A City Harvest Church member pens this letter to the church, as he looks back on the past two weeks when six of its leaders were on trial.
CN PHOTO: Daniel Poh.
Dear Friends,We’ve come to the end of six days, the first tranche, of the trial.City Harvest Church: our people and our ministries have, in these six days, crossed over to come into full view of the public eye.And we are still the church that we’ve always been. Twenty-four years have prepared us well for this.
PRAYING & FASTING
We’ve prayed incessantly. We’ve fasted for the six and their families. And from the reports of the trial proceedings, we know our prayers are heard. We know we are making a difference.
PRAISING & WORSHIPING
We’ve continued to praise and worship God. And those who attended the trial, you’ve carried the presence and the peace of God right into the courtroom itself.
SOUL-WINNING
On the weekend right in the middle of the six-day trial, the altar-call for receiving Jesus saw the stage front being filled!
You who have encountered God, and received Jesus into your hearts on this weekend, know that it was for you, that this trial is all about. There was never one person’s music career. There was only the Crossover. So we could reach you.
SHARING THE WORD OF GOD
We’ve continued to encourage one another through verses in the Bible, verses that now have become so real for us.
USHERING
A team was at the Subordinate Courts every morning to usher the six individuals through the gathering of reporters and photographers, walking side-by-side with each of the six, in that now-infamous walk up (and down) the steps of the Subordinate Courts.
In fact, the same team was also keeping track of the arrival times of the cars that brought the six individuals to court, making sure that one of CHC’s own would be there to receive each of the six and their family members.
HOSPITALITY
CHC’s hospitality team planned for each day’s lunchtime, that all-important break for them to refresh and regroup. The lawyers and their teams had a taste of CHC hospitality!
CITY NEWS
City News has been nothing short of amazing. Its team of writers, media crew and the news presenters provided the community, both church and the public, excellent coverage of the trial proceedings on a day-by-day basis.
City News itself was written about by The Straits Times, becoming the news provider that other news talk about!
Finally, for those that attended the court sessions, you’ve also demonstrated something else that CHC has always been known for being very good at – arriving early, queuing up in good orderly fashion, and getting seats!
Your being there brought an assuring presence, and an atmosphere of faith and love to the six and their families, at a place and time when they needed the church most. You showed up.
CHC, in these six days, we decided to walk together with the six individuals. Together, we walked tall.
We walked in faith, hope… and love.
These six days, the nation did not just see six individuals. They saw a church in action. They now see, hear and know City Harvest Church as we really are.
This Crossover is now happening right here, on home ground.
Ed Ong
