pool, a baptism pool as well as a small putting green for golf enthusiasts.
The auditorium (which is underground) covers 1,700 square meters and is totally column-free. There are two artist make-up rooms directly behind the stage. The stage was created by Dan Hess, a designer who formerly worked with Christie’s Auction House in New York.
On December 15, 2005, CHC began renting Hall 8 of Singapore Expo as an additional worship venue with a seating configuration that accommodates a maximum of 8,100 attendees. Currently the church is on a building fund drive for another bigger building to house its increased attendance.
The Straits Times reported that the church will be committing $310 million to become co-owner of Suntec Singapore, an iconic downtown real estate. It will house a 12,000-seater auditorium on the sixth and seventh floors solely for the church's use. The 33,000-strong congregation is expected to move in by the second quarter of 2011. [39]Dr Kong, the church's senior pastor has commented that "we will have a church in the marketplace, for the marketplace, to penetrate the marketplace." [40]
References
