City Harvest Church

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City Harvest Church (simplified Chinese: 城市丰收教会) or "CHC" is one of the megachurches in Singapore, ^[1] among churches belonging to non-demoninational christianity, that serves as the spiritual resource center for related churches based in Asia. It has been described by Charisma as "one of the largest congregations in Asia."^[2]

City Harvest Church is the largest independent, non-denominational church in Singapore, with a combined total of over 24 000 members.^[3] The church's highest record attendance has gone beyond 51,000 during City Harvest's Christmas Celebration services in 2007. The church is a full member of the National Council of Churches in Singapore, Evangelical Fellowship of Singapore, and Festival of Praise Fellowship. CHC is a multi-site church with multiple, multi-lingual weekend services at two campuses, Jurong West and Singapore Expo Hall 8. The values of CHC are based on the Charismatic and Pentecostal teachings, with doctrinal emphases on the Great Commandment, the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate. There are 24 different nationalities represented among its congregation.

In Singapore, CHC has spawned religious agencies such as a Bible school, a community service association, an education center, a Christian television department, a performing arts school, and a marketplace ministry for businesspeople. Overseas, CHC has active relationships with churches and Bible schools in Asia, conducting joint conferences and seminars with them annually.

Contents 1 Mission Statement 2 History 3 Staff 4 Weekly Services 5 Affiliated organisations 6 Culture 6.1 Cell groups 6.2 Missions 6.3 Recordings and Stage Productions 6.4 Broadcasting 6.5 Publications [22] 7 Awards [24] 8 Emerge Conference 9 Church Building 10 References 11 See also 12 External links

[edit] Mission Statement

The church'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."^[4]

Together with its Mission Statement, City Harvest Church has 17 Statements of Faith^[4], which form the basis of its teachings to the congregation and the foundation of its various ministries.

[edit] History

City Harvest Church was founded by Kong Hee with 20 people on May 7, 1989. During the early years, CHC met at various venues such as Katong Park Hotel, NTUC Auditorium, Ministry of Environment Building, National Productivity Board Auditorium, Hotel Grand Central, Orchard Hotel, World Trade Center, and the Westin Hotel.

On June 4, 1995, CHC leased the former Hollywood Theater at Tanjong Katong Road and met there for six years. On December 15, 2001, the church moved to its permanent 2,300-seater venue at Jurong West Street 91. On December 11, 2005, the church rented another worship site at Singapore Expo Hall 8 to accommodate its growing congregation. From December 2, 2007, CHC holds an additional English service on both Saturdays and Sundays in Jurong West premises, increasing the amount of English services to 4.

On April 29, 2004, City Harvest was awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certification for quality management and process management^[5][6]

City Harvest Church currently has 24,000 attendees in its weekend services.^[3]55% of its members are below the age of 25 years.^[7] The church has 36 volunteer ministries for its members to participate in.

[edit] Staff

The church has 12 pastors, with five of them ordained as Reverends. The church employs 127 full-time staff at two locations: its Jurong West premises and its administrative office at Suntec City.^[8]

[edit] Weekly Services

The church holds different weekly services in English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, and Indonesian. It also has weekly services for children and the mentally challenged. ^[9]

[edit] Affiliated organisations

City Harvest Bible Training Center ^[10]

City Harvest Bible Training Center (CHBTC) was started in 1994 with the purpose of training up pastors, missionaries and church workers for the establishing of local churches in Asia. It offers a five-month, full-time program in Advanced Certificate of Theology jointly with Oral Roberts University. In the past 12 years, more than 2,000 graduates from more than 30 countries have graduated from its courses. ^[11]

CHBTC Mission Statement: City Harvest Bible Training Center is committed to offering theological and practical training courses of high quality, comparable to internationally-recognized standards, so as to equip students in doctrinal and practical aspects of church ministry. For every course program we offer, we seek to understand and meet the requirements of students' needs and to inspire, impact and maximise the potential of each and every student.

City Harvest Community Services Association ^[12]

City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA) currently employs 7 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 President of CHCSA is Derek John Dunn. On April 29, 2004, CHCSA attained the ISO 9001:2000 certification. For 2005, CHCSA helped 16,624 service users, out of which 5,860 of them were assisted on a regular basis. ^[13]

City Harvest Education Centre ^[14]

Co-funded by the MCYS (Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports)^[15], Singapore, City Harvest Education Centre (CHEC) has been registered with the Ministry of Education since 2002. The purpose of CHEC is "to provide effective and affordable education to private candidates taking the GCE 'N' and 'O' level examinations." In 2006, CHEC's students make up about 7% of all private candidates in Singapore taking O Level Examinations. CHEC is also the first school in Singapore to be offering Dance as a GCE 'O' Level subject. CHEC is especially noted for employing unconventional teaching styles to aid students who did not fare well in mainstream schools^[16], as well as Singapore's youngest school principal^[17].

O School ^[18]

O School, a performing arts center, is a "social enterprise" supported by MCYS ComCare Enterprise Fund ([1]). A social enterprise is a sustainable business with a social mission, where business is used to serve its social cause. O School was started with three social objectives in mind:

1. To generate funds for City Harvest Education Centre as bursaries for lower-income students.
2. To use dance as a befriending tool to reach out to youths-at-risk.
3. To provide training and employment placement for youths.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Cell groups

Cell group (CG) is a major part of the church's ministry to its members. The CG meeting is a time where members meet in smaller groups for worship, prayers and Bible studies. The meetings are usually held once a week, on a day decided by the CG leader, and its locations can be found throughout Singapore. Currently there are 600 CG leaders with some running more than two CGs. CG leaders are mostly lay members of the church who have gone through the church's discipleship and leadership training.

Accordingly to CHC's Senior Pastor, as the Church grows larger in numbers, "Cell groups provide the optimum context for effective discipleship"^[19], where members can still forge close relationships with fellow Christians in a much smaller setting.

[edit] Missions

CHC has 50 affiliate churches and Bible schools in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Japan and Australia. In 2005, CHC sent out a total of 292 mission teams to help Christian agencies overseas.

[edit] Recordings and Stage Productions

Like most Charismatic churches, CHC uses contemporary music and settings for praise and worship, with a choir in an environment similar to a rock concert with the related musical instruments. It has also a strong drama team for its stage productions.

• 1994 : Against All Odds (CD Album)
• 1995 : Remember Us (CD Album)
• 1996 : Life (CD Album)
• 2000 : Future (CD Album)
• 2001 : Angel—"The Story Of Singapore" (Stage Production)
• 2002 : Megastar.com (Stage Production)
• 2005 : Mid-Autumn's Love (Stage Production)
• 2005 : Cross (CD Album, DVD)^[20]
• 2006 : Emerge (DVD)
• 2006 : Glory (DVD)
• 2007 : First Vol. I (Chinese DVD)
• 2007 : First Vol. II (Chinese DVD)
• 2007 : Destiny (CD Singles)
• 2007 : Breakaway (CD Album)

[edit] Broadcasting

In 2004, the church’s webcast of its services reached approximately 578,560 viewers from 131 countries, or 11,126 viewers per weekend. The church also has a 30-minute television broadcast program called "Harvest Time," which is broadcast on 13 Cable Television Networks and satellites, with a potential viewership of about 637 million. Harvest Time is available in its original English language or Chinese translation, depending on the broadcast station.^[21]

[edit] Publications ^[22]

The church publishes a magazine quarterly called Harvest Times (founded in 1999).^[23] It has a readership of 60,000

In 2006, a Chinese version of Harvest Times - Chinese Harvest Times was started and has a readership of close to 45,000

[edit] Awards ^[24]

• 2002 : 3rd Annual Intelligent20 Award ^[25]
• 2004 : ISO 9001:2000 Certification ^{[5] [6]}
• 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^[26]
• 2007 : Hitwise Award - Ranked #1 in the category: Lifestyle - Religion for most visited website

[edit] Emerge Conference

City Harvest Church is the organizer of Emerge, an annual four-day youth conference. In 2007, 8,830 youth leaders and delegates from a total of 16 nations attended the event. CHC also co-hosts Emerge conferences in Malaysia and Taiwan every year. There are 61 competitions including Spelling Bee, Math Olympaid, Word Power, Singing Contest, Preaching Challenge, Blog Design, Short Film, Make-up & Costume Design, Extreme Sports, etc. The May 31 opening night of the Singapore Emerge 2007 was broadcasted "live" on GOD TV to 122 million homes in more than 200 nations and territories.^[27]

[edit] 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. ^[28]

It is the first titanium-clad building in Asia and is modeled after the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Special limestone for part of the building was imported from Europe. The front of the building has a world class 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 the local television programming or video recordings of past church services. There is a café, a rooftop garden, a children’s playground and wading pool, a baptism pool, and even a small putting green for golf enthusiasts. Cool Mist fans blast out moist air over the entire rooftop area to ward off the daytime heat. The bathroom facilities were designed by French designer Philippe Starck.

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. It features a bright LED screen.

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.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Evangelism
• Charismatic Movement
• Pentecostalism
• Christianity in Singapore
• Religion in Singapore

[edit] External links

• City Harvest Church