Kong Hee, the Church Builder
God has called me to raise up a new generation of disciples of Christ, who will take the gospel throughout Asia.—Kong Hee, 1989
Kong Hee received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord in 1975. After his conversion, Kong attended a small neighborhood Anglican church for the next 13 years. Upon graduation with a computer science degree from the National University of Singapore, and after a short stint working in the Anglican church, Kong was planning to be a missionary in the Philippines.
It was during that time when he felt the call of God to start a church in downtown area of Singapore. On May 7, 1989, City Harvest Church was founded with a handful of 20 young people.
Today, the church Kong has built is unique in Asia for the following reasons: (1) With a membership of more than 27,000 members, it is the second largest local congregation in Asia today. (2) A US$28,000,000 titanium-clad underground church complex that is fully paid for. (3) Its worship and ministry style is among the most contemporary and progressive among churches in the world. (4) At a rate of planting one new church every 3 months, CHC is a mission-minded church. (5) With the largest short-term Bible school in Southeast Asia, and 9 other branch schools in the Far East, discipleship is the heart of CHC. (6) With its emphasis to reach out to the spirit, soul and body of the youth, CHC’s Asia and Emerge Conferences attract tens of thousands of young people. (7) CHC’s motto of kristos kai kosmos is to bring Christ into the marketplace and contemporary culture of society in a relevant way.
Kong Hee, the Humanitarian
We must find a need and meet it, find a hurt and heal it.—Kong Hee, 1995
In 1995, Kong felt the call of God to build a “Church Without Walls,” which is to take the love of Christ beyond the four walls of the church in a compassionate and practical way. Since then, Kong’s personal ethos in life is to “find a need and meet it, find a hurt and heal it.”
In 1997, City Harvest Community Services Association was founded to reach out to the less fortunate, regardless of race, language or religion. CHCSA touches 17,000 lives in Singapore annually, while building and running many schools, medical centers and orphanages in the slums of Southeast Asia.
Kong Hee, the Conference Speaker
God plunges us fully into society to influence the marketplace of business, education, government, arts and media. We must engage culture to be salt and light.—Kong Hee, 2006
As a highly-recognized and much sought-after personality in the international speaking circuit, Kong receives hundreds of invitations each year to lecture in universities, corporations, churches and conferences around the globe.
To date, more than 1,000,000 have attended his seminars, while countless others in Asia have heard him through his weekly half-hour television broadcast, “Harvest Time.” Kong has personally spoken in the following countries: Armenia, Australia, Canada, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, USA, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
Kong Hee, the Businessman
The Scripture says do business til He comes. I have always held an interest for business, maybe it is the Chinese-Indonesian blood in me.—Kong Hee, 2006
Kong and his wife are co-owners of two fashion retail outlets. They are all located along Orchard Road to Marina Bay, which is Singapore’s premier shopping belt. As a business owner, Kong was off the CHC payroll from 2005. They both serve the church and community services as volunteers, just like any other lay members of those non-profit organizations.
