Meet Chris Leong

Training the next generation of elders in the Asia Pacific Region

How did you come to Christ?

I became a Christian in the early ‘70s through the persistent and loving influence of Christian friends who were my close buddies in high school. Friendship evangelism is indeed the most effective way to reach someone for Christ! I thank God for the love of these brothers in the Lord.

What are the three events in your life that have shaped you most?

• Getting young people involved in church planting: Back in the ‘70s, my assembly then had planted four churches within a short five-year period. Young people like me were being sent out (under the guidance of more senior leaders) to minister in outreach centers and in smaller assemblies in other regions of Malaysia. My involvement created a lifelong passion to see churches planted. It also showed me how important it is to mobilize young people for church outreach.
• God’s call to full-time ministry and initial preparation: When I attended a two-month Brethren Bible school at the age of 20, I heard clearly God’s call to full-time ministry. God used my four years of university study after this to hone my people and leadership skills through my involvement in the Christian fellowship group on the campus.
• International mission exposure: Some years later, my assembly sent me to serve two years on board the Operation Mobilization’s ship ministry, Logos, which sailed to more than 20 nations to spread the gospel to millions of people. From this experience, I caught God’s heart of love for the nations. I also learned the importance of a close-knit Christian community who loves and serves alongside each other.

Tell about your family.

I met my wife, who was from Singapore, while we were serving God on board the Logos ship in 1980. Two years later, after we left the ship ministry, we got married.

While I was pursuing for my theological degree at Regent College, Canada, our firstborn, a son (Chung En), was born. Then my daughter, Hui En, was born back in Malaysia. Both of them felt God’s call to full-time mission work soon after they graduated with engineering degrees. While serving in China, Chung En met his wife, Jasmine, who was also serving on the mission field. They have been blessed with twin sons. That made me a very proud grandpa!

I wish my wife were around to enjoy these two kids, but God called her home to be with Him in glory after 23 years of a very rich and blessed marriage. We had so much joy and adventure serving the Lord together. She put up a short but courageous fight against a rare cancer, and hung on to keep her promise to celebrate our daughter’s eighteenth birthday in 2006. She ended her race on earth a day later.

How has biblical eldership made a difference in the churches you have worked with?

Recently I took up a full-time position in a Malaysian mission agency, Mission Partnership Initiate (MPI). Its mission is to accelerate Christ-centered leader development in the Asia-Oceanic region for growing and multiplying churches locally and globally. BER provides me with strategic resources for my own leadership development, and then I apply what I learn to equip the emerging generation of Asian leaders in pastoral eldership, going beyond being merely good event managers. I step up more intentionally to help leaders of a newly planted Indonesian church, and in my mentoring of Filipino leaders to value team leadership.

How are you using BER’s resources to help churches?

I’ve found that the School of the Shepherds (SOTS) helps lay a solid foundation for emerging elders. The clear and bite-sized lessons appeal to the younger generation, and the idea of forming cohorts to learn together makes the courses more effective and establishes bonds among the participants.

This group approach helps to get rid of the “lone ranger” approach to Christian leadership that causes the fall of many solo leaders. And certainly the recovery of biblical eldership as plural leadership lays the first critical foundation.

I conducted my first SOTS course with the Filipino leaders. Then I went on to start the first Asia SOTS cohort, comprising thirty leaders from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia. I am praying and planning that this first cohort will multiply into three national cohorts in India, the Philippines, and Malaysia next year. And the Indian leaders want the materials to be translated into Hindi, which is crucial for training, especially for the North India assemblies.

What spiritual disciplines have been most important in your life?

There are several vital spiritual disciplines that keep me keeping on for the Lord through these 40 years of full-time ministry with the assembly, beginning with reading the Bible daily. After starting that habit, I went on to systematically read through the entire Bible several times, starting with a one-year Bible reading guide during my Operation Mobilization days. I have been much impacted by Larry Richard’s Devotional Commentary and John Stott’s Through the Bible Through the Year. It is important to see the Bible as one whole story—from creation to the new creation.

From my Bible seminary in the ‘80s, I learned to practice contemplative prayer regularly, and also to take a week-long annual silent retreat from ministry regularly. Such disciplines have anchored me through the increasingly hectic and hurried pace of living in modern times. I have learned to slow down, keep in step with the Spirit rather than the circumstances around me.

Further, I deeply value meeting up with caring spiritual mentors and friends who hold me accountable. This is especially needed after the loss of my beloved wife, and I have remained single until today.