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City Harvest Church
Country	Singapore
Denomination	Independent
Website	www.chc.org.sg
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)	Rev. Dr. Kong Hee

City Harvest Church (Chinese: 城市丰收教会) or CHC is the largest non-denominational megachurch in Singapore. Founded in 1989 by Rev. Kong Hee, the church bases its values on Charismatic and Pentecostal teachings, with doctrinal emphasis on the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, the Cultural Mandate and the Prosperity Gospel. City Harvest Church is a full member of the National Council of Churches of Singapore, 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.

Overseas, CHC serves as the spiritual resource center for related churches based in Asia, and has active relationships with ministries and Bible schools in Asia, conducting joint conferences and seminars with them annually.

Mission Statement

CHC’s mission statement is "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 set by the current cultural milieu."

Together with its Mission Statement, City Harvest Church has 17 statements of faith which form the basis of its teachings to the congregation and the foundation of its various ministries.

History

The church was founded by Kong Hee and his wife Sun Ho on May 7, 1989, and held its first service at Peace Centre. It first functioned as “Ekklesia Ministry,” a youth department under the legal covering of Bethany Christian Centre, an Assemblies of God church. On December 21, 1992, City Harvest Church was set up as a society. It was registered under the Charities Act on 16 October 1993.

In its early days, CHC had to move through different venues to accommodate its growing congregation. Past venues includ the Bible House, Katong Park Hotel, World Trade Centre, DBS, Auditorium, PUB Auditorium, NTUC Auditorium, Ministry of Environment Building, National Productivity Board Auditorium, Hotel Grand Central, Orchard Hotel, and the Westin Hotel. In six years, CHC grew from 20 to 1,319 in its average monthly attendance.

On 4 June, 1995, CHC leased the former Hollywood Theatre at Tanjong Katong Road and held its services there for another six years. By 2001, the church had grown to 10,310 and was conducting up to 15 services every weekend.

On December 15, 2001, the church moved to its permanent 2,300-seater venue at Jurong West Street 91. On December 11, 2005, CHC rented another worship site at Singapore Expo for its weekend English congregations.

From 2002, Kong began to teach on the Cultural Mandate and encourage the church members to excel in the marketplace. In November 1, 2005, Kong withdrew himself from the staff payroll and he now serves the church as an honorary founder/senior pastor.

Staff and Committees

The church has 26 licensed pastors, with eight of them ordained as Reverends. The 154 full-time staff work from three locations: the Jurong West premises, the corporate office at Suntec City and the ancillary office at The River Walk.

City Harvest Church has 15 committees overseeing all its operations: (1) Audit Committee, (2) Programs & Services Committee, (3) Fund-raising Committee, (4) Appointment & Nomination Committee, (5) Human Resource Committee, (6) Investment Committee, (7) Missions Committee, (8) Marketplace Committee, (9) Building Committee, (10) Men's Ministry Committee, (11) Singles Committee, (12) Children's Committee, (13) Counseling & Inner Healing Committee, (14) Christian Education Committee, (15) Creative Ministry Committee. All committees report to the main CHC Management Board, whose office bearers are elected annually by its 720 Executive Members.

Profile of Congregations

The church has been described by the Charisma magazine as "one of the largest congregations in Asia." It is the largest independent church in Singapore, with a database name list of 32,731 and a monthly average of 28,134 attendees in its weekend services. 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.

The church holds different weekly services in English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, Indonesian, Filipino and Tamil. It also has weekly services for children as well as for people with special needs.

Main Church (English-speaking congregations)

The four English services are each helmed by the various District and Zone Pastors, and the cell groups under their charge. Activities and outreaches are organized at cell group, zone and district levels. Members of the English-speaking congregations attend church-wide Bible education and prayer meetings.

Chinese Church (Mandarin-speaking congregation)

The Mandarin-speaking congregation began on April 26, 1996 as the result of Mandarin-speaking parents and relatives joining the church. As of 2009, Chinese Church had an average of 1,145-strong members.

Dialect Church (Hokkien/Cantonese-speaking congregation)

The Dialect Church was then started on July 6, 1997. Since its inception, the Hokkien/Cantonese-speaking congregation has grown to comprise not just elderly retirees, but also middle-aged working adults.

Children’s Church

City Harvest Children’s Church aims to provide a holistic program suitable for the stimulation and development of multi-intelligence in every child. Its 534 workers and volunteer teachers follow an in-house teaching curriculum based on Bible teachings, incorporating memory verses, visual lessons, story-telling, as well as praise and worship.

The Children’s Church organizes monthly enrichment programs that are innovative, artistic, musical and sporting in nature. There are eight Children’s Church services conducted every weekend. Kids@Play is held at both Jurong West and Singapore Expo for younger children to engage in play activities before and after services.

Children’s Church workers and volunteers make weekly visitations to homes of the children to see how they can work together with the parents in developing their children.

JAMS Church (Jesus For All Minds)

The JAMS Church was founded on October 15, 1996 with 32 people people to reach out to people with special needs. The JAMS Church today conducts three services for an average of 624 members. Throughout the week, JAMS workers carry out visitations to the homes of its members, offering assistance, such as home physiotherapy, hospital check-up escort, training in practical daily living skills, etc.

Tamil Service

The Tamil Service was started on July 2, 2008. By 2009, it had an average attendance of 231.

Indonesian Service

The Indonesian Service began on April 7, 2002 for Indonesian Christians who have settled in Singapore to study or work. From an average of 43 members, this congregation has grown to 123 by 2009.

Filipino Service

The Filipino Service was started on November 1, 2009. This congregation is made up of young professional Filipinos who have relocated to Singapore with their families. Members meet regularly for activities on occasions such as Valentine’s Day and Philippines Independence Day. As of 2009, the Filipino Service registered an average attendance of 119.

Ministries

CHC operates 34 internal ministries that ensure the smooth functioning of church services and various church-related activities and events. Almost all functions of the ministries are run by church members on a volunteer basis. The church believes that “every member is a minister” and that each one should use his/her unique gifts, talents and abilities for the glory of God.

• Drama Ministry The drama production team, made up of mostly volunteers, create drama productions where all scripts and music scores are originally written and composed by members of the church.
• Marketplace Ministry This is a ministry outreach to working professionals and business people, whose members meet to study God’s Word as well as to strengthen business networks.
• Nursery Ministry The nursery ministry was set up to provide baby and toddler care while parents attend the worship service.
• The Millennial Orchestra The Millennial Orchestra is a 40-member orchestra, performing in various church-wide conferences, including the Asia Conference 2008.
• 'Ministry To The Hearing Impaired This ministry reaches out to the hearing impaired members who attend CHC and organizes regular recreational and social activities, with the aim of helping these individuals adapt to mainstream society with greater ease.
• Strikeforce Ministry Strikeforce is part of the church’s creative ministry and its purpose is to “train people to serve God in various expressions of rhythm, movement and drumming.”

On August 9, 2006, Strikeforce performed at Singapore’s National Day Parade, Main Act 1 & 3. Other related events featuring Strikeforce include the NDP Appreciation dinners hosted by the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence force, as well as the Chingay Parade.

The Strikeforce also performed on August 9, 2009 at the National Day Parade.

Affiliate Organizations

School of Theology

The School of Theology (formerly known as City Harvest Bible Training Center) was started on January 18, 1994 with the purpose of training up pastors, missionaries and church workers for the establishing of local churches in Asia. It conducts a six-month, full-time program offering an Advanced Certificate of Theology. SOT is accredited with the Ministry of Education in Singapore and CaseTrust for Education. In the past 16 years Since 2009, 4,323 graduates from 32 countries have graduated from its courses.

City Harvest Community Services Association

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. On April 29, 2004, CHCSA attained the ISO 9001:2000 certification. In 2009, CHCSA’s 889 volunteers provided 19,196 services to 14,227 different individuals in Singapore and made 5,107 home visitations to its clients. That same year, CHCSA received the Outstanding Community Partner Award 2009 for its partnership with Singapore’s Southwest CDC.

Culture

Cell Groups

Cell groups (CG) are a major part of the church's ministry. Divided into youth and adult cell groups, meetings are organized by Cell Group leaders who are mostly lay members of the church who have gone through the church's discipleship and leadership training.

According to CHC's senior pastor, as the Church grows larger in numbers, "Cell groups provide the optimum context for effective discipleship", 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

CHC has 47 affiliate churches, with a total membership of 24,898. Apart from these affiliates, CHC also works with many other ministries in the missions field. In 2009, CHC sent out 1,758 members in 301 teams to 70 cities to help Christian agencies overseas.

The missions department organizes conferences and seminars throughout the year, strengthening CHC’s affiliate churches. Many of the church members are also involved in humanitarian causes, such as, disaster relief work and medical aid to countries like China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Honduras, and more recently, Haiti.

Media and Productions

Recordings and Stage Productions

Like most Charismatic churches, CHC uses contemporary music and settings for praise and worship, including a choir and a wide range of musical instruments. It also has a strong drama team for its stage productions. In 2008, CHC's music style was featured in Channel News Asia prime time program 'Get Rea!'

Broadcasting

The church has a 30-minute television broadcast program Harvest Time, which is televised on 14 Cable Television Networks and satellites. Harvest Time has a potential viewership of about 1.486 billion, and is available in its original English-language or Mandarin, Korean and Japanese translations, depending on the broadcast station. In 2009, the church’s webcast of its worship services reached approximately 484,723 viewers from 107 countries, or 9,322 viewers per weekend.

Publications

The church previously published a magazine known as Harvest Times (founded in 1999), with a readership of 60,000. In 2006, a Chinese version of Harvest Times - Chinese Harvest Times was started and had a readership of 45,000. On April 1, 2009, Harvest Times magazine ceased its print edition.

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 February 2010.

Awards

List of awards received.

• 2002: 3rd Annual Intelligent20 Award
• 2004: ISO 9001:2000 Certification
• 2005 : Hitwise Award - Ranked #1 in the category: Lifestyle - Religion for most visited website
• 2006: Hitwise Award - Ranked #1 in the category: Lifestyle - Religion for most visited website
• 2007: Hitwise Award - Ranked #1 in the category: Lifestyle - Religion for most visited website
• 2008-2009 Hitwise Award - Ranked Top 10 in the category: Lifestyle - Religion for most visited website

Conferences

Emerge Conference

Emerge is a youth conference organized for youths and young adults from 13 to 25 years old.

A total of 8,830 youth leaders and delegates from 16 nations attended the last Emerge Conference from May 31 to June 3, 2007. The opening night meeting was broadcasted “live” on GODTV to 122 million homes in more than 200 nations and territories.

CHC also co-hosts Emerge conferences overseas with its affiliate churches in Malaysia and Taiwan.

Asia Conference

Asia Conference is a biennial conference bringing together pastors, Bible teachers, worship leaders, and Christian artists to educate, equip and empower Asian Christians. Apart from the plenary sessions, the conference also features elective workshops for the delegates.

The inaugural Asia Conference held from November 19 to 23, 2008 drew 20,356 delegates from 68 countries. Speakers included Kong Hee (Singapore), Phil Pringle (Australia), Chris Pringle (Australia), Ulf Ekman (Sweden), A. R. Bernard (USA) and Benny Hinn. The event also featured worship leaders such as Don Moen (USA), C3 Band (Australia), True Worshippers (Indonesia) and Carola Häggkvist (Sweden). The event used up three halls and 26 rooms at the Singapore Expo for the 10 plenary sessions and 53 elective workshops.

The 2010 Asia Conference was held from May 26 to 30, 2010, with over 30,000 attendees.

Church Building

The church building located at Jurong West Street 91 was completed in 2002. Construction of the building cost S$48 million (US$26.6 million) and seats up to 2,300 attendees.

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 8,200 attendees.

From March 2011, CHC will be renting the Suntec Singapore International Exhibition and Convention Centre. The convention hall includes a 12,000-seat main auditorium, 10 meeting rooms, a multi-purpose hall, theatre and concourse on the top floors.

Controversies

Association with healing evangelist Benny Hinn

City Harvest Church has on a number of occasions hosted healing evangelist Benny Hinn to conduct miracle healing sessions. While some Singaporeans criticized the invitations due to Hinn's controversial reputation, the church dismissed the criticism.

S$310 million Suntec investment

On March 6, 2010, City Harvest Church announced that it has purchased a S$310 million stake in Suntec, including renovation and rental costs. Church founder Kong Hee said in a statement that the move "allows to move from a present expensive rental model to a more financially sustainable ownership model for the long term". However, some brought up the point that as a registered charity, CHC's income - expected to include profits and dividends from space rental and tenant leases in Suntec Singapore in the future - is non-taxable. Questions surfaced among the public whether religious organisations, which are registered as charities, should be allowed to go into business using what are essentially donor funds..

The Commissioner of Charities (COC) sought clarifications on the transaction. The church stated it was under a Non-Disclosure-Agreement which required the details of the transaction to remain confidential, but explained that the investment was made through a holding company that is not a charity organization and does not enjoy tax breaks; and had disclosed details of the deal to the COC as well as the Urban Redevelopment Authority upon request. . The church also said that there was a "strong and unfounded allegation" floating online that the Management Board and Kong were "deliberately concealing a number of embarrassing facts from its members" with regard to the Suntec investment, saying that the allegation was "furthest from the truth" , and later released a notice stating that Charities and foundations often use donor funds to invest and generate sustainable income for their intended causes.

Church members under Police investigation for misuse of funds

On 31 May 2010, the Office of the Commissioner of Charities and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police announced that 17 individuals linked to the City Harvest Church, including church founder Pastor Kong Hee, were under investigation after complaints alleging the misuse of church funds. The police also visited the offices and homes of these individuals and brought back computers and financial records for investigations. The police was looking into some financial transactions among these individuals and related companies, involving the possible falsification of accounts and criminal breach of trust amounting to millions of dollars which dated back a number of years.

See also

• CHC Recordings
• Evangelism
• Charismatic Movement
• Pentecostalism
• Prosperity theology
• Christianity in Singapore
• Religion in Singapore
• Word of Faith

References

1. ^ "West Meet East", MinistriesToday, no. January, February, pp. Pg:32–33, 2004
2. http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20100602-219622.html
3. ^ "City Harvest Church's Factsheet". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
4. ^ "Statement of Faith". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 29, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
5. http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20100602-219622.html
6. Lam Leng Hung, John; Chew, Eng An (November 5, 2003), "A Pastor in a Broad Sense", Streats{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
7. ^ "CHC Milestones". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
8. "CHC Story". Kong Hee. Retrieved May 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
9. "City Harvest Church's Organisation Structure". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
10. "CHC Story". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 02, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
11. "Why Isn't the American church growing?". Charisma Magazine. Retrieved May 29, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
12. "CHC Factsheet". Kong Hee. Retrieved Mar 07 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
13. "Average Weekly Salvation & Rededication Decisions". City Harvest Church. Retrieved March 6, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
14. ^ "Worship Services Writeup". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
15. ^ "Attendance & Decision Statistics". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
16. "About Us". CHCKids. Retrieved May 9, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
17. "City Harvest Church - Our Ministry". City Harvest Church. Retrieved December 5, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
18. "Drama Ministry". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
19. "Marketplace Ministry". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
20. "Nursery Ministry". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 22, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
21. "City Harvest Church – Strikeforce". City Harvest Church. Retrieved December 5, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
22. "The Strikeforce Live @ NDP 09". City Harvest Church. Retrieved March 10, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
23. "City Harvest Bible Training Center". City Harvest Bible Training Center. Retrieved May 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
24. "CHC Missions & Church Planting". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
25. "City Harvest Community Services Association". City Harvest Community Services Association. Retrieved May 29, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
26. "About Us". City Harvest Community Services Association. Retrieved May 19, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
27. "CHC Story". Kong Hee. Retrieved May 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
28. "CHC Missions & Church Planting". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
29. Judith Tan (2010-01-23). "Make Time For The Less Fortunate". The Straits Times. p. B8. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
30. "Facts & Figures", Asia Conference 2008, pp. Pg:3–7, 2008
31. Taken from http://www.cross.com.sg
32. "Our Media". City Harvest Church. Retrieved May 22 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
33. "Harvest Times Broadcast". City Harvest Church. Retrieved Feb 02 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
34. "City Harvest Church's Fact Sheet". City Harvest Church. Retrieved March 7, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
35. Leong Khay Mun (January/February, 2003). "3rd Annual Intelligent20 Award". Inteelligent Asia. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
36. Cheok Soh Hui (2004-06-30). "Harvest Times-City Harvest Church:PSB ISO 90012000". The Straits Times. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
37. "PSB Certification". PSB. Retrieved May 29, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
38. "Hitwise Singapore". Hitwise Singapore. Retrieved May 29, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
39. "Distribution". God TV. Retrieved June 5, 2007.
40. ^ "CHC Milestones". City Harvest Church. Retrieved March 17, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
41. "Other places of worship slash out too". Electric New Paper. 2005-08-29. By Skye Tan
42. ^ "New Building". Kong Hee. Retrieved May 4, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help) Cite error: The named reference "New_Building" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
43. http://www.chc.org.sg/harvesttimes/ht_25/ht_25_03.asp
44. http://www.chc.org.sg/eng/church/church_eventsCal.php?YRID=2007
45. Hanqing, Liew, "Visit by hotshot US reverend draws flak on the Net", The New Paper, Oct 10, 2008
46. ^ http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20100320-205694.html Charity commissioner questions City Harvest. Mar 20th, 2010
47. ^ "City Harvest's expansion plan". Today Online. 2010-03-22.
48. ^ http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1047863/1/.html City Harvest Church responds to questions over non-disclosure of Suntec deal. April 4th, 2010.
49. Esther Teo (2010-03-07). "City Harvest paying $310m to become Suntec co-owner". The Sunday Times. p. 1,3. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
50. "Details could not be disclosed, says church". Today Online. 2010-04-05.
51. "NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF CHC" (PDF). City Harvest Church. 2010-22-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
52. http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4121597
53. http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100601-0000111/City-Harvest-probe
54. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1060093/1/.html
55. http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20100531-219380.html

External links

• City Harvest Church
• City Harvest Church Live Webcast
• City Harvest Community Services Association
• City News
• Attributes Online
• Harvest Times Online
• Asia Conference

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