The upcoming Wow Wild World is the culmination of much prayer, outreach and planning.
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| CN PHOTO: Michael Chan |
On Oct. 1, City Harvest Children’s Church will be celebrating Children’s Day with a fun-filled extravaganza titled Wow Wild World. The anticipated highlights include performances by J-Seven and the Kids Band, as well as a magic show with comedian, Mr. Funny, and magician, Joe Yu.
Not many are aware of the countless hours, the seemingly routine groundwork and quiet submission in prayer that precede all the pomp and pageantry of a large-scale event as this. With less than a week to go, City News goes behind the scenes and traces the seeds that have been sown to bring the event from conceptualization to culmination.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
Preparation for the event went into motion not with a flurry of activity and logistics, but with much prayer and supplication at a prayer meeting on Sep. 15 at CHC’s premises in Jurong West. With the understanding that faith-filled prayer is key to every revival, the leaders and workers built up their spiritual weapons while believing God for a mighty move within the ministry, its leaders, volunteers and the program itself.
RELATIONSHIPS FIRST, EVENTS SECOND
With a preliminary program in place, weekly service schedules and pre-event activities were drawn up for the entire month as a lead-up to Wow Wild World. Just the past week, a Mid-Autumn Festival party as well as SPARK KIDS, a children leaders’ meeting, were held to encourage more children to invite their friends to the event.
The excitement has gained momentum—according to 25-year-old Goh Si Ying, a few of the children under her care have asked to tag along on her home visits. They not only brought her to their friends’ homes but also spoke boldly to the parents about the upcoming celebration and invited them for church’s services too.
But it is far from a one-off effort—for many years now, the Children’s Church has been conducting weekly visitations (involving an average of 200 teachers reaching out to 2,000 children). Since serving as a visitation leader three years ago for the Marsiling area, Goh, a secondary school teacher, has touched many lives, visiting an average of 20 to 30 children in a regular week. The visits can be very draining, especially after a day’s work, but it is a small price to pay in return for watching the children under her care grow up and undergo character development as well as spiritual growth. She shared, “My motivation comes from God’s Word.”
At each home visitation, Goh aims to deliver a lesson through a Bible story, a memory verse from the Bible and some application questions. But beyond imparting biblical knowledge, Goh hopes to relate better to the children and learn more about their lives and their families’ situation.
Just a few days earlier, she had paid a visit to one of her former care group children, who has since moved on to a cell group after graduating from primary school. Upon knowing that the child’s father had been suffering from cancer for the past five years, she plucked up her courage to lay hands and pray for him. Her strong belief in the father’s healing touched his family and they too joined in prayer and believed God for a favorable outcome at the next treatment the following week.
Pastor of CCH, Eileen Toh, together with the rest of her team, are believing God for a turnout of more than 5,000 children next weekend. Much time and effort, all invisible to the public eye, has been poured into preparations for the big day, but says Goh, “In the Bible, Jesus says, ‘Let the children come to Me.’ These are the words that run through my mind and keep me going.”
Wow Wild World services will be held on Sep. 29, Wednesday, 3 p.m., Oct. 1, Friday, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at 1 Jurong West St 91. Celebrations at Singapore Expo Hall 8 will be help on Oct. 2, Saturday, 11 a.m.
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| ALBUM COVER DESIGN: Veroy Chua |
A New Sound
It’s out! After its first debut album, City Harvest Children’s Church now rolls out its sophomore album entitled God Of My Universe. Comprising a mix of catchy, upbeat rhythms and inspiring harmonies, “It’s an album that not just the young will enjoy—we hope it will strike a chord with the adults as well, given its contemporary sound,” says project coordinator and one of the songwriters, Veroy Chua.
One of the songs he wrote, “If,” is a contemplative tribute to the glory of God and heaven. “It paints a picture of what a child would experience if he were to take a peek into heaven—the angels praising the Lord Almighty, the rainbows and the deep love of God.” The title track, “God Of My Universe,” captures the overarching theme of the intimacy of God toward each of His children such that He knows each one by name, despite His universality.
This album is a meaningful yet enjoyable gift that any child would love to receive on Children’s Day.
