Studying and Shepherding

Randy Yue has been studying at Christ College part-time while also pastoring Ryde Presbyterian Church for the past five years. While juggling both has presented its own unique challenges, Randy is grateful for the opportunity he’s had to apply his training to his current ministry context.

After spending the first 17 years of his life in Singapore, where he grew up in the Catholic church, Randy went to university in the United States before moving to Sydney. It was at a Billy Graham Crusade in Singapore when he was 11 years old that Randy heard the gospel presented clearly for the first time. That was the start of a journey to discovering who God is and entering into a relationship with Him.

Even as a teenager, Randy explains that he wanted to do “more” for God, but he didn’t know what that would look like. He spent a year exploring mission work in Mongolia, but soon realised that he would need to be further trained if he headed to the mission field long-term.

While he was working in a variety of jobs over the years—ranging from running a cafe to being a sales representative—Randy became heavily involved at Macquarie Chapel Presbyterian Church, eventually serving as an elder. He had been there for 20 years when the prospect of becoming a pastor was brought to Randy’s attention.

“The idea of being responsible for a congregation weighed heavily on me in terms of whether that was something that I wanted to take on,” Randy shares. “I never even considered pastoral ministry until a few people started talking to me about it.”

That was in 2019, and around the same time that people began mentioning the idea to Randy, an opportunity came up. Ryde Presbyterian Church was looking for a pastor, and they were willing to employ someone part-time while that person trained to become a minister.

 Randy knew that it was a rare and wonderful opportunity—so he began the dual roles in 2020. He says his experience of Christ College over the past five years has been “extremely good.”

“The college has been really accommodating and understanding of what I have been doing—that I’ve been working 75% and also studying 75%, which doesn’t really add up,” Randy laughs. 

All jokes aside, studying while pastoring a church hasn’t been easy. Randy is deeply grateful for the way he’s felt cared for by the faculty.

“They’ve kept an eye on me to make sure I didn’t burn out,” he explains. “The faculty have been very encouraging, supportive and caring—not just for me as a student, but for me as a person.”

For Randy, the classes themselves have been incredibly enlightening. He likens the experience to one of fitting puzzle pieces together, and growing in his understanding in so many different ways.

“It has challenged me to grow as a person, not just in head knowledge, but also spiritually as a Christian.”

Randy says the benefit of his experience is that he’s been able to apply what he learns in every class to his ministry context immediately.

“For example, in Cam Clausing’s class on church, understanding the ideology between all the different components of our worship service has helped me to restructure my worship service so that I have elements of what is important and significant about worship to God,” Randy explains. “I was able to implement what I learned immediately in how I run the worship service.”

Despite the concerns Randy had originally about going into pastoral ministry, he can’t deny the privilege it has been so far. Just two weeks ago a woman was baptised at Ryde Presbyterian Church—the first adult baptism at their church in many years, which has been so encouraging for the entire congregation.

When asked what he would say to someone considering studying at Christ College, Randy says, “If you want a place where you are valued, where you are respected, where you are challenged—but also where you are welcome, you should consider Christ College. Bible college isn’t just about theology, it is a place to grow your faith and relationship with God.  This is where people are being trained to serve and lead the church in all areas and preach God’s Word faithfully.”