Kong Hee

Kong Hee (born 23 August 1964) is the founder and senior pastor of City Harvest Church.

From 1975 to 1988, Kong was a member of Marine Parade Christian Centre, an Anglican church located in eastern Singapore.

He studied at Raffles Institution (1977–1981), Raffles Junior College (1982) as well as National University of Singapore, Bachelor of Science (Computer & Information Sciences) (1985–1988).

During his university years, he worked part-time for the Chapel of the Resurrection under the oversight of Anglican vicar, Reverend Dr. Canon James Wong.

During that tenure, he helped Canon Wong set up a new congregation, Orchard Christian Centre.

Upon university graduation in 1988, Kong worked a short stint in a local publishing house as a programmer.

In 1989, Kong was a staff evangelist with "Christ For Asia", a missions organisation in the Philippines led by Assemblies of God minister, Reverend Randy Sing.

At that same time, there was an opportunity for Kong to pioneer a new church in Singapore.

With the support and encouragement of some senior pastors in the city, Kong decided to relocate back to Singapore and helped set up a new congregation with 20 youths.

On 7 May 1989, City Harvest Church was founded as a department (known as "Ekklesia Ministry") of Bethany Christian Centre (Assemblies of God).

From 1997, Kong was the executive director of the Festival of Praise, an annual event that brought together churches for united prayer and worship.

Kong was a board member of Dr. David Yonggi Cho's Church Growth International (South Korea) and Dr. Luis Bush's Transform World (Indonesia).

Kong is a protege, friend and mentee of Phil Pringle, the founder and senior pastor of C3 Church Global (Australia) and advisory pastor to City Harvest Church.

With his wife Sun Ho, they once owned two companies, International Harvest and Skin Couture.

In December 2010, City Harvest Church had an average of 23,256 attendees with 47 affiliate "Harvest" churches, as well as 29 affiliate churches and 6 Bible schools in Asia, namely, in Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Another 18 affiliate churches in East and West Malaysia are under the Malaysian Harvest Fellowship which Kong Hee co-founded.

On 31 May 2010, the Office of the Commissioner of Charities and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police began investigating more than 16 individuals linked to City Harvest Church, including church founder Kong Hee and his wife, Sun Ho.

The police were looking into financial transactions involving the possible falsification of accounts and criminal breach of trust amounting to millions of dollars which dated back a number of years.

The authorities allowed regular church activities and services to continue for the congregation during ongoing investigations.

On 26 June 2012, the Commissioner of Charities released a press statement detailing the results of its inquiry.

It stated that there were misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of City Harvest Church.

There were irregularities of at least $23 million in the church's funds, which were used to finance Sun Ho's secular music career.

There was also a concerted effort to conceal this movement of funds from stakeholders.

Kong Hee and seven others were suspended from their roles in the church.

A subsequent report indicated that the investigations were trigged by complaints made to the authorities.

Also on 26 June 2012, Kong Hee and four other leaders of City Harvest Church were arrested and charged with misuse of funds.

A sixth leader was charged on 25 July 2012.

All six accused were granted bail of S$500,000 and had their passports impounded.

The trial of Kong Hee and the five other leaders commenced in May 2013 and was adjourned several times.

There was a total of 142 days of hearings.

He was convicted in 2015 of being involved in the City Harvest Church Criminal Breach of Trust Case, Singapore's biggest case in misuse of charitable funds.

He was seen to be the "key man" behind the scandal who had guided his five accomplices by the Singapore court of three charges of criminal breach of trust.

Although Kong and the five were guilty of serious breaches, the court noted that the $50 million was also ultimately returned to the church.

The verdicts were announced on 21 October 2015.

Kong Hee and the other five leaders were found guilty of all charges.

Sentencing was on 20 November 2015.

Kong Hee received the heaviest sentence of the six, 8 years in prison.

He served his sentence at Changi Prison Complex from 21 April 2017 to 22 August 2019.

Kong is also involved in the Christian Charismatic Movement, a philosophy of ministry that emphasises the Great Commandment, the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate.

Kong is the fifth child of Kong Leng, a professional engineer, and Toh Poh-Eng, a diamond trader.