City Harvest Church: Bad publicity of us? Why, thank you!

Well, you know what they say about publicity. Even a bad publicity is somewhat useful.

It is the first weekend since news broke that individuals and companies linked to City Harvest Church are being investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department.

Thousands of churchgoers attended the service on Saturday.

Charismatic church leader Kong Hee may have been nowhere in sight, but it is service as usual, as thousands packed the Singapore Expo Hall One.

Before the sermon began, Pastor Derek Dunn thanked the congregation for their well-wishes and support. He stressed that church operations will not be affected by the ongoing investigations.

Pastor Derek also mentioned Mr Kong and said the man is doing well. He added that Mr Kong is taking a rest this weekend, so that he can continue to assist with investigations.

Churchgoers have thrown their support behind their pastor and board members.

One churchgoer said: "I have full faith in my pastor, and also the church board because most of the time, when we do things, it is quite transparent already.

"When we are doing missions in other countries, he will tell us how much we have spent, what are the items that they sent over."

Another added: "We have been praying for the leadership, and we hope everything will be ok. The church is very united, I think everything will be good."

When asked for an update on the probe, the police maintained that it is not appropriate to comment further at this juncture, as investigations are still on-going.

From Channel NewsAsia, "City Harvest Church's weekend service sees large turnout despite probe".