Singaporeans are flocking to a new species of church that makes appeals more in common with Material Girl pop-singer Madonna than the Jesuits. Wearing a white leather jacket and jeans, senior pastor Joseph Prince asked God to reward a crowd of 1,200 with houses, cars, jobs, pay raises and holidays if they contributed to New Creation's multimillion-dollar funding drive.
Prince's 24,000-member congregation belong to a flourishing breed of churches winning followers with a focus on personal well-being. As the rise of so-called mega churches helps make Christians the fastest-growing religious group in Singapore, their fund raising allows groups such as New Creation and City Harvest Church to invest in some of the island's biggest commercial properties.
"Mega churches have been able to articulate Christianity in a very contemporary manner," says Terence Chong, a senior fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, who has researched such groups.
At the New Creation service, PowerPoint slides show how to write cheques to the church, while armed security guards watch the cash. RSM Chio Lim provides the auditors overseeing the donations, according to E-Sah Woo, an audit partner at the Singapore-based accounting company, and Kelly Lim, a New Creation spokeswoman.
Worship and Holy Communion were followed by a video about a woman who donated on Miracle Seed Sundays even when her husband's cancer treatments left the couple in debt. Images of a Volkswagen and a condominium showed the rewards for giving.