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| Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Celebrate Christmas in Singapore (CCIS) 2007 Celebrate Christmas in Singapore (CCIS) 200715 – 25 December 2007, Singapore Writer : Dawn Fung May this be the heart cry of the churches in Singapore. Let us come together and unite in prayer for this Christmas season, that our nation would know that the LORD He is God and that He may turn many hearts to Him this Christmas. www.ccishome.org What do you get when you arouse the local church network to connect a million tourists? Why, Christmas in the busiest location in Singapore. That, in a nutshell, is Celebrate Christmas In Singapore (CCIS). Jointly supported by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the National Council of Churches (NCCS), CCIS looks set to take the annual December season by a holy storm. Started in 2003, CCIS is in its 4th year, garnering help from th churches and Christian arts scene to fill up the stages lined down the pavements of Orchard Road. This year's theme is 'Christmas - it's All about Love'.  crowds on Orchard RoadIt's not easy. Besides orchestrating floats, tentage and other heavy, heavy logistics, churches and artists are asked to volunteer to perform on outdoor stages where fickle crowds melt as easily as they form. While some may balk at the amount of technicality that can go awry in a little controlled site, Christian artists who are part of CCIS give a different take. Chris Tan, member of Agapella, a Christian acappella group, says, "Technically it may not be the best showcase but you never know who you may be reaching. I don't think that opportunities like these arise by accident." And if the lack of quantifiable fruit like the number of souls saved may deter doubting Christians, the motivation is simple : It's worth a try, especially the locations offered surround you with throngs of non- Christians willing to be surrounded by Christian displays and songs. The main stages are at Tangs, Walkway, Paragon, Tong Building and the mothership, Plaza Singapura. According to Peter Sng, co-founder of CCIS, performers are needed like a chain to 'point people to Bethlehem', starting from Tangs and Wisma Atria. 'Bethlehem' is Plaza Singapura turned into a nativity scene. Yet filling the streets and stages can be a hard bargain for this finiancially strapped charity." It is so difficult to get good commercial artists who can pull in the crowds who are mainly non-Christians. The costs of hiring them are high and the demands of the managers and artists themselves are beyond our budget," shares Lim Puay Koon, the programme coordinator. The programming team plans CCIS from January and finds Christian groups the easiest help. Says Puay Koon, "Continental Brazil raised the money themselves to come to Singapore to perform." The street performers are really volunteers from halfway houses and churches who dress up in costumes to add to the festive chain to Bethlehem. While the programming comittee may face rejection from top notch perfomers, mini-breakthroughs have been possible in the history of CCIS : in 2004, Gurmit Singh waived his fee and Chinese popstar Lin Junjie showed up through a request by a friend. While CCIS cannot advertise celebrities because of the pro bono agreement, the event continues to gain ground in terms of support by overseas Christian groups like Ah Mei Zu from Taiwan. Continental Brazil has gone one step further by writing a musical for fundraising called 'Dreamer'.  performersPuay Koon admits the rising costs of staging CCIS is a huge challenge, especially when "we have to up the standards each year". Besides expensive artist fees and inflation, CCIS' costs also comes from wanting to grow its outreach. In 2007, CCIS targets to reach 3000 senior citizens at Hong Lim Park for an early workout and breakfast with the stars like Amy Lim and Chen Meiguang. For this activity, CCIS is looking to get 500 volunteers to "look after the citizens, speak dialect with them and show them that they have a special place," says Peter. Although the answer to a quick fundraise may be advertising a la signs about the stages, the executive committee, made up of church leaders and lay leaders, are adamant that event not lose its focus by selling out. However the downside of 'not selling out' in terms of attracting commercial collaborations and advertising revenue may be detrimental to the long term presence of CCIS. Being dependent on STB for approval each year means that CCIS must make tourism an important component of its programming. Currently, the public does not know the line up : Ah Mei Zu is not Taiwanese celebrity Ah Mei. Dr Chan Tat Hon, former Assistant Chief Executive (Leisure), STB, feels that CCIS has not fully utilised its tourist value. As an organisation that seeks to serve the public, Dr Chan believes that getting big names that the majority can relate to, like Christian celebrity "Cliff Richard", is a safe bet. In the coming years CCIS will have to find a way to increase its revenue to get top quality acts to justify STB's support, and not to risk being alienated by its audience. He believes, "CCIS has the potential to be something big. As to what CCIS is offering at Christmas, there is no equivalent in the calendar." CCIS may be sluggish in terms of business acumen and performance savviness but it is learning to make up for it with a big-hearted goal : to give and to receive. After all, this is the principle that perpetuates goodwill and last minute present-buying sprees. But for CCIS, it means touching an elderly, warming a passerby with a carol, giving the recovering addict a chance to show the way to a stage of unpaid singers and dancers performing out of their hearts. It seems that the real Christmas story that sparked the spirit is good enough to re-enact and celebrate every year. Interview with Peter Sng, co-founder of CCIS Writer : Dawn Fung Dawn : Are you the founder of CCIS? Peter : I am one of the founding members of CCIS. The idea was mooted in 2003, by a question by the founding chairperson, Pastor Oh Beng Kee. He asked why various religious groups had their own combined, dedicated events but not Christians? On my part, I approached Singapore Tourism Board (STB) for permission to host our CCIS during Christmas - to allow Christians to bring content into the streets teeming with festive lights. That's how it started. Dawn : Has CCIS any ties to Love Singapore? I see multi-church events already at Festival Of Praise (FOP), and you have the National Council of Churches (NCCS) that networks so many churches. Surely the links must be quite intricate. Peter : No there isn't a link [in the sense that the organisation began out of another] but we do work with churches and organisations, including Love Singapore, and we are supported by NCCS. Dawn : How did you get such a diverse group of churches or Christians in the arts to work together during Christmas? Peter : Once I had a verbal support from STB, I started to seek support from churches, including NCCS. Then, Bishop John Chew called for a meeting of all churches in Singapore. In our first meeting, over a hundred churches participated. They stepped forward to support, and were spontaneous to help after we shared the vision. An executive committee was formed to organise the event. They drew the charter, did the MVV and set the directions. We set up the logistics, programme, hospitality and publicity committees of which 80% are lay people are myself. I was appointed the chief coordinator and treasurer of CCIS. With the support of the working committee under the guidance of the executive committee, we planned CCIS. Our stage was then set at Orchard Road. Volunteerism was high. We had groups from Indonesia, Taiwan, and other countries, as well as celebrities to join us in our various events, like Moses Lim, Gurmit Singh. They were part of the grand Christmas concert in CCIS 2004. Altogether the volunteers numbered 7000. According to STB, 94,000 tourists came just for the event, while 3m people strolled Orchard Road during the 10 days of CCIS. God protected us. In 2004 Some of the volunteers worked until Christmas day and postponed their trips to neighbouring countries. Had they been there during Christmas, they might have been affected by the tsunami. Dawn : I can imagine how some people in Christian circles might dismiss this as a commercial event with little fruit, like the number of people saved. Are they missing out on another kind of opportunity? Peter : I will say this : It is simply to show how Christians celebrate Christmas. We are living in a multi-religious society where each religious group gets to express how they celebrate their own festivities. This is one platform where the Christians can come together to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas - the birth of Jesus. In CCIS 2006, a combined choir sang Hallelujah Chorus at Orchard Road...the sound and the atmosphere...is indescribable. When someone gets touched listening to these sounds, I think that the opportunity to do something great is also there. You can read more about CCIS at http://www.ccishome.org
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