Month-Long Celebrations in Mandarin, Dialects, Drew Thousands

Friday, Jan. 9, 2009 Posted: 4:19:10PM HKT

Local celebrity Moses Lim speaking on the stage during a Hokkien/Cantonese service last December as part of FCBC's month-long Christmas celebrations in Mandarin and dialects.(Photo: FCBC/Robert Ho)

Over the Christmas season, Faith Community Baptist Church held celebrations over a month that attracted thousands of Hokkien, Cantonese and Mandarin speakers.

Marking FCBC's first attempt to reach the republic's Chinese-speaking people through large-scale Christmas evangelistic celebrations, Light Up This Christmas With Hope brought together seven Christian guest artistes who took to the stage over four weekends.

Starting off the month of Advent were Amos Ee and Moses Lim during the Hokkien/Cantonese service on December 6. This was followed the day after by Dong Fang Billy who performed for the Mandarin service.

The next week, Pastor Henry Chong and Raymond Lei took the stage for both services. On the week of December 20/21, Tammy Chow performed for the Hokkien/Cantonese service, while FCBC Senior Pastor performed for both services.

The church concluded its Christmas celebrations on the fourth weekend with performances by Isaac Lau and Rev James Lim for the Hokkien/Cantonese-speaking crowds, and Kelvin Soh for the Mandarin service.

During their slots, the special guests gave moving testimonies and songs.

FCBC's evangelistic celebrations targeted the second most common language in Singapore, with over 70 percent of the population having Mandarin as a second language. Most Singapore Chinese are descended from immigrants who came from the southern regions of China where dialects such as Hokkien, Teo Chiu and Cantonese are spoken. Mandarin use has spread largely as a result of government efforts to support its adoption and use over the dialects. Even so, most of the older generation among the Chinese are conversant only in their respective dialects.

FCBC is one of the four larger independent mega-church congregations in Singapore, with over 10,000 in attendance.

Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com