In December 2025, Pastor Lia preached Journey of A Dream at Explo 25.

This is What Revival Smells Like

By Nicole Schröder, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Amen Magazine

She loves Roger Federer and is herself something of a luminary in her field. Nicole Schröder met the senior pastor of Heart of God Church to understand what makes her church so special.

"Hi, I'm Cecilia!" She beams at me, shakes my hand, and has thus already answered my first question before I even had a chance to start the recording. Cecilia Chan and I have an appointment for an interview during Explo 25 at the Swiss Life Arena in Zurich. Pastor Lia – as she is known – has traveled from Singapore as a speaker for the conference. "Yes, the teens in my church would probably indeed be clueless if someone asked for Cecilia," she jokes. Everyone only knows her as Pastor Lia. In the context of Heart of God Church (HOGC), "everyone" means quite a lot of teenagers: Around 5,000 young people bustle about there week after week. And so it is fitting that Cecilia doesn't come alone; alongside her and me, three people from her team ride the elevator to the interview room: Christian, Fifi, and Joe. "75 percent of the believers in our church do not come from a Christian home. That is why discipleship is very important to us," she explains. "Our discipleship concept is not a programme and does not take place in a classroom. We spend time with people, get to know them really well, and speak into their lives. Since my husband and I have been married, we have almost never traveled alone. We always have someone in tow."

Singapore Meets Switzerland

In the first few minutes, I also learn that all four are thrilled by the wintry cold in Switzerland and the hot chocolate. And that the sports-enthusiast Cecilia, alias Pastor Lia, although she doesn't know much about ice hockey, is very taken with the stadium atmosphere. While we take a seat on comfortable swivel chairs, she comments that, as a former journalist, she is actually used to asking the questions herself. I want to know from her what headline she would give an article about Explo 25. She doesn't have to think long: "Heaven meets Earth in Zurich." When I ask her about a personal heaven-on-earth moment, she explains why she and her husband (Pastor How) rarely travel: "We are called to be there for young people in our church in Singapore." Nevertheless, we are currently sitting together in Altstetten. She recounts how, upon receiving the invitation, she clearly felt in prayer: "Yes, I shouldn't just send a video link, but be there physically." "It was a special, heavenly moment," she continues, "when we stepped onto Swiss soil. I prayed to God: Lord, let what we bring be an encouragement to the pastors who work with young people." She and her team could hardly believe their eyes when, a short time later in a café in Altstetten, they saw three girls reading the Bible together. "That was so encouraging for us! Were we witnessing the fruits of the labour of local pastors right here?" With a glance at Christian Honegger, who has taken a seat next to her, she adds a third heaven-on-earth moment: the visit to his hometown. Christian is Swiss and has been involved in HOGC for 20 years. Today, he oversees the global branch and is part of the leadership team. "I thought we could give something back to his country."

More Than Screens

I'm interested in what is so special about HOGC. It's not the professional lighting and the large screens, Cecilia and Christian assure me. One shouldn't be fooled by that. Rather, it is the passion with which the young people follow Jesus. "When you come to one of our services, you don't just hear one or two people singing. With us, everyone raises their arms in the air and is fully engaged in worship. The teens call it the 'vibe', I call it the presence of God." That, and the teenagers' willingness to serve, is what immediately stands out to everyone. The two gladly show visiting pastors the room where the media team works. "Wow, they are all so young!" is the usual reaction. Sitting behind the screens are 14- and 15-year-olds, responsible for everything that is running. "During the worship time, they ensure smooth operations and are worshipping at the same time," Cecilia emphasises. The youth also generally invest a great deal of time to reach their friends. They pray for them, bring them along, and experience them getting saved. "At our Christmas services, we had numerous new visitors. Afterwards, many of our teens took the time to hang out with the newcomers. One group went to the zoo. On the four-kilometre walk, a 17-year-old shared the gospel with a 13-year-old. By the time they arrived at the zoo, the 13-year-old girl had decided on a life with Jesus."

No A-Team

Cecilia adds how important it is to her that no one exhausts themselves too much in ministry. "We don't use people to build our church. Rather, we use our church to build people." To prevent people from reaching their limits, they have established the principle of the "deep bench". "The idea is that everyone can be 'on fire' without burning out," Cecilia sums it up. Like in sports, there are always people in HOGC who are already on the pitch and preparing for the moment they take over. Ideally, there are always three teams: One is in action, the second in training. About the third, Cecilia says: "Their job is to rest." And adds: "With us, there is no A-Team (note: a special team that no one can hold a candle to) in any ministry area. We always have room for people who want to get involved."

We don't use people to build our church. Rather, we use our church to build people.

The Key

A word that plays a key role in HOGC is "generations". When Cecilia and her team speak of generations, they mean teenagers, and there are only a few years between one generation and the next. Their goal is to continually reach a new generation of young people and build up as many young leaders as possible. "We are now on the seventh generation," explains Cecilia. The youth of the first generation, with whom they started in 1999, are now between 30 and 40 years old.

No Expiration Date

"Sometimes people think there are no adults with us because we are a youth church," reports Cecilia. "But that's not true, quite the contrary." HOGC wants to be a strong, healthy church where no one is ever replaced or neglected. Cecilia talks about a worship leader who, as a young mother, cannot be on stage at the moment. "She uses the little time she can contribute to train new worship leaders." Of course, there are also programmes for married couples, parents, etc., but the general orientation as a church "by young people, for young people, to reach young people" remains intact. "They grew up in our church. When they have children of their own, they don't demand that we suddenly shift our focus away from young people. They say: 'We want our children to grow up in a youth revival, just like we did.'"

Cecilia once more: "In our church, everyone can participate for as long as they want, with absolutely no expiration date." Christian himself is a good example of this. He is involved but doesn't deal directly with youth. In his role as a member of the leadership team, he ensures that the teens' voices are heard, the vision is implemented, and that the finances are there for it. His two children are also part of the church, and so he has a second ministry: "I am their driver. And I chat with other parents." He reveals that his son even missed school once because he wanted to be there as a leader for a teenager whose parents were getting divorced. "Then I explain to the teacher what's going on," Christian describes his task. For him, it is clear: "We adults can always do something. And if there is ever nothing to do, we can pray." His mother in Switzerland also supports her grandson and the teenagers he is responsible for in prayer. "If you have a heart for young people, you will find something." Christian talks about a church in Leipzig that has started to involve young people more actively. Now, enthusiastic older people are coming to the pastor and asking: "How can we help?"

In HOGC, adults also take care of legal matters, for example. Or they contribute financially. Cecilia remembers an adult from her church approaching her: "Can I donate two new laptops? Maybe for a young person who is creative and can't afford them?" And then it happens that teenagers explicitly ask adults for help: "My parents are coming to the Christmas service with me. Could you sit with them?" Cecilia thinks of another superpower adults have, but immediately confesses that she doesn't possess it herself: "You can cook for them!" At HOGC, the teens like to invite their friends to evangelistic barbecue parties. So they have time for their guests, the adults take care of the food. Cecilia summarises: "As soon as your heart is in it, your hands will find a way."

As soon as your heart is in it, your hands will find a way.

You Give Your Heart

It sounds a bit to me as if everything at HOGC runs smoothly. But Cecilia clarifies: "Youth work is hard work." The longer I talk to her, the more I see in her the young leader from the photos from the early 2000s, sitting on the floor with a few teens, fully focused on relationships. "You don't just give your time and your energy, but also your heart. That's the difficult part. I feel for everyone for whom youth work is hard." She assures me that there are not only beautiful stories in her church either. "For every positive testimony, there are at least four others." She recalls the parable of the sower and the four types of soil, noting that only on one quarter does the seed fall on good soil. "And then there are the ten lepers, of whom only one came back and thanked God." Cecilia wants to encourage all pastors who work with young people: "Focus on the individual person." There is always that one patch of good soil. There is always that one person out of ten who comes back and thanks Jesus. "If you succeed with this one person, then two can come from it, or even three. And when that multiplies and you have a few young people burning for Jesus, it can become a culture."

There's Always Chaos

"With young people, it is always chaotic," she continues. "Things always get broken, and adults' feelings get hurt." She quotes from the Book of Proverbs: Where no oxen are, the trough is clean. (Proverbs 14:4). That is also how she perceives it in her church: "Where teenagers are, your church is strong, but just not clean and tidy." She has never made a secret of the fact that everything in her church revolves around youth. To people who find it too youthful or too loud, she says: "Either you love it, or you leave." And then she unpacks another story from the early years: "My husband and I were poor as church mice. There were two of us, we felt like we had twelve kids, and only this one tiny room." They literally invited the teens into their office. "When I preached, I sat on our desk and the teens sat on chairs and on the floor." At the end of every service, adults would scurry into the room to collect the offering. Cecilia demonstrates how they would flare their nostrils. She was irritated and finally confronted them about it. "Don't you smell it?" she was given as an answer. "It's hot, there are 30 to 40 teenagers here – it stinks terribly!" Since then, whenever someone tells her they can hear that revival is happening, Cecilia counters: "I have never heard what revival sounds like. I only know what revival smells like."

I have never heard what revival sounds like. I only know what revival smells like.