Concerned parents of City Harvest youths turn up for service
Even as thousands continued to show up at City Harvest Church at their second English service this weekend, caution has started to seep into parts of its congregation about church donations.
Several adults were seen accompanying their teenage children during the service but remaining seated and silent throughout the service.
When Yahoo! spoke to some outside the conference hall, they said they were not churchgoers but parents of youths who attended service regularly.
“I’m still okay with my son going for service at CHC – he’s grown up and it’s his choice, but I was worried when I found out you could make donations through credit card – he uses our supplementary card and I’m not comfortable with him donating to a church that I personally wish was more accountable,” said a bank executive, 56, who wanted to be known as Mr Lim.
Another parent, Mdm Sally Low, 48, said she had attended to “hear Pastor Kong’s side of the story”.
“The newspapers are saying one thing, but my daughter says it’s not true. So I’m here to make sure my daughter doesn’t anyhow (sic) believe everything she hears,” said the mother of a 16-year-old churchgoer.
The service at Singapore Expo was predictably packed, with every seat in the 8,000-capacity hall filled and rooms nearby occupied by hundreds of other supporters and curious onlookers.
In a repeat of Saturday’s two-hour service, the same two testimonies were delivered by a member with the Crossover Project and a back-up dancer who attributed her conversion to Christianity to Sun and the opportunity to perform on her controversial music video, "China Wine".
Kong and Sun were seen to tear several times while speaking to the crowd and singing worship songs, but looked considerably more comfortable than their first, tense appearance an evening earlier when Kong spoke up publicly for the first time to declare that he maintained his integrity.
Most CHC members declined to comment when approached after the service, only saying that they were “standing by Pastor Kong” and “didn’t want to feed the media frenzy”.
During Saturday’s service, Kong had told the congregation that he would be putting off hospital visits and meeting sessions for “a few weeks”, explaining that he wanted to avoid a situation where reporters might tail him in hospitals and inconvenience those he was there to help.
“We know that whatever we say, people will judge us. So we just pray that his innocence will come to light – as long as we believe, it doesn’t matter what people outside the church think,” said 16-year-old Annie Tsang, who was seen crying emotionally when Kong took to the stage to thank his flock for their prayers and support on Sunday morning.
CHC has thrown its weight behind its founder Kong Hee and the four other key members who were charged Wednesday over alleged misuse of the charity’s funds.
In a statement released by executive pastor Aries Zulkarnain on Thursday evening, the church stated that it is standing by the five individuals.
"The people currently in the news are our pastors and trusted staff and leaders who have always put God and CHC first," he said. "As a church we stand with them and I believe fully in their integrity."
The statement also said that Kong, 47, and his deputy pastor Tan Ye Peng, 39, who both face charges of criminal breach of trust, will continue preaching at the megachurch.
Addressing the current charges that stand against the five accused leaders, Zulkarnain maintained that the church did not lose any money in the transactions detailed in the charges, which list two separate amounts of S$24 million and a further S$26.6 million.
"The S$24 million, which went into investment bonds, was returned to the church in full, with interest... The church did not lose any funds in the relevant transactions, and no personal profit was gained by the individuals concerned," he said.
In response to the church’s statement, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said, “We wish to reiterate that as criminal charges are now before the court and will be subject to adjudication by the court; and that as such, neither the prosecution nor any other party should comment on issues which will be subject to adjudication and on which evidence will be led in court.”
