Lawrence Khong

Lawrence Khong (full name: Lawrence Khong Kin Hoong; born in 1952) is the Senior Pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC) in Singapore. Founded by Pastor Khong in 1986, FCBC is one of the megachurches in Singapore and has a congregation of about 9,000.^[1][2]

He was commissioned as an Apostle by Dr Peter Wagner of the International Coalition of Apostles in 2000.^[3] Pastor Khong is the founder and chairman of TOUCH Community Services, a non-profit welfare organization that has 18 centres in Singapore helping the under-privileged and the needy.^[4]

In recent years, Pastor Khong has followed his calling from God to enter the media and entertainment world by producing movies^[5][6] and performing magic shows such as “Magic of Love” and “Magic Box” as a platform for him to share Christ with unbelievers^[7] and to “reclaim the media for God’s kingdom”.^[3][8]

Early life

Pastor Khong is the son of a successful businessman and a housewife. His father, a general commodities wholesaler who came from Guangdong province in China, had another family in Hong Kong with four children, but remarried when he came to Singapore before World War II broke out.^[9]

As a young boy, Pastor Khong was rebellious and did poorly in primary school. However, his grades dramatically improved when he entered secondary school at St Joseph’s Institution. Following this, he went on to National Junior College, where he met his future wife, Nina. In the army, his rebellious streak resurfaced; he took to chain smoking, sometimes up to three packs a day. He also stopped going to church. Upon entering his first year as a business administration undergraduate in the University of Singapore, however, he claimed to have had a spiritual awakening during the summer vacation.^[9]

Subsequently, he followed his future wife, Nina, to a church camp in Port Dickson, Malaysia, where a boy drowned on the second day. That shook him up and he "felt a calling" to become a pastor.^[9]

Faith Community Baptist Church

While in university, he joined the Varsity Christian Fellowship (VCF) and eventually preached on the pulpit while still an undergraduate.^[10] After graduating with a B.A Business Administration from the National University of Singapore,^[3] he worked as an intern pastor in his church. And three weeks after he and Nina tied the knot, they left for Texas in the United States so that he could study for a master’s degree in the Dallas Theological Seminary.^[9]

About five years later, he returned to serve in his church, then set up Faith Community Baptist Church. It has 9,000 members today and it was at one point the biggest church here, although other megachurches such as City Harvest Church, New Creation Church and Lighthouse Evangelism (Singapore) have since overtaken it.^[9]

He was commissioned as an Apostle by Dr Peter Wagner of the International Coalition of Apostles in 2000.^[3]

FCBC was founded as a cell church.^[11] The vision of this church is primarily that of expansion, growth and numbers; people stand at the doors of the church with "number clickers" to count every person. It is also fully committed to the "paradigm shift" in thinking about the global church, whereby the entire philosophy of "church" changes. Khong begins every Cell Conference he leads by proclaiming: "There is a heaven and earth difference; an east and west difference between a church with cells and a cell group church". This statement has become a major landmark of Pastor Khong's teaching about the CellChurch.^[12]

In 2002 he led FCBC to transit into the G12 vision which focuses on helping every believer to become a father of multitudes. He is one of the International Twelve of Pastor Cesar Castellanos, Founder of the G12 movement, and is committed to bring the G12 vision to churches in Asia.^[13] It is a Charismatic church that moves, teaches and believes in the power of the Holy Spirit.^[14]

Following the pattern in G12 churches, FCBC is led by Apostle Lawrence Khong and his wife, Rev Nina Khong. Apostle Lawrence Khong is the head of the Men’s Network, whereas Rev Nina Khong heads the Women’s Network.

TOUCH Community Services

Pastor Khong founded TOUCH Community Services (TCS), a community arm of FCBC. TCS serves the local community in Singapore and is a non-profit, non-religious community organization, which has served over 100,000 individuals since its establishment^[9][15]

Pastor Lawrence has been recognized for his community work over the years. In 1998, he was conferred the public service medal in recognition of his contributions to the community.^[15][16]

In 2002, Pastor Lawrence conceptualised Project SMILE or Sharing Magic In Love Everywhere. For his achievements as a social entrepreneur through Project SMILE, Pastor Lawrence was selected as a finalist for the SIP-Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007.^[17]

In 2007, TCS won the Outstanding Non-profit Organisation Award in the National Volunteerism & Philanthropy Awards, which recognises best practices in the management of volunteers and donors, including fundraising practices, in non-profit organisations.^[9][18]

Media & Entertainment

In recent years, Pastor Khong has followed his calling from God to enter the media and entertainment world by producing movies^[5][6] and performing magic shows such as “Magic of Love” and “Magic Box” as a platform for him to share Christ with unbelievers^[7] and to “reclaim the media for God’s kingdom”.^[3][8]

He is the founder of Gateway Entertainment that was formerly TOUCH Media, the entertainment ministry of FCBC, which provides Christian-friendly stage and movie productions and magic shows.^[5] These productions softsell religion to a secular audience.^[19] Gateway Entertainment was involved in staging of FCBCs' evangelistic harvests such as Spook Show 2004,2005^[20] and their recent shows Christmas Magic 2010,2011 and 2012 ^[21]

Pastor Khong has performed magic shows, with his daughter Priscilla, to more than 200,000 people in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and the United States.^[9] He decided to stage his first magic show, “Magic of Love” to highlight the love between him and his daughter so that people could relate to it. He said that after working with delinquent youths in community programmes carried out by TCS, he discovered that many social ills originated from broken families.^[22]

Pastor Khong and Priscilla have are both recipients to the Merlin Awards ^[23]

Pastor Khong shared his experiences of “Magic of Love” in his book Give me the Multitudes! Obeying God's Call into the Media World, TOUCH Ministries International: Singapore but has received some criticism by fellow Christians for his use of magic and involvement in "marketplace ministries"^[24]

Controversy

Lawrence Khong views homosexuals as having "a shorter lifespan, more sexually transmitted infections and more health problems than the general population"^[25], and has, in January 2013 issued a statement to ex-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong against repealing discriminatory laws. He sees the repeal of controversial S377A, which effectively criminalises homosexuality^[26] as "a looming threat to this basic (nation) building block by homosexual activists." ^[27]

Personal life

Pastor Khong has a younger sister and a younger brother; Phyllis and Kin Mun. He and his wife, Rev (Dr) Nina Khong, have four children – Priscilla, Michelle, Anthony and Daniel, and a grandson, Isaac.

He is also a national polo player who won a silver medal with the Singapore team at the 2007 South-east Asia Games.^[28][29][30]

Related links

• New Creation Church
• Pastor Joseph Prince
• City Harvest Church
• Pastor Kong Hee
• Lighthouse Evangelism (Singapore)
• Pastor Rony Tan

Notes and references

External links

• Faith Community Baptist Church
• TOUCH Community Services
• International G12 Conference 2009 - Give me the Multitudes!