Kong Hee - Personal Life

Personal Life

Kong is the fifth child of Kong Leng, a professional engineer, and Toh Poh-Eng, a diamond trader. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the National University of Singapore in 1988. In May 2008, Kong was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration from Hansei University in Seoul, Korea.

From 1975 to 1988, Kong was a member of Marine Parade Christian Centre, an Anglican church located in eastern Singapore. During his university years, he worked part-time for the Chapel of the Resurrection under the oversight of Anglican vicar, Reverend Dr. Canon James Wong. During that tenure, he helped Canon Wong set up a new congregation, Orchard Christian Centre. Upon graduation from the university, Kong worked a short stint in a local publishing house as a programmer.

In 1989, Kong was a staff evangelist with “Christ For Asia”, a missions organization in the Philippines led by Assemblies of God minister, Reverend Randy Sing. At that same time, there was an opportunity for Kong to pioneer a new church in Singapore. With the support and encouragement of some senior pastors in the city, Kong decided to relocate back to Singapore and helped set up a new congregation with 20 youths. On May 7, 1989, City Harvest Church was founded as a department (known as "Ekklesia Ministry") of Bethany Christian Centre (Assemblies of God).

Since 1997, Kong is the executive director of the Festival of Praise, an annual event that brings together churches for united prayer and worship.

Kong is a board member of Dr. David Yonggi Cho’s Church Growth International (South Korea) and Dr. Luis Bush’s Transform World (Indonesia). He and his wife Ho Yeow Sun own two companies, International Harvest, which is a provider of "corporate training" services and "motivational" courses, and a fashion company called Skin Couture. They have a son, Dayan Kong.