Breaking News:
City Harvest Church has acquired a piece of land in central-south Singapore with the intention of building a 12,000-seater hall at S$310 million, said the church’s senior pastor, Kong Hee. He disclosed the news at a service at the Singapore Expo on Saturday. The exact location of the land will only be made known once the acquisition is complete. City Harvest Church has the largest Christian congregation in Singapore estimated at 27,000.
Is there anything that they’re doing that contradicts Biblical doctrine?
If there’s nothing, then I don’t see why they can’t do what they’re gonna do – despite the nay-saying attitudes of other Christians.
It seems to me a pretty good idea to have a building (religious) that will house shops, restaurants and so on – other Christians will find it convenient, for instance, to take food/meals there.
[Food can be quite a problem in Singapore for some Christians. Not all vendors are ‘new food court’ types - they display religious inscriptions and images at their stalls, and many a Christian find it uncomfortable to take food from there. The best places for these Christians are places bereft of religious symbols and artifacts, or places with symbols, artifacts or inscriptions relating to Christianity. Supermarkets - at least most supermarkets - are fine because they are usually bereft of anything which acquaints with religion.]
Once again, I don’t see why this is a bad idea at all. The City Harvest Church seem to want to create a modern Christian village that might be worth studying when it’s complete, up and going – you know, if Christians cannot create a republic of their own why should they not be able to create a village of their own? This has been the quaint idea of many Christians before they grew older, and more pessimistic.
And again, if there’s nothing unbiblical about what they’re doing, why should City Harvest Church not be allowed to do what they are going to do?
Roman Catholicism has a centre, a very grand one, in the Vatican City; Islam has Mecca, but Christians do not even have Jerusalem. Protestantism has never had a real centre in the form of a city, and never will probably, but it should have churches that are interested in creating large, self-sustaining communities.
City Harvest has always been the forward-looking kind, you can tell that even in their worship style. Christians who prefer a more meditative style cannot say that that kind of worship style is not unbiblical, and neither can they say that its ‘expansion plans’ are unbiblical in nature, only that it’s probably all in the good name of evangelism or proselytisation.
Any economical value for acquiring such expensive land when $310m can be used to help the poor and needy. I have heard enough of extravagant spending and lose of billion dollars out of taxpayers money that were treated like toilet papers. Why do we still need charity shows when so many big religion bodies are so wealthy. What would god have done with so much money if he knows his sheeps have nothing to eat.
Reply to #87hngry
Hey!,AMEN to you,buddy.
wah thats a lot of money.
Just my 2 cents worth..
Any church or organisation that is big, requires suitable land and property size in order to function.
A small building like Jurong West – which according to my sources, can only sit 2,000 has caused many problems such as traffic jams, not enough parking lots, not enough F&B places for the members to go to. Previously when they were at Jurong West only, the 27,000 membership were spread over back to back services, rushing off when one service ends to rush in when another starts. I’m talking about 6 English services packed into one weekend, and other ministries such as the children church, the dialect church, the mentally disabled ministry, the Indonesian church etc etc. There is virtually no room in the building for fellowship or simply for people to hang around and enjoy their own church premises, or even use the packed toilets.
If you were part of a big organisation with such a small building, who suffers? Everyone, from the Pastor who preach the same message 6 times a week to the members who are consistently rushed from one hall to the next holding area, fighting over the limited amount of seats in the main hall.
To me, the desire for a bigger place is only reasonable. its a 12,000 seater hall, what do you expect? the price tag to be a mere 1 million? Yes, its a tad pricey for the average Singaporean.. but we’re talking housing about close to 30,000 people in a single seating.
City Harvest is amazingly bold for a church.. I wish I was part of them, and the magnificent building they are going to have.
Jealous, much?
(:
I thought god himself said to give money to the poor, all talk only…spend on themselves
Nick, I’m not sure which god you are referring to when you say “god says”…but as far as I know, all the major religion emphasize helping the poor and needy, and not giving money to the poor.
In this regards, CHC has a team of 8 full-time staff and more than 700 volunteers going their rounds in helping the poor and needy in the society. It is in fact, a bigger welfare organization than even many government or government –related bodies. The size and magnitude of the organization is still growing day and day, and if CHC does not have a passion in serving the poor and needy, would it plough and contribute so much in terms of money and efforts to our poor and needy?
You might also like to know that beyond Singapore, they had also contributed greatly to the relief efforts of the tsunami victims (in terms of money, manpower and time), and they are doing the same now for the Haiti’s earthquake victims as well.
So, while CHC is doing their silent part, what have you been doing, our dear Nick? Just sitting back in your nice armchair and being a cyber critic will not help the poor!
And if you are not contributing anything, then at least don’t hypocritically criticize on matters that you yourself do not even have a conviction in, OK?