City Harvest Dialect Church celebrated the church’s 21st anniversary together with National Day.
Contributed By Alyssa Sok
It was a day of double celebration on Sunday, Aug. 8 for more than 600 members of City Harvest Dialect Church who gathered to celebrate the church’s 21st anniversary and Singapore’s 45th birthday which falls on Aug. 9.
To commemorate the occasion, the Dialect Church members came decked in the patriotic colors of red and white. Excitement and anticipation was undoubtedly in the atmosphere as the service kicked off with a pre-service prayer meeting and a vibrant praise and worship session. To add to the national festivities, the crowd was led to sing the popular National Day song by Kit Chan, “Home,” with many miniature Singapore flags waving in the air.
For the Dialect Church members who are mostly senior citizens, celebrating National Day was a special occasion as many of them have seen Singapore grow and transform over the years since her independence. Hence, the lyrics of the song “Home” affirmed their sense of belonging to Singapore, and to CHC. All hands were lifted when it was time to pray for God’s blessing upon the nation.
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| CN PHOTO: Tan Song Kow |
One of the highlights of the celebration service was a testimony shared by one of the Dialect Church volunteers, Vincent Villa. Villa is a familiar face to members of the Dialect Church, being an Indian who is conversant in Chinese, Hokkien and Cantonese. He shared of his salvation experience and how he came to know the saving grace of Jesus which gave him the strength to overcome his bad habits and have a renewed sense of purpose in his life. “If God can bless me and change me, God can do the same for you,” he encouraged.
At the end of the meeting, there was a special lucky draw where more than 300 prizes were up for grabs. These included practical household items such as rice and washing powder which were distributed to the members and their friends.
The event was a resounding success and this was echoed by Maria Tok, zone supervisor of the Dialect Church. “Birthdays are joyous occasions for the Chinese, and today we have double joy as we celebrate the 21st birthday of our spiritual family, CHC, and the 45th birthday of Singapore. Through this, we want the congregation to remember that CHC is a family that stays, prays, grows and most importantly loves God—together.”
