This is part of our bi-monthly interview series in 2025. Pastors of various churches will share spiritual reflections and insights on their journey with God and their role as shepherds of His people. For July, I have Pastor Jonathan Ji for this series.
You might also like the interview series featuring various Christians sharing their past, present and future.
Who is Pastor Jonathan Ji?
Ps Jonathan Ji (@jaygeeyang) has served in the youth ministry at Bartley Christian Church since his youth, first as a layperson and later as its youth pastor. He graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a degree in engineering and worked as an engineer at Carrier Singapore. Subsequently, he left his engineering job to join the church and graduated from Singapore Bible College with a Master of Divinity.
He is married to Ames Chen, a Singaporean children’s book author, and they are blessed with two daughters and a son, Mya, Nathan and Olive, aged 10, 7 and 4. During his free time, he would hit the gym, swim, cycle, and play board games with his three little ones.
The Past
Looking back…
How did you come to accept Christ?
I was not born into a Christian family, but by God’s grace, my parents thought it would be beneficial for my three siblings and me to attend Sunday School and learn good values. It could also be because my father saw the goodness of the gospel when he studied at Anglican High. I first attended Bartley Christian Church as a baby, but when we moved houses a few times, we also changed churches to those near our place, from Katong to Eunos.
However, my faith only got serious at my first youth camp when I was 14. My heart was moved at one of the altar calls, but I was afraid to go forward because the message was about the high cost of discipleship. I probably said the sinner’s prayer in Sunday school before, but it was more like saying it mindlessly. Thus, I took this moment in the youth camp as the turning point in my Christian faith or the moment I was truly born again.
How were you called to be a Pastor?
THE SEED
Since my heart encounter with God, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to set aside time daily for devotions, reading the Bible and praying. I also began serving various roles at the youth ministry of Bartley Christian Church — logistics team member, camp commandant, and cell group leader. As I served in the youth ministry, my passion to disciple the next generation grew.
I took a short break from serving in my first year of National Service before returning to it during my university years. At that time, I was also evaluating my paths after graduation, and I was inclined to be in full-time ministry:
- Serve in the marketplace as an engineer.
- Be a tentmaker like Paul – enter nations that a typical missionary cannot access with my job as an engineer, and actively serve like a missionary.
- Be in full-time ministry with a local church.
I wanted a fuller picture of church work, so I approached the church for an internship during my university holidays. During my internship, I couldn’t see myself doing what the pastors were doing, such as sermon preparation. I was not a public speaker or a worship leader, but more of an engineer who works behind the scenes. Back then, I didn’t know there was a role of an executive pastor. Thus, I decided full-time or pastoral ministry was unsuitable for me.
THE CALLING
For option one or two, I needed to be trained and work as an engineer. My dad advised me to work for at least two years before re-evaluating whether to stay or change jobs. After two years, I was inclined to be a tentmaker like Paul. I had been going on mission trips, which added to its appeal and grew my heart for cross-cultural missions. Regardless, my desire was still to reach out to the young generation. I prayed for my next step, and God started to speak into my heart as I continued to work as an engineer for the next two years.
I was studying the book of Genesis at BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) when I learnt an important application. I saw how Abraham immediately obeyed God’s call to Canaan, and so I prayed for God to help me be as willing to step out in faith. Not too long after, God reignited my heart for discipleship at a Discipleship conference in the Philippines.
Interestingly, during this period of waiting upon God about my next step, the deputy senior pastor approached me to consider full-time ministry. I was surprised to be on the church’s radar because I usually serve in the background at the youth ministry, and hardly put myself in the front.
Like Gideon testing God, I asked for a sign: “God, if you want me to go full-time, somehow show me or speak to me through this verse, Matthew 9:38.
Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
Matthew 9:38
After half a year, my friend texted me ‘Luke 10:2’ out of the blue when I was at work. When I got home at night and read about the verse, I realised it was a parallel verse to Matthew 9:38! I continued reading to verse 3, and the word ‘Go’ stood out.
Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. “
Luke 10:2-3
That happened in December, and I had just gotten married, and we had a HDB loan for our new house. Yet I had the peace that surpassed all understanding to take that step of faith.
STEP OF FAITH
In January 2015, I discussed with my wife, Ames, my parents, and the church leadership the possibility of being in full-time ministry. Ames’s heart was inclined to be a missionary rather than being rooted in a local ministry. In fact, we had positioned our lifestyle in a way that we could move anywhere at any time. But after prayers, she supported me to join the church full-time.
As for my parents, they were concerned about our finances, like most Asian parents. But they still gave me the blessing in the end, even though they were still not believers. With peace and blessings, I decided to take the leap of faith.
After 4 years as an engineer, I officially joined the full-time ministry in 2014 as a youth worker at Bartley Christian Church. The youth director went to study soon after I started, and thus, I also took on the role of leading the youth ministry in his absence. After three years as a youth worker, the leaders asked me to consider a Master of Divinity (M.Div).
Becoming a Pastor
I was in a dilemma because studying M.Div meant I would be on the path to becoming a pastor. I didn’t think I was worthy to be a pastor, and one needs to have a calling for it. I discussed it with various people, and they advised me to just go and learn more about the theological and practical framework used to approach ministry, as I had always been learning on the job. Even if I choose not to become a pastor later on, it’s also good to know and be equipped.
After I graduated, I became the youth director in the youth ministry for two years before being offered the role of a pastor. Again, I prayed and sought counsel from pastors and mentors and decided to go for the interview. Having the title of the pastor doesn’t make a difference to the youth I am reaching, but it is to their families. It would give me more credibility to speak to the families.
I also recall the conversations I had with my youth pastor during my internship years ago. One key takeaway from him was that being a pastor is not only what we perceive on the stage. It’s the day-to-day walking alongside people as a shepherd, and handling administrative tasks.
I thought about it and recognised my strengths to pastor like a shepherd, although I am not a stage person. I can relate to people relatively well, and others find me approachable. As an extrovert, I also enjoy connecting with others. Though I worked as a service engineer in commercial buildings, I realised what I like most about the job is meeting and talking to people, even if it’s only about buildings.
I am now in my third year as a pastor and eleventh year in the ministry!
What are the most memorable lessons you had (as a pastor)?
While I was studying for M.Div, I was disheartened that I couldn’t read as many suggested readings as the other younger students. However, I saw how God has tailored the study curriculum for us, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
While others might be beefing up their theological knowledge, God was helping me build a framework to manage ministry and a family with young children. Hence, when I became a pastor, I could follow this framework to become more adept at managing the varying responsibilities, and thus not neglect my children due to my pastoral work.
Anything to make you say “God works all things good”?
I entered ministry when my oldest child was two years old, and we had our second child during my second year. Now, I have three young children! It is not easy to juggle three young children and the demands of youth ministry, but I have seen how His daily grace is sufficient for us. On top of that, our family faced many health challenges throughout the years.
My son was born with a hole in the heart (ventricular septal defect, “VSD”) and went through open-heart surgery when he was around two years old. As he was wheeled out of the surgery, my heart broke when I saw him in pain and tubes inserted all around him. At that moment, I could feel a little of how our Father’s heart broke when Jesus was nailed to the cross. And that made me thank God even more for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, and seeing His beloved Son Jesus suffer and die.
Another health challenge came three years ago, when my youngest was under 1 year old. My vision was rapidly deteriorating, and the doctors could not find out what was wrong and were thus unable to treat me. It was a dark period, as I thought of how I would not be able to see what my children would look like when they grew up. It was only two to three weeks later that the doctors found out that the vision loss was due to an autoimmune disorder. The doctors could now treat me with the diagnosis, although it has already made my left eye almost blind. Still, I thank God for finally getting the diagnosis and treatment needed.
Over time, I learnt that God is good, as mentioned in Romans 8:28 and further elaborated in verses 29 to 30, “His goodness is for us to be conformed to be more Christlike“. It is not easy, but I try to continually realign my focus on His goodness, instead of man’s perspective of goodness.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Romans 8:28-30 (NIV)
If you return in time, is there anything you would do differently?
One would be to take care of my physical body. I can feel the toll on my body now that I am in my forties. To also learn to rest more, rely more on prayer and focus on the essentials, which to me are discipleship and people, and not just the programs.
There were a few mistakes I wish to undo, especially one irreversible mistake that had greatly affected other youth members. I was grooming a youth leader for leadership, and so trusted that person more than I should and thus didn’t take appropriate action in time. Even though I wanted the person to grow, I am also a shepherd who needs to protect the other sheep. Subsequently, the church put a stop to all this and drew up a set of guidelines on how leaders should conduct themselves with boundaries and put structures in place to prevent similar incidents.
It was a painful mistake that I don’t wish other pastors to commit, and hence, I readily share these guidelines. As a youth pastor, I was used to handling things on my own. I have since learned to discuss matters with other church leaders or supervisors if an issue is beyond me and not deal with things alone. It’s also to be accountable to another person and not carry the burden myself.
The Present
Looking at now…
Is there anything you observe about today’s young generation?
Regardless of which generation, the root needs are the same: relationships. Identities are still formed in communities. The difference is how people connect and build relationships. Nowadays, many more people connect through online platforms such as social media. Yet, because of that, the youth are more exposed to mature and inappropriate content, and warped teachings at a younger age. This is concerning because their frontal lobes are not fully developed to discern and filter what they see.
Perhaps due to the avalanche of information the youth receive, the youth are less likely to follow the rules blindly but are more questioning and challenging about the status quo. Hence, they might come across as more disrespectful and less submissive.
The rate of change in the generations is also much faster. In the past, culture shifts occurred in 4 to 5 years, but it now takes only every 2 to 3 years. For example, an 18-year-old might not identify with a 15-year-old because the culture they grew up in can be so different.
Yet I believe the potential and passion in the young people remain the same, and that’s what keeps me going in the youth ministry. Once these young people encounter God, own their faith, they will grow in God.
However, young people are very misunderstood. There’s a misconception that young people these days are not serious and never will be. But older folks perceive and judge through their lens of what seriousness should look like. I think it’s important to blend the two generations, the passion of the youth and the wisdom of the old, and have them understand each other. Hence, we would organise intergenerational services, table games and church camps for multi-generations to mingle.
With so many influences nowadays, is it harder to reach out to the current generation than before?
Our church’s youth are mainly second-generation Christians who desire to see God in a real way and make a difference for Him out there. This shows that the parents and families in church are doing well in bringing up their children spiritually, but it also means our area of evangelism is not strong enough.
Our church does have unique opportunities to reach out, like our youth managed to plan a 2-day camp for the student care situated on our premises. Or twice, we organised talks with truelove.is in educating the church people on the topic of LGBT. It teaches them how to respond in different scenarios and love people in the LGBT community, as nowadays youth talk more about this topic. Hopefully, in this way, the church would not be perceived as being an opponent to LGBT people, but as people who seek to understand and build relationships with them.
I believe the Gospel presents itself through relationships these days. People are more willing to hear you if you have a relationship with them. Thus, street evangelism does not work as well now, especially since the way society views the church has changed much.
In the past, the church was seen as a place of good community, even my non-believer parents sent me to church! As time passed, there was more hostility, but the church could still co-exist amicably with non-believers. If they wanted to decline church invitations, they would still do it politely. Nowadays, non-believers are hostile to Christians and critical of religion. The Straits Times also reported that more young people in Singapore have no religious affiliation. Being religious is not a cool thing, and I believe this is influenced by social media. They don’t want to be religious, yet there’s still a spiritual hunger, and hence the rise in the popularity of New Age.
Hence, young people might be more wary about sharing their Christian faith for fear of being persecuted, as their peers are still a vital part of their identity. However, when the Christians’ life testimonies are good, and relationships are built, non-believers would still hear them out and be willing to come to evangelistic events.
Hence, going forward, I would like to equip our church youth to share the gospel and know how to answer difficult questions posed by their friends. I am convinced that Christ-centred discipleship of the next generation is key to expanding the kingdom of God.
How do you stay relevant to the youth?
It can be challenging because my growing-up experience is very different from the current generation. Hence, it takes considerable effort to keep up. One way to stay relevant is to build relationships with the youth, interact on the same level instead of a top-down approach, be authentic, and learn from them.
It’s important to allow space for the youth to open up to me. I am also intentional in spending more time with my leaders as they become the connectors to the young people. My team of senior leaders and cell group leaders does a good job in connecting with the youth, largely because of narrower age gaps.
Were there moments that made you feel like giving up (on being a Pastor)?
Multiple moments, especially when I made mistakes. However, even in my mistake that caused negligence, I am thankful the leaders walked alongside me to go through it together. Our senior pastor is like a fatherly figure when he advises, “You are not the Saviour, and as much as we learn from our mistakes, don’t let the guilt overcome you.”
Other times are when I felt helpless in pastoral cases. I see the young people struggling and hurting, but I can’t do anything about it, from issues because of abusive and broken families to mental health struggles. As an engineer, I am trained to solve problems, but such cases can be tricky, and thus I would feel useless and defeated when I can’t help them and bring them to restoration. To help them better, I attend workshops to equip myself with counselling skills.
Even so, there’s so much I can do. My leaders reminded me that I am not the Saviour, and the youths are God’s sheep and He will take care of them. To keep me going, I will also go to retreats to spend time with God, and go back to my initial call to youth and the heart of obedience. If God continues to call me to be in the youth ministry, I will be faithful and obey Him.
How do you handle difficult people or people who don’t like you?
DIFFICULT PEOPLE
Like schools, we also have our fair share of difficult parents. For starters, some parents think the church is a spiritual tuition centre and would leave their child and parenting to the church. So parents would complain about why the youth ministry never does this or that, or talk about topics like the ills of gaming and mobile phones.
Then some parents would complain that the church is not doing enough to bring their teenage children back to church. However, when they graduated from Sunday school and transitioned to the youth ministry, they stopped attending church because of busy schedules, such as tuition. So by the time these children are in upper secondary, they have drifted further from the faith. I will do my best to reach out to the youth because I love them, but sometimes it’s not easy to integrate them back into the church.
Through the years, I have learned that some things are beyond me, and to thank all feedback given, filter and discuss the constructive ones with my team of senior leaders to make real changes.
PEOPLE WHO DON’T LIKE ME
There’s a particular episode which affected me so much that I wanted to quit. Through a third party, I got to know that someone did not like me and criticised how I ran the ministry. The person raised certain points which felt more like personal attacks, and that hurt. If the feedback was practical, it would have been easier to evaluate.
God reminded me of how Jesus reinstated Peter after he denied knowing Jesus three times. I felt Jesus asking me the same question He asked Peter, “Do you love me?”, to which He replied, “Feed my sheep.” Although I wish the feedback was shared in love, I feed the sheep because of God and not humans. Ultimately, my approval is in God and not in man.
What are the joys of being a Pastor?
There’s the joy of knowing that I am obeying my Father’s will. Other joys include seeing lives changed. It could be the restoration of someone’s life after what might be a long journey. For example, those struggling with mental health issues finally take the medicine they once refused and recover.
It also encourages me when people grow in their relationship with God, grow in the Word, and discern where God wants them to go and follow it. This is especially so for prodigals who came home. I know their troubles and how much they have suffered, so it’s heartening to see them encounter God during service or youth camp and return to faith.
I like the longevity of youth ministry. I have seen four to five generations of young people come and go, and recently I have been marrying a few couples who were once in my youth ministry. It’s interesting to grow with them and see how their families expand too.
In this season, what is God speaking to you about or teaching you?
To be in a posture of rest and trust in His timing and providence on the ministry front. I have a good team of lay leaders, but for two to three years, I have been actively searching for a youth ministry worker to handle the operations. I even went on a retreat last July to pray about it. I have been asking God when He will send in the help. Now, I need to learn not to rush the process and trust that God will provide the right person at the right time.
So if you or anyone you know is interested in applying, submit the resume to melvinlee@bartley.org.sg.
What fruit of the Spirit do you think God is growing in you?
Patience and self-control, especially with my own family. I am not an angry person, but I will explode like from time to time, so I went for counselling that equipped me with practical tips to manage my emotions.
How do you balance ministry work with three young children?
I am thankful that our church allows for flexibility in working hours and work-from-home arrangements. That helps me to balance between ministry work and family. For example, on afternoons when I am free, I will be home to spend time with the children. And that makes up for times I need to leave at night for ministries such as funerals and miss their bedtime routine.
What is your bible verse of the season?
Ezra 7:10 has been my constant verse for my ministry, including this season.
For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.
Ezra 7:10 (NIV)
The Future
Look forward…
What’s one piece of advice for young pastors?
Always go back to your calling. Journal why or what God has called you to. Tough times will surely come, and you can then read back on what you have written to remind yourself why you are here in the first place.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Obedience to God is also the key to walking on this faith journey. It’s good to go to a seminary to be equipped for the pastor’s role.
For those with young children, do not neglect the family. The children do what they see, and we’re their role models. At home, Nathan would mimic me and preach and even give an altar call while Mya is the worship leader.
Where do you think God is leading you next – your purpose, dreams and visions?
I am interested to learn more about counselling and thus likely go in the direction of pastoral counselling and serve a wider age range of congregants.
Fun question: What would you be doing if you did not choose the path of a pastor?
I would still be an engineer! I had enjoyed my work in my previous company.
Editor’s Note
We thank Ps Jonathan for sharing his journey and insights into being a pastor. One cannot deny his passion for the next generation. As I listened to his story, he reminded me of Gideon in the Bible, who initially felt unworthy and doubted his abilities. Despite that, Ps Jon’s steady faithfulness saw him gradually stepping into the role of a pastor, the place where God calls him to be. Interestingly, he mentioned that he asked God for a sign like Gideon! If this post speaks to you, leave a comment or send us a message to encourage Ps Jonathan.
If you liked this, you may enjoy reading other interviews too: shema-rhema.com/blog/category/interviews
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