AS A Singaporean who is currently based overseas, there are only a few things I miss about Singapore. On top of the list is the food. Nasi lemak, chicken rice, carrot cake, sambal sting ray, mee goreng and the list goes on. Right next food, is City Harvest Church. I’ve hardly ever loudly publicized my affiliation with City Harvest Church on cyberspace so I think the church’s 20th anniversary is an appropriate time.
I’ve been a member of City Harvest Church since the year 2004. Over the years, I’ve changed, matured and grown. I’m a proud graduate of City Harvest Bible Training Center with an Advanced Certificate of Theology. I’ve risen up to become a leader within the church. I’m a writer for the church news portal.
City Harvest, along with its founding couple, the Reverend Dr Kong Hee and his wife, international pop star Sun Ho, have had more than its fair share of bad press. Somehow it has become fashionable to criticize this entity that is not a “conventional church” in any sense of the phrase. Yet, many of these critics have never stepped into City Harvest or met the leading couple.
Well, I have. And I am unabashed in my defiance against the critics. City Harvest is nothing like the evil, money-grubbing, attention-seeking organization that it is so often portrayed as. Pastor Kong and his wife Sun are two of the nicest, most compassionate people I have ever met in my life.
So what is City Harvest really like?
City Harvest is an anchor in my life and in the lives of many others. Regardless of what is happening in our lives, we know that the church will always be there to support us through. There are always leaders or friends to look out for you. For myself, I know that my own Zone Pastor, Pastor Chee Kiang and his wife Evelyn, are always there to lend a listening ear and offer advice whenever I face problems, be it in my studies, career-related pursuits, relationships, emotions or spiritual life. Every time I leave Singapore, it tears me apart inside, knowing that I will be leaving the church for a while. But whenever I go back, the church is still there. The people are still there. A sense of familiarity in a time of rapid change. The church is an anchor.
City Harvest is a safe haven. Recession or terrorism, earthquake or tsunami, we know that we can find the peace of God in City Harvest Church. Skeptics or cynics (I know because I was one before) will never be able to experience the peace of God that we call the presence of the Holy Spirit. Regardless of your own situation, stepping into the presence of the Holy Spirit changes everything. You feel peace, you feel love, you feel joy.
City Harvest is not just a safe haven for the able. The church runs services for the intellectually-disabled and the elderly. Every week, the church provides free buses for these people to come to church, and the same buses bring them back home after the service. Each week, the church asks for volunteers to help in these services. The first time I stepped into a service for the intellectually disabled, and I saw the intellectually disabled, and I saw the joy on their faces, singing and praising God at the top of their voices in the uncoordinated fashion that is all they could manage, my heart just melted. I told myself, it’s all worth it. Everything I’ve ever given to the church in terms of my time and my finances, it doesn’t go to the pockets of the Senior Pastor. In fact, both him and his wife do not receive a salary from the church. It goes to helping others who are less fortunate.
The City Harvest helping hand extends beyond Singapore. When the tsunami hit Indonesia and Sri Lanka in 2004, when the earthquake hit Sichuan in China last year, one of the first aid teams to arrive to provide relief was the City Harvest team. The church would raise money in a special collection that would go solely to benefit the victims. The church has built schools, orphanages and hospitals all over Asia. The church is a safe haven.
City Harvest is a family. Two of my three closest friends, Sebastian and Yu Jie are in church. Many of my other close friends are in church as well. We share our lives with one another, we share our dreams and aspirations, we share our struggles and we conquer them together. We celebrate birthdays, we celebrate new relationships. We help with one another’s weddings and we play with one another’s children. All right, I’m not at that married with kids phase yet but we I will get there eventually. In the meantime, I spend my time playing with my zone pastor’s son, Javier!!!
The church leadership is not an unapproachable entity. I’ve had the privilege of meeting Pastor Kong and his wife Sun, and interacting with Deputy Senior Pastor Tan Ye Peng and the other pastors. They are not high and mighty, snooty people. They are down to earth, real people with big hearts and a keen sense of humour!!
In a family, finances are given freely. So many times, the church is criticized because a Pastor on stage each week encourages people to give money to God. Once a year, for six months, and the critics gasp, the church collects money to build a new building. But if you take a step back and think, who would give to the church for a new building, if they are not in the church for the long run? We give because we love the church. We give because we believe in the church’s cause and we’re here to stay. We give because we want a new church building that will become our second home. It will be a place our children can grow up in and our elders can grow old in (oops!). The church is a family.
City Harvest is a place where dreams are realized. Why are there so many successful people within the church? Because it is the right milieu for dreams to be born and realized. When you’re surrounded by people with big dreams, you will tend towards having a big dream yourself. And the church environment of encouragement and positive thinking is perfect for realizing your dreams.
Moreover, while you’re trying to discover yourself, the church gives you opportunities to do things bigger than yourself. Personally, I like to write. Since my internship with The Straits Times, I didn’t have the opportunity to write except on my own trivial blog, until the church gave me the opportunity to write in the church magazine (massive editing required because I really didn’t know housestyle…sorry Glyn!), as well as the church news portal (less editing required). One of the editors who runs her own writing agency outside gave me the opportunity to cover a news event and paid me well! Thank you Theresa!
As a leader in the church myself, I try my best to help my members, with their studies, with their dreams. The least I can do is to give them some encouragement and a push, because someone in the church did it for me before. The church is a place where dreams are realized.
City Harvest is a place where success is celebrated. Whenever one of us is successful, the rest of us don’t become envious or bitter, we celebrate together. We are delighted that Sun is doing well in the music industry. We are proud that Elim Chew has expanded her business overseas. We celebrated as Belinda Lee won the Best Infortainment Host Award at the Star Awards earlier this year. We are happy when students do well in school and businesspeople do well in their careers. The church is a place where success is celebrated.
Regardless of what people say, or what people think, the fact remains, City Harvest has stayed true to its central calling, loving God and loving people. The truth is that lives have been enriched and transformed. More than 27,000 lives in Singapore and many many more beyond Singapore! Thank you City Harvest for 20 awesome years! I may not have been here for all 20 (I joined the church only in 2004), but I will certainly be here for the next 20 and beyond! I love you City Harvest, I always will!!
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