2001 was the year I first stepped into City Harvest Church in Jurong West. A backslidden Christian from a conservative evangelical background, my first encounter had been memorable in many ways. It was a push and pull so to speak. Why? Pull because I felt God drawing me back to Him. Push because my flesh was freaking out and wanted to find the nearest exit. With everyone around me speaking in tongues, including my mom, the experience was overly creepy. It felt like I’m being surrounded by aliens. Hahaha.
Not only was I afraid of what’s going on around me, I found it hard to believe that God would still accept me and love me despite my shortcomings.
But God’s love conquered my fears. Truly, perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). That had been my turning point in life. It didn’t guarantee that I won’t backslide again, but it was a fresh start for me to experience God in a new and very real way, which leads me to slide toward Him, no longer away from Him.
Photo credit: City Harvest Church
With the recent sharing of Pastor Kong on the 15 Paradigms of CHC, it once again affirmed what our core values as a church are all about – what we believe in and what we live by, what makes us City Harvest Church. The series was preached over 4 weekends and concluded in a combined CG meeting. I couldn’t get enough of it that I bought the 5-CD sermon compilation.
Every single one represents a fiber of our being. They are the reasons why we do what we do and to sum it all up in one phrase, IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD! How amazing is that?!
I am putting up the signage below on my workstation to be reminded of it over and over again. I know I have a tendency to turn away from God, that’s the nature of my flesh. All the more I need the Holy Spirit to help me live a godly life, one that truly pleases God inside out.
On and off, I’ve been in CHC for 11 years now. I had been grafted into this spiritual family since 2005 and I consider myself a daughter of the house. Next below are some snapshots of the different groups of people I’ve come across with. I thank You Lord for every single one of them!
Thank You Lord for taking us from strength to strength, glory to glory. One prayer I’ve been making these days goes like this:
Lord, You remain sovereign. You know what You’re doing and I trust that it’s for a greater purpose than what I can perceive. But I will continue to make my prayers known to You because I know it touches Your heart when we pray.
May our leaders be set free and totally vindicated from the criminal charges at court. Let this agony be put to an end. We want to do even greater works than these but we need them by our side to lead us to greater heights.
But Lord, even if you don’t allow that, we will continue to be committed to You and the Church. We will continue to live by these paradigms because this is who we are. It is still possible to carry on for we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. So help us, God.
