When Chee Seng Fah was first diagnosed with cancer, his world didn’t just slow down, it cracked open.
Chee reflects on that season with honesty. A time marked by questions, and a stripping away of everything familiar. In the face of grief and uncertainty, the usual noise around leadership, platforms, performance, and plans faded into the background. What remained were the deeper questions: “Who is God? And who am I, really, when everything else is gone?”
Today, Chee is the Senior Pastor of Clayton Church of Christ in Melbourne, a vibrant, multicultural community reaching people with the gospel. But that kind of resilient leadership didn’t come from a textbook. It was forged in adversity and shaped profoundly by Arrow Leadership.
A catalyst for lifelong formation
Chee was part of Arrow 13, a time he describes as “a defining moment” in his leadership journey. At a critical crossroads in ministry, he was looking for more than strategy. He was hungry for formation.
“From the beginning, I knew leadership came with great responsibility,” he reflects. “But I didn’t realise how much I needed to learn and be formed with the kind of formation that Arrow would bring.”
The impact was immediate and enduring.
Chee says that Arrow shaped him in three main ways:
- It gave him an objective perspective beyond his local church.
- It helped him to see both the strengths and weaknesses within his church culture.
- It affirmed his call to leadership in a safe and shared community.
What Arrow gave Chee wasn’t just tools, it was transformation. Transformation in character, calling, and community that is built for perseverance through all testing and trials.
Tested through fire
And tested it was.
Chee’s leadership journey has been forged through extraordinary pain, loss, and transformation.
A third culture kid who came to faith during university, Chee trained and worked as a dentist. He got married young, excited about building a future. But just six months into marriage, he was diagnosed with stage four cancer.
“I was told I had a 15% chance of surviving five years,” he shares. “It was meant to be terminal. But by God’s grace, I became one of the few long-term survivors. My case was even published in a medical journal.”
That brush with mortality profoundly reshaped his trajectory. Chee felt a clear call to pastoral ministry, leaving dentistry behind to serve in full-time vocational ministry.
Eight years after his cancer journey began, Arrow entered Chee’s life through the gentle nudge of a co-worker at the time, “Arrow came into my life as a vehicle of great leadership formation when I needed it most.”
Over the years Chee’s path has also included parental divorce, a career change, a major car accident, and the devastating loss of his wife in 2018 from a sudden brain haemorrhage. He was left widowed with two young sons, aged just two and five at the time.
“There are layers to my story,” he says quietly. “Cancer. Grief. Single parenting. Special needs. It’s a tapestry of pain and hope. But Arrow gave me a framework to hold it all before God, not to hide the wounds, but to lead through them.”
Through it all, Arrow’s emphasis on resilience, identity, and community became not just helpful, but vital.
Not a course, a community
Even after graduating, Chee’s relationship with Arrow has only deepened. He has since been a state coordinator, an evening speaker at the Emerging Leaders program, and now a presenter of one of the modules.
“Arrow isn’t a one-and-done course. It’s a community. A leadership ecosystem. I’m still shaped by conversations I had ten years ago, and I still see God using this network to raise up humble, resilient, kingdom-minded leaders who can engage with culture rather than run from it.”
For Chee, this isn’t theory, it’s testimony. Arrow has equipped him to serve in a context of cultural complexity, spiritual hunger, and generational transition.
Now more than ever
Chee is convinced the future of Christian leadership in Australia depends on the kind of formation that our leaders are provided with, and Arrow plays a pivotal role in this.
“We’re in a moment where leadership is being tested again and again. We need leaders who are authentic, transparent, and humble with great integrity.,” he says. “We’re part of a bigger gospel story and need to shift our thinking from maintaining church to kingdom impact. Church is a means to the kingdom and not an end in itself.”
He continues, “ I think the way the kingdom works is that God has a grace in different seasons for different movements… I think that whatever it is, it’s important to be part of riding the wave early on and then handing it down and encouraging others to ride it too.”
That’s why Chee continues to support, mentor, and advocate for Arrow. And why he’s asking others to join him.
“If you care about the Church, you should care about how leaders are formed,” he says. “And Arrow is one of the best investments you can make in that formation. It’s like compound interest—the earlier you invest, the more kingdom return you’ll see.”
Fuel the future
As we approach the end of the financial year, Arrow is aiming to raise $50,000 to support the next generation of leaders like Chee who serve through hardship, cross-cultural complexity, and deep spiritual challenge.
Let’s not wait. Let’s fuel the future.
Your gift this end of financial year will help facilitate our training, make our programs more affordable, and provide resources for leaders stepping into ministry in all kinds of settings—from multicultural churches to regional communities to secular workplaces.
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