SINGAPORE, 20 NOVEMBER 2008 — Kong Hee spoke to a maximum capacity crowd pastors and church leaders who crammed into the special session today, hungry to hear the keys to success from the pastor of the second largest church in Asia.
This elective, titled “The 10 Essentials to Church Growth”, was one of two closed-door sessions for pastors and church workers.
With his methodical approach and signature wit, Kong covered 10 keys to church growth, drawing from his 19 years of experience as the Senior Pastor of City Harvest Church.
One of the main points was the importance of the pastor as a leader. He shared various essential leadership skills such as the ability to communicate vision to the people and how to motivate the members through the message. In addition, he shared that one of the keys to church growth — to have Big Days — was used effectively in Indonesia; drawing the example of how Elohim GPdI Church, with an average attendance of 800 members, hit a record attendance of more than 4,000 people during their Big Day.
In the Q&A session, questions flew fast and furious. Pastors and church leaders from Taiwan, Philippines, India and Indonesia asked questions on various aspects of leading and growing a church. The session was instructional and interactive, with Kong using photographs and books as tools to illustrate his points on discipleship and accountability.
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| PHOTOS: Lam Hui Ching |
Anil Samuel, 33, a pastor from the Telugu Methodist Church in India commented, “I feel that the greatest thing I received is that church growth is inevitable.” In addition, he said that he was challenged to keep his vision clear. Church growth has been on his mind all this time, but it is in this Asia Conference that he has learned how he can apply the practical steps and principles.
“Everything I’ve learned from the session is very relevant. One of the keys that jumped out is the fact that to grow a church, multiple services cannot be held for the sake of it. The atmosphere and excitement level must be kept up in all the services you conduct,” said Sharon Perez, a youth leader from the Dau Christian Temple in the Philippines.
Elective facilitator He Wen Kai, 27, said that the response to the special elective was overwhelming. Many that were turned away on the first day were subsequently given priority the next day.
The leaders left, inspired to improve on and implement the various keys for church growth all over Asia.
