City Harvest Church, whose pastor Kong Hee was found guilty of fraud with five others after a long-running trial, has posted a video of members of the congregation expressing their support for him.
The video posted on its City News website contains clips of City Harvest members saying that they were "disappointed" with the judgment but that they believed God had a plan for the church's future.
One contributor said: "I've been in this church for 22 years. Naturally I'm disappointed with the judgment, but I believe the latter days will be better than the former days. I still believe in God and in his church. I believe in you, Pastor Kong and the rest of the leadership. For me and my family, we will continue to grow in the church."
Another contributor, Elim Chew, founder of streetwear brand 77th Street, said: "I'm very saddened by the news, my hearts cries out because I love all of them very much, but most important now is to come together as a family and to be supportive of everything that is happening and the family as well. We are in prayer and we're praying for miracles as well. That will happen...There is only one way up, and I know with God's presence we are called to a greater destiny ahead for Asia and for the world."
Others said that God was "bringing us to a higher state of maturity" and that "Over the last few years my cell group doubled in size, so it shows that we are still doing the work of God."
Comments on the YouTube posting were disabled, but critics used other social media to point out that it was not necessarily representative of the whole of City Harvest Church's reaction. One Reddit user said: "What boggles me is that how these people have such firm beliefs that the six did nothing wrong, even though the law has already made it explicitly clear that they have."
Another commenter added, "The source is citynews, which is part of CHC, so of course they aren't gonna show CHC members agreeing with the verdict."
A prominent backer of City Harvest Church who serves as its advisory pastor, Phil Pringle, defended Kong Hee in an interview after the verdict posted on City Harvest's website. He said: "I feel that even though the judge commended them for intending to do the right thing, he [found] that the investment strategy of CHC was not acceptable to the law. I think the situation was that he said, 'You meant well, but you did wrong.'
"It's easy on hindsight to pass criticism, but at the time, it obviously seemed right to them, as they had sought professional advice on their plans."
The judge's actual words were: "The weight of the evidence suggests they knew that they were acting dishonestly. They chose to participate in a conspiracy to misuse CHC funds."
Pringle said that Kong should appeal against his conviction. "To not appeal is to say 'Okay, I guess I'm a criminal.' It's not an arrogant pride. It's a pride that says 'I know who I am. I am not a criminal.' If you could appeal, you should. He has a responsibility to CHC to do that - the church needs him."
