Travel 40 minutes across the Causeway into Malaysia from Singapore, and you will find Skudai, a town slightly farther north of Johor Bahru. In the heart of this small town lies a vibrant and growing community of believers—Harvest Christian Fellowship (HCF) Skudai.

From its humble beginnings of just 50 people who met in a single home cell group in 1999, Harvest Christian Fellowship has grown to more than 600 members today. During their Christmas 2006 weekend, the church experienced a breakthrough attendance of 1,321 people!

The pioneering batch met faithfully in a member's house, which very quickly proved to be too small for the growing flock. As more and more people started to attend, the church moved to a renovated shophouse that belonged to another church to conduct their Sunday services. However, the church kept growing at such a fast rate that HCF had to acquire another two adjacent shophouse units in order to make room for its fast-growing congregation.

Within a short time, HCF outgrew their premises at the shophouse and a new venue was urgently needed to contain the growth. A Christian businessman then offered them a space on the fourth floor of a nearby shopping mall which was previously a college education center. In 2002, Harvest Christian Fellowship moved into their new premises at the Skudai Parade Shopping Complex, which now contains the church office, the main auditorium that sits 600 people, rooms for Children's Church and nursery facilities as well as a bookstore.

A MAN OF PASSION AND PRAYER

At the helm of this ministry is Pastor George Ong. At 57 years old, Pastor George leads the vibrant congregation at HCF with much zeal and fervor, carrying a particularly strong passion toward helping the Chinese-speaking believers in Malaysia. Whether exhorting the people or leading them in prayer, Pastor George is a fervent prayer warrior—a man deeply passionate about the things of God.

When Harvest Times spoke with him on the growth of his ministry, Pastor George affirmed with great resolve, "I knew in my heart when I first came out to serve God full-time that I would serve the Chinese churches in the region." Indeed, HCF is possibly one of the most vibrant Chinese congregations in Malaysia and partners with 20 other churches from other states through the Harvest School of Ministry (SOM)—a Pastoral Training Center that meets several times a year for week-long conferences and camps.

When Pastor George leads his members into prayer, an intense desire and overwhelming sense of destiny is unmistakable as he lifts his voice in earnest prayer to God, interceding for the church and the lives of his people. This same passion for prayer is replicated all throughout the church. In this congregation, it is evident that prayer has been, and always will remain the foundation of its success.

GOING ON STRONG

Each week, Harvest Christian Fellowship is a flurry of activity. The church conducts cell group meetings, youth and adult services, music and vocal training, ministry to the elderly and handicapped, tuition classes for primary and secondary school students, Bible study sessions, to name a few. There are also 15 different ministries in HCF that the members can join according to their interests and talents.

Behind the weekly operations of the church are the staff and leaders of HCF. There are currently 24 staff and volunteer cell group leaders and 20 assistant leaders. These leaders help to oversee 45 cell groups, with the youngest church member at 12 years old, and the oldest,- 80 years old. The average age of a member in HCF is 37 years old. The church also started a Bible School program that is similar to City Harvest Bible Training Center in Singapore. Students go through 28 courses which are aimed at equipping more leaders for the churches in Malaysia. HCF is co-working with CHC (Singapore) to conduct its school curriculum, with an emphasis on pastoral training.

HARVEST SCHOOL OF MINISTRY

Fuelled by a fervent passion to impact the Chinese population in Malaysia, HCF has since made inroads into the Mandarin-speaking world. Apart from running their weekly church services, Harvest Christian Fellowship also incorporates a training school for church pastors and leaders known as Harvest School of Ministry.

This ministry was birthed as a result of Pastor George's vision to build a strong local church in every community. He firmly believes that strong churches are a result of strong leaders—only when there is a strong local church can effective ministry then follow to make an impact in each believer's sphere of influence.

Because the concept of building a strong local church is of utmost importance, pastoral training is a key element in SOM's line of vision. Each year, the pastors and leaders from partnering churches converge in Skudai to attend week-long seminars and camps organized by SOM. During these events, Rev. Kong Hee from City Harvest Church (Singapore) would travel to Skudai to conduct at least two of these conferences.

There are presently more than 600 co-workers from 22 different churches in East and West Malaysia that are within the SOM network. So far, SOM has partnerships with churches in Seremban, Ipoh, Sitiawan, Airtawar, Penang, Sabah and Sibu.

The goal of Pastor George Ong for each of these partner churches is to plant a new church, ministry, or mission center every three years. In 2007, plans are already underway to start a new church or mission center.

A HEART OF GRATITUDE

Looking back these past six years, Pastor George is grateful to City Harvest Church and especially to its senior pastor, Kong Hee. "The congregation in Harvest Christian Fellowship has always enjoyed Pastor Kong's ministry and he has definitely impacted us in a powerful way. More than that, Pastor Kong and City Harvest Church has always been so giving and generous all these years with their resources, sending teams to us whenever we needed any kind of help.

"I'm deeply grateful to Pastor Kong for his willingness to invest his time in both HCF and SOM. I can see his immense love for the churches in Malaysia, particularly the Chinese-speaking congregations. He has been a tremendous blessing to us!" HT