The weekend of 20 and 21 December 2008 was no ordinary weekend. There was no guest speaker nor was there any guest performance at City Harvest Church (CHC) but there were thousands of candles lit for this year’s candlelight services at CHC.

The service started off with a rousing medley of Christmas carols, including the upbeat “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and the solemn but touching “Away in a Manger,” putting the congregation into a festive cheer as the service went on.

The merriment carried on through the announcements and the offering message. Indeed, there was much for the church to cheer about and celebrate beyond the festivity. 

David Yem and KC Gan, the church’s music director and creative director respectively, were recently interviewed by Channel NewsAsia for the program Get Rea! about the church’s contemporary-styled praise and worship, and a re-play of that interview was shown to the congregation during the service. In the interview, David and KC revealed the vision of the worship team behind their songs. On how CHC’s worship style has influenced the youth, both David and KC explained that although the music may attract people, the church goes beyond the “show part” which engages the soul, to include other aspects such as building lasting relationships, faith and character. After the screening of the interview was over, the congregation broke into a resounding applause for the glory that was given to God through the thoughtful answers that reflected the church as salt and light in the city.

Kong Hee, senior pastor, chose the theme of “light” to frame his message on this very special candlelight service weekend. He spoke from John 1:4-5, which speaks of the “Light that shines in the darkness.” Light can make us people of vision, value and compassion. Speaking from John 1, the light that shines in the darkness gives vision and shows us the steps we need to take in life. In particular, light gives us dreams and visions which have enormous power. Vision gives power to enable a person to overcome the odds, especially during a time of economic uncertainty and fear.

Light also determines the value of an object or person — the brighter and more light a diamond captures, the more valuable it is. This value emanating from objects and people is also known as ‘glory’. God is glorious and has infinite worth, price and value. In preparation for the year 2009, Kong urged the congregation not to remain stagnant in the coming year but to set goals that ensure an increase in one’s value. As God’s wonderful creation, we are not meant to be hidden but rather displayed in the full glory of God with our full array of talents, gifts and abilities for the whole world to see.

The light of Christ also helps us to become people of compassion. Isaiah 60:20 talks about a city dazzling with lights, attracting people into the kingdom of heaven. The dazzling lights would be emanating not just from God but from His people. Just like how Jesus started out His ministry by preaching good tidings and helping the afflicted, we can rise up in light as we serve the needy and broken.

PHOTOS: Michael Chan

Christmas is indeed a season of lights, not just with decorations on the outside but more importantly with the light of Christ inside our hearts. As thousands of candles lit up the hall, hearts were warmed to the love of God and one another. The beautiful sight of a truly candle-lit service was captured in the sight, soul and spirit of all present. As many people responded to the altar call at the end of the service, the beauty of salvation shone through the tears of everyone moved by the love of God.

Even as the candle lights have been blown out, one year ends and an exciting one begins!

SINGAPORE, 23 NOVEMBER 2008 — ASIA CONFERENCE’S PENULTIMATE session started off with a bang. The City Harvest Church (CHC) Band brought the roof down during praise and worship, leading both halls 7 and 8 in exuberant singing, jumping and dancing to the songs like ‘Great is Our God’ and ‘Elevate’. The atmosphere reached its climax as renowned songwriter and worship leader Don Moen appeared on stage to lead his latest song, ‘I Believe There is More’ and the all-time favourite, ‘God is Good’. Moen was scheduled to leave on Friday after the night session but stayed back just for the final two days of the conference. His surprise appearance in the Sunday morning session only served to bring the congregation to a higher level of worship.

Delegates started queuing outside Expo hall 8 from as early as 7am in order to get into the hall and grab the best seats in the house and rushed in the moment doors opened for the pre-service prayer meeting. Their patience was not unrewarded as they were treated to a whole array of performances and best of all, preaching by Phil Pringle.

The first performance showcased CHC’s very own choir with their rendition of ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’. Accompanied by the flute and piano, the choir belted out the song as they looked regal in outfits of shimmery teal for the ladies and sharp black suites for the men. Their performance was shortly followed by the CHC orchestra which was recently registered as the Millennial Orchestra. The orchestra performed a medley of popular national songs from ‘Sketches of Singapore’, a musical composition by Dr Kelly Tang. The medley included familiar tunes such as ‘Stand Up for Singapore’, ‘Rasa Sayang’ , ‘Where I Belong’ and ‘Di Tanjong Katong’. The songs were accompanied by photographs of Singapore both past and present in the background, evoking fond memories and national pride among the Singapore delegates at the conference. The Millenial Orchestra currently has 45 members and aims to become a full-fledged 100-member orchestra.

The performances by the choir and orchestra were a perfect lead-up to what was possibly the most anticipated and exciting announcement of the Conference so far. As Kong Hee took the stage to announce the total Arise & Build 2008 pledge amount (pledges were made by CHC members two weeks before Asia Conference), the congregation started to buzz as the Arise & Build 2008 video was played. Finally it was revealed: A total of $25,040,458.17 had been pledged over the Building Fund weekend, leading multiple eruptions of applause and shouts from the audience, ecstatic that they had once again exceeded the target.

Kong’s offering message once again centred on humanitarian work and encouraged the conference delegates to give their best to help the needy in society. His message followed Oh Gi Gi’s touching personal testimony of how her life was transformed by her experience with volunteers from City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA).

Pringle and Kong took the stage for this morning’s special event: the ordination of six Reverends and four Pastors. Wayne Chang, Choong Tsih-Ming, Goh Yock Kiang, Kevin Loo, Tan Seow How, Wu Yu Zhuang, Angel Lee, Joseph Ang, Bobby Chaw and John Lee were ordained and licensed, each receiving a plaque as well as the prayers and blessing of the congregation, Phil and Christine Pringle.

The band from Christian City Church (CCC) led the congregation with songs from their albums ‘Here We Go’ and ‘For Your Glory’. As Pringle took to the stage, everyone was ready with Bible and notebook in hand to take down what this man of God had to say.

In his sermon, entitled “The Resurrection”, Pringle exhorted members to overcome the difficulties in their lives. Drawing from Ezekiel 37, he explored three things: why the dry bones were in the valley, why those bones were dry and disconnected, and lastly, the power of prophecy to revive and resurrect.

He explained that the truest sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is when trouble comes into your life. The bones in the valley are those of the ones who gave up, and “stopped walking on”.

He encouraged all of us to keep on walking, that is, overcoming the obstacles in our Christian life. “If you keep walking, even though you slip or you stumble, you will get to the other side”, he said.

The reason behind the bones’ dryness is fivefold —  wounded spirits, cut spirits, bruised, poisoned and disconnected. To wounded spirits, he spoke healing in the form of joy and encouraged the audience to smile; to cut spirits, he called for closure and forgiveness.

PHOTOS: Vincent Liew, Michael Chan, Daniel Poh

In the most powerful part of his message, Pringle explored the power of prophecy to heal and resurrect these dry bones. Through prophecy, bones can become clothed in flesh and connected again. “Prophesy over your area of life”, he encouraged. To drive home this point, Pringle got the congregation to stand and prophesy over their nations, schools, church, family and personal lives.

In conclusion, he explained that the resurrection was meant to be a physical one. “God delights in new things”, he said, “and we should not seek the living among the dead.” We must dissociate ourselves from “the dead” in the form of old, conventional things and shun negative thinking. Pringle then led the congregation into a rousing declaration of encouragement and victory over all circumstances through verses from the Bible. With positive affirmation, the dry bones in our life can become alive again.

Over the months of September and October this year, City Harvest Church (CHC) School of Theology’s Academic Dean Tan Kim Hock embarked on mission trips to the Indonesian city of Surabaya. Working with Pastor Franklin and Nina Lumoindong of GPdI Elohim in Sidoajo, Kim Hock taught in the Bible School at Surabaya and preached at the church’s weekend services.

The objective of the week-long trips (8-15 September; 17-21 October ) was to complete the Bible Study courses such as Foundational Truths One and Two with the students at the Bible School, and also to help out CHC’s affiliated church during its weekend services.

PHOTOS: Melvin Chen

Despite having gone on numerous mission trips before, Kim Hock is still amazed by the hunger for God’s Word overseas. Particularly on these trips to Surabaya, Kim Hock was touched by the students’ thirst for knowledge as they asked many questions and remained completely engaged during lessons.

GPdI Elohim in Sidoarjo recently broke through with 1,000 attendees for the weekend service which Kim Hock preached in, and has been growing from strength to strength, continuing this high attendance for several weeks now.

CHC is committed to help in the Bible Study Program in Surabaya, in the hope that many other churches will be similarly blessed as the program expands. Kim Hock is “looking forward to do his part in seeing the progress of (CHC’s) work in and through this church.”