Since the Circuit Breaker kicked in, various ministries in City Harvest Church have brought their volunteers online in creative ways to minister to the church.
Right now, the idea of traveling to the Suntec Convention Centre or Jurong West is a fond memory for City Harvest Church members. The feeling of stepping into the hall, seeing familiar faces and meeting friendly ushers, praising God together with fellow cell group members is much missed throughout the church body.
It’s not just going for church service or cell group meeting that members miss. It’s also serving God with their fellow ministry members. Some missed serving so much that they came up with a way to bring their ministry online.
City News spoke to some ministry and find out how they are connecting with one another in this season.
For the Flag Bearers and CHC’s dance ministry, The Disciples, serving God in this season may not take the form it used to, but that has not stopped them from doing what they do best: dancing to the rhythm of the Holy Spirit.
WORSHIPPING WITH FLAGS
The Flag Bearers produced a video on their Instagram account showcasing different flaggers in action. Some took to empty carparks while others danced in their homes, finding solace in the Lord.
June Chaim from the Flag Bearers ministry tells City News that the video came out of her own expression of worship.
“To me, flags and dance are an integral part of worship. During this season of staying at home, I was asked by different ones to produce dance-and-flag videos to encourage the church body,” she explained.
June has seen different dance-and-flag ministries around the world producing worship dance videos to bless churches, and she thought of doing the same. Leila Tan, the pastoral oversight for the Flag Bearers suggested to June to include a few other flag bearers in the video.
“Around the same period of time, my friends at 3:16 Church saw one of my dance videos and did a similar one— they included other dancers to form a montage. When I saw that, I was so blessed by them and decided to issue a challenge to our ministry to dance to ‘The Blessing’ by Kari Jobe,” June described.
“I felt like this song is the song for this season,” she explained. “Even though we are going through challenging and hard times, God is still in control. He still wants to remind us, that His blessing is eternal and is throughout our generations.”
Eventually, June received 16 entries. “I took about 12 hours to edit the video.”
DANCING TOGETHER IN THEIR OWN HOMES
Similarly, The Disciples got together online and held a worship session during Easter. “The Disciples wanted to come together as a ministry to do something for the Easter weekend, in remembrance and in celebration of the work of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Gin Lam, head of The Disciples, told City News.
“At the same time, it was a great chance for our ministry to explore creating online dance tutorials and to provide a platform for free worship in the midst of this circuit breaker season. We believe that as we move in agreement in one spirit and one body of Christ, God’s power will be. This power can minister and bless those who are watching.”
Together with dancers from churches overseas, The Disciples started Kingdom Movement, a dance session to dance together as one body of Christ. After the session, they compiled the dance videos into a montage of different dancers, including some from The Flag Bearer Ministry. The video aimed to portray the brokenness and raw vulnerability of being a dancer before the Lord.
“Some of us may struggle with how imperfect our dance may look,” read a post on the ministry’s Instagram account. “Filming it two times, five times, 10 times, 20 times. We wonder, do we really want to put this video out there? But every movement each dancer portrays has its own tears, its own encounter, and its own story.”
It concludes, “Ultimately, this is our worship to God. We celebrate the Hope that has a name–the name is Jesus. He is our refuge and our hope in and out of seasons. He is the peace that surpasses all understanding.”
The King Movement video was well-received. “We heard from some of our friends that they were greatly blessed by the Kingdom Movement video collage that we made,” said Gin. “They said that the presence and anointing of God was very strong and tangible even through digital devices. Truly when two or three are gathered—even digitally—in His name, there He will be!”
Gin told City News that some dance ministries from churches overseas expressed their interest in being involved in the Kingdom Movement. “They have been immensely blessed and touched by the Holy Spirit while learning the tutorials and dancing in free worship,” she said. “When we shared the final video collage with them, they were impacted and inspired. They asked for more of such opportunities to connect in the Spirit together.”
Besides the Kingdom Movement, The Disciples are keeping their dancers busy with weekly online get-togethers. “We have our ministry calendar filled with monthly devotions, online trainings and reviews. We are even doing mass workouts,” Gin shared.
“Our various small group mentorship teams have also initiated their own regular bonding activities like workout sessions and TikTok fellowship,” she added. “The love for the church truly never stops. In fact, at a time like this it reveals all the more the love various ministries have for their passions and each other. Truly, this is home.”
You can find the videos in their official Instagram accounts, @chcflagbearers and @chcthedisciples.
