Booming church collects $25m a year in donations

Booming church collects $25m a year in donations

by Chang May Choon and Andre Yeo (The Electric New Paper, 27 December 2005)

Building a multi-million dollar place of worship is not something new for City Harvest Church (CHC).

4 years ago, CHC spent $47.6 million on a church which boasts world-class design and facilities at Jurong West St 91. The current building is housed on a 3,500 sq m plot of land.

But the congregation has since doubled to 20,000, so a 2nd church, which will cost between $40m to $45m, is needed. Yet, CHC founder pastor Rev. Kong Hee said that at the rate its congregation is growing, it may need a 3rd church. CHC launched its building fundraising drive for the 2nd church in September 2005. It aims to raise $12m to 15m by February 2006.

Rev. Kong Hee said the campaign continues for 6 months, breaks for 6 months, then starts again. Such a cycle prevents donor fatigue, he added. This means the church will collect about $2m a month for the building fund for 6 months, or a monthly average of $100 in donations per church member.

"We have to be sensitive to our members. There's only so much they can give," said Rev. Kong. So far, the biggest contribution to the building fund is $250,000 from a couple. When ready, the new church will cost about $40m to $45m, said Rev. Kong. The land was bought three years ago - a 3,000 sq m plot worth $7m in Jurong West St 74 - and architects have been appointed to draw up plans.

But Rev. Kong, 41, thinks it may still be too small to accommodate the church's rapidly-growing congregation, so he is looking to buy another bigger plot of land. CHC moved its weekend English services to a rented Singapore Expo hall on 10 December 2005 to accommodate the huge numbers that turn up. Other services continue to be held in the Jurong premises. The hall sits 7,000 people, while its own auditorium can only accommodate a maximum of 2,300 people.

"Expo is only interim. We hope to find a bigger place, but nothing is available yet," said Rev. Kong. For the current building, a family had donated close to $1m. That building, which was first featured in The Electric New Paper in 2002, has some of the best facilities anywhere. Having a permanent building helped the church attract thousands of new members.

Said Rev. Kong: "When you have a permanent facility, people will feel more at home so they would want to join our church." It's still a rarity among churches with a $583,000 fountain, a 1,700 sq m pillar-free underground auditorium with a 3m thick ceiling, and a sound console which was then the largest in the world. It also has the world's most advanced fire evacuation system, which sucks smoke out of the building in a fire.

Functional New Church.

The proposed new church, however, is 'nothing very exciting', said Rev. Kong. "We already have a nice titanium facade and a nice fountain, so we don't need (for the new church). It saves money. This building will be more functional." He said he originally planned to include a wedding chapel with stained glass and an organ, which can sit 500 people, but it has to be shelved due to lack of space. If all goes well, construction will begin late next year and the church will be completed by 2008.

P/S:

The City Harvest Church (CHC), located in the western part of Singapura, is 1 of most notorious Charismatic churches belonging to the Theistic Religions. It presents 1 big threat to the survival of the Buddhist in Singapura due to its fundamentalist and extremist nature towards Buddhism. It also embarks on huge Proselytism outreaches to Buddhist youth to crack their faith. We, Buddhists, must wake up ourselves to these Challenges from Theistic Religions for our survival.