In March 2007, a team from City Harvest Church (CHC) embarked on a eight-week mission tour that centered mainly on Taiwan and ended in Fukuoka, Japan. Throughout this entire period, a total of more than 100 CHC members volunteered to be on this team, serving in varied roles that ranged from being a part of the worship team to participating in other ministries such as security and logistics. Revival meetings were conducted in the evenings and mornings in 14 different cities, with 120 local churches partnering with CHC to organize these events.

In each service, the CHC worship band would lead the congregation in a time of praise and worship, after which conference participants would hear inspiring testimonies from pastors of various overseas churches that CHC has been assisting over the years. As they each took their turn to share of the breakthroughs taking place in their own churches, many of them acknowledged the extent of CHC’s positive impact on the lives of their members and church as a whole. Many were in awe at the amazing testimonies of transformation and revival taking place in these churches.

The event also saw many being ministered by the preaching of the Word as Rev. Kong Hee taught on the subject “The Marketplace”— expounding on how Christians in the secular marketplace can present the gospel of Jesus Christ appropriately in today’s modern culture. These messages instilled in every believer the importance of reaching their communities in a relevant and godly way. The word brought forth a fresh move of God into the churches represented at these conferences as many began to understand the significance of being a contemporary yet uncompromising Christian.

A HEART FOR THE CHINESE-SPEAKING WORLD

For several years now, Pastor Kong has cherished a deep desire to reach the Chinese-speaking world with the gospel. Each time he talks about mission work in his home church CHC, he never fails to exhort the Singaporean Chinese Christians to think beyond their city and develop a heart for the entire Chinese-speaking community all over Asia.

With that vision in mind, the church started to focus its mission work in this direction since 2002, holding annual revival campaigns that toured Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia. These gospel meetings were received with much enthusiasm from many of the local churches in these cities.

Besides the powerful preaching of a message in season for these congregations, the music ministry in CHC has also brought a fresh sound to the praise and worship scene among these churches by introducing its homegrown compositions. Songs like “Destiny,” “Hold Me Close,” “Breathe,” and “Sanctuary” were translated into Mandarin and sung during these gospel campaigns, ministering powerfully to the participants through their anointed lyrics and melodies. Just over March and April 2007, a total of more than 18,000 worship DVDs (consisting of a compilation of worship recordings done by CHC, complete with subtitles in English, Mandarin and even Japanese) were distributed during the mission tour in Taiwan and Japan.

In addition, CHC produced the first-ever Mandarin version of its in-house quarterly magazine, Harvest Times, in July 2006. It was warmly received by the Chinese community and has grown rapidly in circulation, at present reaching more than 20,000 readers per issue. During the two-month long tour, over 84,000 copies were circulated throughout Taiwan.

In the latest step to effectively reach the Chinese communities in Asia, CHC is partnering with New Life Church Taipei to start Harvest Ministry Bible School in downtown Taipei. The senior pastor of New Life Church, Rev. Abraham Ku, is very excited about the potential reach and influence of this school. The vision of this Bible School is to train and equip a new generation of believers and leaders who will carry a burden and make an impact in the Chinese-speaking world for the kingdom of God. Classes will begin in mid-June this year and to date, the maximum capacity of 400 places has been filled and registration has been extended for more students to enroll.