City Harvest Church

City Harvest Church
Location Singapore
Denomination Non-denominational, Charismatic
Weekly attendance 16,482 [1]
Website www.chc.org.sg
History
Founded 1989
Founder(s) Kong Hee and Sun Ho
Specifications
Capacity 6,000
Clergy
Senior pastor(s) Kong Hee

City Harvest Church (Chinese: 城市丰收教会) or CHC is a pentecostal megachurch in Singapore.

Founded in 1989 by Kong Hee,[2] the church officially bases its values on Charismatic and Pentecostal teachings, with emphases on such "doctrines" as "the Great Commandment", "the Great Commission" and "the Cultural Mandate".[3]

City Harvest Church is a member of the National Council of Churches of Singapore, Evangelical Fellowship of Singapore, and Festival of Praise Fellowship. Services are held at its church building in Jurong West and rented hall space at Suntec International Convention Centre.

In 2015, six church leaders and fund or finance managers were sentenced to jail, after being found guilty of criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts.[4][5][6]

Overview

The church had a congregation size of 16,482 in 2015. 45.4% of them are men, 32.1% are married, 64.3% are single. 55% of them are working adults, while most of the rest are serving the military, non-salaried, students, and children. [7]

The church holds various weekly services in English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, and Indonesian. It also has weekly services for children and the underprivileged.

The church has 22 pastors and assistant pastors,[8] with eleven of them ordained as reverends, while at least two incumbent pastors are in line to serve their imprisonment sentences at Changi Prison from 2016. The 165 full-time staff work from two locations: the Jurong West premises and the corporate office at Suntec City.[9] Committees report to the main CHC Management Board, whose office bearers are elected annually by its 720 executive members.[10]

Early days (1989–2002)

The church was founded by Kong Hee[2] and his wife Sun Ho[11] on 7 May 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 21 December 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 include 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, Westin Hotel, and Singapore Expo.

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 15 December 2001, the church moved to its permanent 2,300-seater venue at Jurong West Street 91. On 11 December 2005, CHC rented another worship site at Singapore Expo for its weekend English congregations. And on 19 March 2011, CHC moved to the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre where it currently holds its service. [12]

In 2012, SUNTEC Singapore went through a renovation process. As a result, City Harvest Church moved to Singapore Expo temporary till July 2013.

From 2002, Kong began to teach on the Cultural Mandate and encourage the church members to excel in the marketplace. On 1 November 2005, Kong withdrew himself from the staff payroll and he now serves the church as an honorary founder/senior pastor.[13]

Cell groups

Cell groups (CG) are a major part of the church's ministry. Divided into youth and adult cell groups, meetings are mostly led by trained lay members.

Publications

The church runs "City News, a Christian news portal, which was established in 2008.

Affiliate organisations

School of Theology

The School of Theology (formerly known as City Harvest Bible Training Center) was started on 18 January 1994 with the purpose of training up pastors, missionaries and church workers for the establishing of local churches in Asia.[14] It conducts a seven-month, full-time program offering an Advanced Certificate of Theology with 34 credits. By the end of 2012, 5,937 students from at least 30 countries have graduated from its courses.

Controversies

City Harvest Church Corruption Case

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the biggest corruption case on the island revolved around City Harvest Church and founders Kong Hee involving a total of S$50 million of funds mis-use. On 2 April 2011, The Straits Times reported that CHC actively planned to improve its image and reputation in the congregation and public through corporate crisis management and working with cell group leaders and pastors. The church encouraged the cell leaders and pastors to talk with members and public openly, clarifying about inquires about the fund probe.[15]

Sun Ho scandal

In 2013, a scandal took place involving founding clergy Sun Ho after hackers self-styled 'Messiah' hacked her official website,[16][17] following which a police report was made by City Harvest Church.[18] Around the same time,[19] a spam-like email is further published on the Internet suggested another self-styled 'Messiah-Two' making allegations regarding Sun Ho.[20]

S$310 million Suntec investment

On 6 March 2010, City Harvest Church announced that it had purchased a significant stake in Suntec Convention Centre and will be using its facilities for church services, the project will cost an estimated S$310 million, including shares acquisition, renovation and rental costs.[21][22][23] Church founder Kong Hee said in a statement that the move "allows [the church] to move from a present expensive rental model to a more financially sustainable ownership model for the long term".[24] 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. The church has clarified that the investment is indirect, through a wholly owned subsidiary for the purpose of taxation and separate accounting. 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.[21]

The Commissioner of Charities (COC) sought clarifications on the transaction.[22] 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.[25] 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",[23] and later released a notice stating that Charities and foundations often use donor funds to invest and generate sustainable income for their intended causes.[26]

On 21 July 2012, the church announced details of its investment in Suntec Singapore. A total of 39.2% shareholding was acquired at a total cost of $97.75 million. Public-listed Suntec REIT holds the other 60.8%. The remaining balance in the projected building fund will be used for costs such as equipment, furniture and fittings, periodical shifting costs (due to other events at the venue), committed rentals, optional rentals and refundable rental deposits.[27][28] In 2013, it was revealed that the church had undertaken a $50m loan with high interests to finance the acquisition of additional shares, as the building fund had largely been exhausted over the years on venue and equipment rentals, while using the Singapore Expo from 2006-2010. If the church is unable to finance the loan, it may in default lose up to 19.2% of its shareholding as part of the loan agreement.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Danson, Cheong (10 May 2016). "City Harvest attendance declines again". Straits Times. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Followers rally around City Harvest leaders". Asia One. 2 June 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  3. ↑ "Statement of Faith". City Harvest Church. Archived from the original on 13 November 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
  4. ↑ "Singapore City Harvest megachurch leaders guilty of fraud". BBC News. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "What you need to know about the City Harvest trial". The Straits Times. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "City Harvest church founder Kong Hee and 4 others arrested". AsiaOne. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  7. ↑ City Harvest Annual Report 2015
  8. ↑ "Suntec City, Here We Come News". City News. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
  9. ↑ "CHC Story". City Harvest Church. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  10. ↑ "City Harvest Church's Organisation Structure". City Harvest Church. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
  11. ↑ Lam Leng Hung, John; Chew, Eng An (5 November 2003). "A Pastor in a Broad Sense". Streats.
  12. ↑ {{url=http://www.chc.org.sg/#!plan-a-visit/|accessdate=15 April 2016 }}
  13. ↑ "CHC Story". Kong Hee. Archived from the original on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  14. ↑ "City Harvest Bible Training Center". City Harvest Bible Training Center. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
  15. ↑ LEE, SIM HUA (2 April 2011). "CITY HARVEST: BUSINESS AS USUAL" (PDF). The Straits Times. p. D12.
  16. ↑ "Sun Ho's website hacked by 'The Messiah'". Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  17. ↑ Hoe, Pei Shan. "Sun Ho's website hacked, perpetrator threatens to expose "hidden agenda"". Straits Times. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Sun Ho's website vandalised by 'Messiah' hacker". Today. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "Hot News! Allegations of Sun Ho having an affair with one of her church-mates". Samuel Leong. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  20. ↑ Tan, Cathryn. "Does CHC Pastor Kong's Wife, Sun Ho, Having an Affair with One of her Church-Mates?". sgcircle.com. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  21. 1 2 http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20100320-205694.html Charity commissioner questions City Harvest. 20 March 2010
  22. 1 2 "City Harvest's expansion plan". Today. Singapore. 22 March 2010.
  23. 1 2 http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1047863/1/.html City Harvest Church responds to questions over non-disclosure of Suntec deal. 4 April 2010.
  24. ↑ Esther Teo (7 March 2010). "City Harvest paying $310m to become Suntec co-owner". The Sunday Times. p. 1,3.
  25. ↑ "Details could not be disclosed, says church". Today. Singapore. 5 April 2010.
  26. ↑ "Notice to members of chc" (PDF). City Harvest Church. 22 May 2010.
  27. ↑ Chua, Linus (21 July 2012). "Singapore's City Harvest Church Doubles Convention Center Stake". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  28. ↑ "Channel NewsAsia". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 12 July 2013.

External links

Coordinates: 1°20′35″N 103°41′31″E / 1.343041°N 103.691915°E / 1.343041; 103.691915

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.