Newcomers to City Harvest Church during the Easter weekend were invited back for tea at a special welcome session.
Over the weekend of 15 and 16 April, Suntec Singapore’s Hall 605 was a Newcomers Tea It started with a pleasant spread of food and an enriching time of fellowship.
Held the week after Easter, the Newcomers’ Tea was a special event held to welcome back the individuals who responded to the salvation altar calls the last few weeks, including the Easter services, and who had joined the church in recent weeks. The tea was a good opportunity for the pastoral team to also meet members and their new friends.
The event began with attendees being ushered into the Theatre at Hall 606, where CHC’s founders, Kong Hee and Sun Ho presented a short introduction of the church to the newcomers.
Pastor Kong shared the history of the church and took the audience through its milestones, starting from 1986 when God ignited a mighty revival among students on the Eastern side of Singapore, who came from schools such as Anglican High Secondary and Katong Convent Secondary. These young believers regularly met at 41A Amber Road, which became the epicentre of a big youth revival. Ekklesia Ministry, helmed by Pastor Kong, started as a cell group, but grew quickly from three people to 60, and eventually to 180 people.
In 1989, City Harvest Church was registered as a charity and launched as a church. Moving from hotel ballroom to auditoriums, the church rented an old movie theatre along Tanjong Katong Road known as Hollywood Theatre, where it continued to grow in number. Ten years later, the church obtained a space at Jurong West St 91 to build its sanctuary. building its sanctuary at Jurong West St 91. Even though the church consisted mainly of young people, they managed to raise enough funds to construct the building debt-free. After CHC moved into its building in 2001, it kept growing with multiple services conducted from Friday to Sunday.
In 2006, CHC started holding services at both Expo Convention Centre and Jurong West to cater to its members in both the East and West. In the same year, the Crossover Project started with Sun at the forefront. Through the Crossover Project, thousands of souls were saved. Sun also built schools in China for the poorer rural areas.
In 2010, CHC became the co-owner of the Suntec City Convention Centre, with six floors of buildings.
CHC did good where it could. In 2004, a tsunami happened in Aceh, and CHC formed a medical team and went on its first disaster relief trip. Since then, the church has been involved in multiple disaster reliefs and other humanitarian efforts.
In Singapore, the church continues to help the poor and needy, chiefly through its community services arm, City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA). One of CHCSA’s most fruitful initiatives has been House of Joy, two senior activity centres located at Mountbatten and Tampines.
Pastor Sun shared with the newcomers that her desire is to build a church that is spiritual, as well as relational. She hopes that the newcomers can find a community here at CHC, and that the church’s initiatives can help them navigate through difficult situations they may face in life.
She went on to tell them about cell groups, which form the backbone of CHC. She encouraged the newcomers to join a cell group which will give them a sense of belonging in the church.
THE DEPARTMENTS IN CHC
After the introduction, the pastors and church leaders went on stage to introduce the different functions of the church.
Executive pastor Bobby Chaw explained CHC’s Bible study programme as well as the School of Theology, where he serves as principal. He also shared with them about the Chinese services held in the same hall on Sundays at 10am, before telling them about The Harvest Network, a group of almost 50 churches affiliated with CHC.
Executive pastor Aries Zulkarnain spoke briefly on the 41 ministries in CHC in which church members can serve. The pastor also oversees the Indonesian Service which happens twice a month on Sundays at 1.30pm.
The newcomers learned about other departments of the church such as Harvest Kidz, the children’s ministry; Emerge, the youth ministry, as well as the Young Adult and the Marketplace ministry. CHC also offers Dialect Service for the elderly and Jesus for All Minds (JAMS) services for the intellectually-challenged.
Departments exist within CHC to serve and support different demographics of church members. CityFamilies (CFAM) conducts workshops, activities and retreats for singles, married couples, and parents. The Counselling department aims to provide clinical tools to support members when they face emotional and mental health issues.
At the heart of CHC lie the Church Without Walls initiatives which provide help to marginalised communities throughout Singapore. Last year, the church was able to help 5,650 people and their families.
If you would like to find out more about CHC, visit us at www.chc.org.sg
