Dr. Kong Hee
Founder and Senior Pastor · City Harvest Church
Kong Hee, a disciple of Dr. David Yonggi Cho, has followed Dr. Cho's ministry since 1982, when he was just a youth. Kong answered the call to full-time ministry in 1986 and has built City Harvest Church based on Dr Cho's teachings on topics like prayer, the home cell group system, and "The Fourth Dimension" of the Holy Spirit. In Asia and beyond, Kong is known as a 'revivalist' who stirs the hearts of believers and encourages them to obey the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, the Cultural Mandate, and the Divine Priority. But beyond doing the gospel work, Kong's greatest passion lies in challenging people to become more like Jesus, and to love like Jesus.
Rev. Dr. Kong Hee is the founder and senior pastor of City Harvest Church, a thriving Pentecostal congregation in Singapore. As a second-generation Singaporean born into a non-Christian family, Kong received Jesus Christ as his Saviour when he was 11 years old. A month after his conversion, he was baptised in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Shortly later, God completely healed him of severe chronic bronchial asthma.
Kong spent his growing-up years in a neighbourhood Anglican church and was actively involved in Sunday school and youth ministries. In 1982, he was greatly impacted by Dr. David Yonggi Cho's evangelistic crusade at the Singapore National Stadium. From then on, he could not get enough of Dr. Cho's teachings, especially those on prayer, church growth, home cell group, and "the fourth dimension" of the Spirit.
In 1986, while doing his freshman year in computer science at the National University of Singapore, Kong heard the still small voice of God: "My son, do you love Me more than all that the world could offer? Would you live fully for Me and serve Me for the rest of your life?" His "yes" to the Lord that afternoon launched him into an incredible spiritual adventure. For the next few years, Kong was actively involved in local church-planting work and overseas missions in the Philippines.
In 1989, with just 20 youths, the City Harvest Church story began. As Kong focused on the strengths, distinctives, and revelations given by the Spirit for his life and ministry, CHC began growing rapidly and its ethos can be described in one sentence: loving God wholeheartedly and loving people fervently (Matt. 22:37-40). In 2012, the church was considered one of the ten largest churches in the world (Global Church Network, 18 January 2012).
Kong believes that every Christian should be a soul-winner. He constantly encourages his members and network churches to "find a need and meet it, find a hurt and heal it" (Prov. 11:30; Matt. 25:34-40). However, more than all we can ever do for God, He loves us and desires a deep, intimate relationship with us. Therefore, Christlikeness and spiritual union with God must be our highest passion and goal in life (Rom. 8:28-29; 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Pet. 3:18; 1 Cor. 13:12). As such, Kong champions Pentecostal beliefs, practices, and affections, and seeks to make them known to all.
