Steve Chong

Chong was born on November 30, 1978, in Sydney, Australia to Chinese-Malaysian parents. They converted from Buddhism to the Christianity at the 1979 Billy Graham Crusade.[4]

He attended James Ruse Agricultural High School and obtained a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Sydney.[6] With the plan of becoming an Anglican minister, he studied for a Bachelor of Theology at Moore Theological College.

Chong studied at bible college where he was trained in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney by renowned evangelist John Chapman.[10] He then spent 7 years as a young minister at Kirkplace Presbyterian Church, Kogarah in Sydney's inner south, throughout which, he founded the RICE Movement. He has been further trained and mentored by American ministers Mark Driscoll and Tim Keller (pastor).[11]

Chong has a high view of the significance of Asian people in Western nations like Australia, not simply because of their influence in the culture, but because they will be part of the future of the global Christian faith:

People are having to realise we’re in the China century. And Australia has such a significant part in that. Everything we do is so pegged to Asia. We’re this unique Western country in Asia. That’s why we’ve got this ability to cross these cultures right now. Whether it’s the boom of the church in Korea, or the underground church in China — the crazy statistics that there are more Christians in China than America — the West hasn’t stopped to engage with this. Has the centre of Christianity moved?[4]

Steve identifies himself with practical charismatic theology and describes his experience in a vodacast with Shawn Bolz:

"I'm 42 years old I've got four kids... I would say 37 of those years for me which is a big chunk of time were really firmly built in reformed conservative Evangelism and a particularly conservative version of that in Australia so i'm talking about like really very much so like kind of get in trouble if you raise your hands kind of zone. In terms of spiritual Gifts I would I was definitely affectively a sensationalist but I was if i was open into it as a possibility it would be you know not in practise that's for sure... I probably didn’t believe they exist. You can you can go so far with your own skills and gifts and sometimes it's quite far 'cause those gift from the Lord like you know like your own strength and work ethic but it's been nothing like when the Holy Spirit turned up and met Naomi and I in power because you see you know I've been coming out of a camp that would be I guess the generally called it will be a word base camp but when the word is spirit collide there is no stronger power or force on earth that happens when that happens... so for me there was like it was like a missing piece"[16]

In 2011, Chong appeared on the top-rating[17] Australian breakfast show, Sunrise. When asked about what drove his passion to pursue youth ministry he said:

"It's something I'm so passionate about, I feel like, young people particular these days, they're craving relationships, I mean you just see it. They're hunched over on their computers all night on Facebook. Why? Because they're craving relationships."[18]

In 2019, Steve Chong appeared on the SBS (Australian TV channel) show 'Christians Like Us'. The show was billed as “10 Australian Christians with vastly different beliefs live under one roof for a week to confront the controversial topics of their faith. They will grapple with what makes a good Christian, and the role religion plays in modern life.”[19] When later describing the experience Chong said, "“Some of the conversations were really intense. And I think that’s to be expected: some of these issues are so personal for people, and go to the heart of people’s backgrounds and hurts they’ve experienced.”[20]

Steve is married to Naomi Chong and together they have four children, two boys (Reuben, Jacob) and two girls (Caitlin, Alyssa).