Heart of God Church

All you need to know about the Heart of God Church

The founding of Heart of God Church (HOGC) in 1999 was a spiritual attempt to create a model Youth Church. To create a church operated by teens, for teenagers, and to reach teenagers while they were in their mid-20s, senior pastors Tan Seow How (also known as Pastor How) and Cecilia Chan (commonly known as Pastor Lia) founded it. Today, Heart of God Church has evolved into a demonstration of the idea that young people can create a STRONG CHURCH. The church has been around for 20 years, yet its average age is still a rip-roaring 22! Thousands of young people live there. The church holds HOGC Xperience, a 5-day, all-access seminar for pastors on how to build a Strong Church with youths, twice a year.

Activities:

Academic Excellence Programme:

Academic achievement and young people’s artistic expression are two topics that Heart of God Church emphasizes heavily. The church was praised in The Straits Times on November 27, 2010, for encouraging a love of learning and creativity. Students get advised to study for at least 20 hours a week during exam season before going to church. They consistently outperform the national average as a result. The church gives out prizes funded by donations from parents or funds from church coffers to promote studying and getting high marks.

Interfaith Community Work:

To improve social cohesiveness in Singapore, Heart of God Church consciously forges relationships with other religious institutions. A combined tuition program, a football coaching and mentoring program led by national footballer Isa Halim, and a blood drive get the three new projects.

Heart For Our Heroes Initiatives:

Heart of God Church collaborated with other religious institutions to distribute thousands of care packages and cards to medical experts, frontline Changi Airport Group employees, hawker center cleaners, and others as part of its Heart For Heroes programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heart Community Services:

Heart Community Services is a fund that Heart of God Church founded in 2008 to offer social services, financial assistance, and support for education to the neighborhood. Through it, young people from less affluent origins or whose families are experiencing financial difficulty receive pocket money, opportunity awards, and scholarships.

Interfaith Community Project with South East CDC:

In Singapore’s Southeast District in May 2019, teen volunteers from Heart of God Church worked with the Nanyang Leow-Sih Association and the Jain Society to distribute medical supplies to 500 senior clients. Maliki Osman, a senior minister of state for defense and foreign policy, spearheaded the initiative with help from the ministry of culture, community, and youth (MCCY).

Joint Interfaith Annual Blood Donation Drive:

Blood gets given on the grounds of the Khalid Mosque and the Heart of God Church. The program found the idea that “underneath every skin color and every creed, we all bleed the same hue, crimson. Malay blood can save a Chinese man. Hindu blood can save a Christian guy.