Cantonese Gospel Rally Planned for 2010

Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009 Posted: 12:41:14AM HKT

Preparation is underway for a Cantonese Gospel rally next year. An attendance of around 3,000 people is expected at the event, which will be held tentatively on March 27.

The name – the Yeah Show 2010 – and target audience of the event was confirmed at a committee meeting of pastors and ministry leaders held on August 13, according to the website of the Singapore Every Home Crusade.

The Rev Enoch Lam, the Pastor of Crossroad Community Baptist Church in Hong Kong,will be leading the rally. He is known for his signature stand-up comedy style of preaching.

In his attempt to reach out to people from all walks of life, the pastor has also participated in numerous Gospel films and evangelical television shows. He has released various albums and books.

Besides the speaker, the rally will see the participation of Christian artistes.

Two sessions, one in the afternoon and the other in the evening, will be conducted.

Queenstown Baptist Church has contributed $1,000 toward the budget of $25,000.

The committee will meet on November 18 for the second time.

According to Chinese Identities, Ethnicity and Cosmopolitianism by Kwok B Chan (2005), there are 29 churches in Singapore that provide Cantonese worship services.

At 77 percent, the Chinese people comprise the largest ethnic grouping in Singapore.

The bloc is dominated by three groups in the order of decreasing size: Hokkiens, Teochews and Cantonese, at one million people, 526,000 people and 386,000 people respectively according to the 2000 Census.

Collectively, these three dialect groups formed three-quarters of the Singapore Chinese population.

The remaining quarter belonged to one of at least 19 other dialect groups in Singapore.

Research shows an attrition of dialect usage and its replacement by Mandarin in all three groups, with the Cantonese showing the strongest resistance.

This is believed to be due to the larger proportion of elderly people and immigrants among the Cantonese as compared to the other two groups.

Nathanael Ng
nathanael@christianpost.com