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.”
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