Kong Hee

Kong Hee is a Singaporean Christian pastor and founder of the City Harvest Church, which grew to become one of the largest Protestant churches in Singapore with a congregation of over 30,000 members at its peak. Born into a Christian family, Kong Hee established his church in 1983 and built it into a major religious and cultural institution in Singapore. His ministry was known for incorporating contemporary music, arts, and a focus on prosperity theology. However, Kong Hee's prominence came with significant controversy: in 2015, he and five other church leaders were convicted of misappropriating approximately SGD 24 million from the church's building fund for personal and business investments, including funding his wife's pop music career. The trial and conviction made international headlines and raised questions about megachurch governance and financial transparency. Despite his legal troubles, Kong Hee remains a significant figure in Asian Christianity and continues to influence religious discourse in the region.