About

Chee was born in Malaysia and his family migrated to Australia in 1988. Clayton Church of Christ has been his spiritual home ever since. Chee completed his degree in dentistry at Melbourne University where he met his late wife, Wei Lyn. They married in 2004 and worked for many years in their chosen fields as a dentist and medical doctor.

Six months into their marriage, Chee was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, but contrary to medical expertise, he was healed by God. Following his recovery from cancer, he discovered his calling into pastoral ministry and has been on staff since 2006 in various capacities. They had two young boys, Judah and Micah, who they dearly love.

In June 2018, his late wife went to be with the Lord after a sudden brain haemorrhage. Since that difficult season, God has brought Eugenia into his life, and they got married in 2021. Chee is a passionate believer in the local church and has a vision to build ‘whole of life’ disciples who integrate their faith and mission into their everyday life including their sphere of work. He is also based part time at Reventure, a faith and work organisation.

Chee enjoys travelling, reading, playing sports (basketball, golf), playing music and spending time with his family and friends.

Paul grew up at Clayton Church and was appointed as our English Campus Pastor in 2021. He’s passionate about each disciple finding and crafting their God-given gifting to be used for God’s glory, and his desire is to lead people towards an intimate connection with the Father through the Holy Spirit.

Prior to his appointment, Paul and his wife, Sim, founded and grew a successful audio-visual business, working with major performing arts venues, conference centres, schools and churches, and served at Clayton in volunteer leadership positions over three decades.

Paul and Sim have two children, who are active members of the church, and are blessed to have Paul’s parents actively involved in the life and ministry of Clayton as well.

In his spare time, Paul love to listen to music, visit jazz clubs, and perfect pizza in his woodfire oven!

Pastor Hai was born and raised in Shanghai. He moved to Melbourne in 1989 and got married to Rose in 1996. They were both diagnosed with cancer in their 30s and in this darkest moment, they found Christ and received Jesus into their lives in 2004. They have been part of Clayton Church since 2008.

Hai has been pastoring the Chinese congregation (Ji En) in the church since 2009. His passion is to help the Chinese know Jesus Christ and grow in their walk with God. He is a team player and passionate about encouraging each other to live out our faith in this world.

He obtained his Master of Divinity (道學碩士) from Melbourne School of Theology in 2013.

Phanin oversees the Sunday celebration service of church and he is extremely passionate about people growing closer to God during the service through worship, media, creative arts and presentations. Having served in the worship ministry for over fifteen years, since 2017 his focus has been on the all areas concerning the Church visual experience – worship, creative arts, online and social media.

Phanin studied at The School of Recording Technology, and worked as Project Manager in his previous employment for one of the biggest Audio Visual Companies before being called to full time ministries. He is married to Juliet and together they have three young children; Bethany, Elijah and Noah. In his past time, Phanin enjoys playing music (as expected), soccer, golf and tinkering with technology.

Kyle has been our Groups and Generations Pastor since early 2019. He oversees the very capable leaders who run the Children, Youth, Campus, and Young Adult ministries for the English Campus. Kyle also takes care of the Life Groups for the English Campus.

He was born in the country town of Echuca before moving with his missionary parents to Papua New Guinea, where he spent the next decade of his life. He met his wife, Rach, back in Echuca and together they moved to Wodonda for 6 years and during this time Kyle studied through Melbourne School of Theology.

In 2013 Kyle and Rach moved to Melbourne and have been here ever since. They have a young son Walter who they love dearly, and two pets who Kyle does not love so dearly.

Kyle enjoys great coffee, sneakers, the NBA, plants, and spending time with good company. He looks forward to meeting you!

Shamilla is the Local, Gatherings and Care Director. Her primary role is to develop a discipleship culture of care and help the church embrace the community and help them walk alongside the people and community leaders, seeking to make the city a better place. She is also responsible to grow and birth new Gathering spaces and help them fulfil their role as Disciple Making Movements.

She was born in Malaysia and her family migrated to Australia in 2012 from Hong Kong. Shamilla completed her degree in Business Management in University Science Malaysia where she met her husband, Lawrence. They married in 2002 and have four lovely children, ages between 16 to 7 years of age.

She has more than 15 years of experience as a Corporate and Regulatory Affairs professional in the area of Regulatory and Issues Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Engagement, Government Relations and Corporate Communications. For more than 6 of the years, she was spearheading the Division, overseeing its strategies, plans and resource in Malaysia before being posted to Hong Kong to head the regional Regulatory Affairs team covering 21 markets in Asia Pacific.

Eight years ago she left the corporate world to pursue a new season to serve the Lord. She worked with Church Missionary Society for more than four years and thereafter with Clayton Church on various strategy and planning initiatives working alongside with the church leadership team.

She enjoys discipling her kids by practicing what she preaches representing Jesus in all of life issues, going to all her daughters netball tournaments (their number one fan), working out at the gym and walking her friends.

As the Global & Ministry Systems Associate Pastor, Sheron is a part of the Preaching Team, oversees our Global Mission initiatives, as well as the Communications and Ministry Systems Departments at Clayton. Together with her team, she works to develop systems, processes, tools and resources that enable our disciple-making ministries to thrive.

Since 2022, Sheron also sits on the National Leadership Team of Missions Interlink.

Graduating from Tabor Victoria in 2013 with a Bachelor of Theology in Mission Studies, Sheron spent six years serving with OMF International in the areas of Media, Communications and Mobilisation.

She is passionate about helping people discover God’s heart for missions in the Bible and seeing people’s faces light up when they’re discovering the implications of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection.

Sheron is married to Geoff, and together they are pawrents to Peaches, a big, fluffy, white Samoyed. In her free time, Sheron likes to potter around in her veggie and flower garden, make Instagram videos with Peaches, do something crafty with her hands or take a good long nap!

Phoebe is our Missionary Associate Pastor in JiEn (基恩堂). She had worked in IT project management for international financial institutions for 20 years. She decided to follow God’s calling on her when she realised that IT merely transforms people’s way of working but Christian faith transforms people’s lives.

Phoebe commenced her study in Melbourne School of Theology after she started different ministries and served as a life group leader. She is passionate about sharing the Gospel to the community.

By submitting herself to God’s leadership, she has been in the ministry for new Chinese migrants. Jesus continues to inspire her to bring people to come to know God by helping them in connecting cultural gaps.

Phoebe, her husband, Keith, and their son Remus moved to Melbourne in 2008 from Hong Kong. The family enjoys fishing, travelling and connecting with friends and families through meals and laughter.

Margaret is the Pastoral Care Director and oversees the pastoral care needs of the English Campus. She has been a part of the Clayton team for over 20 years in different capacities.

Margaret and her husband Frank first started getting involved in ministry at Clayton Church when Frank started the Fellowship of University students (FOCUS) in 1993, now known as Emerge Campus. At the time, Margaret was also actively involved in Playgroup. She took over the Playgroup ministry in 2000 and expanded it into multiple sessions over the years. In 2015 she took over the Family and Children Ministry and overseeing Kids Church and Crèche ministry, driving Discipleship at home in partnership with parents, as the Children and Families Ministry director before taking on her current role of Pastoral Care Director for the English Campus in 2021.

Margaret is passionate about seeing people, young or not so young, from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds, reaching their full potential in Christ as intended by God, and loves to see them all grow closer in relationship to Jesus in all circumstances.

Margaret holds a BAppSc in OccTherapy (Sydney Uni), GradDip in Rehabilitation Studies (Latrobe Uni), trained in Bethel Bible-teaching Series (Adult Christian education), currently 2/3 completing GradCert in Children and Families ministries (Uni of Divinity).

Together with husband Frank, a Life Group leader, they have three young adult children, all are in the church.

Evelyn is our Children and Families Ministry Director. She oversees the ministry to preschool and primary school-aged children and their families; focussing on growing our children to develop a personal and true relationship with God. A part of her role involves resourcing families to fulfil their role as the primary disciple-maker at home. Together with a strong and capable team, she develops and implements programs and activities that provide a strong biblical framework that will nurture the love of God’s word.

She was graduated as a graphic designer but she has a clear call of God on her life to be in ministry with children. Her creativity and passion are the best partners. They supply her with ongoing energy and maximum capacity to serve Him in all her endeavours in the ministry.

Evelyn loves gardening and D.I.Y. projects. She is married to Peter and they have two bubbly children who love a cup of hot chocolate with two marshmallows on a Saturday morning at a local café.

Stephen was born in New Zealand; hence the reason you see him dressed in black so often. He moved to Perth in 2004 and it was here that he accepted the Lord as his saviour. A confirmed bachelor, the Lord introduced him to his now wife Christine, a friend in Christ, then a mentor and finally a partner in the Lord.

As a Christian he became the manager of a tertiary level Theological College in WA. In 2014 Stephen and Chriss moved to New Zealand where he also became the CEO of a Chamber of Commerce, worked as a consultant for a growing IT company and also engaged with the NZ Electoral Commission.

When Covid hit and the borders closed, the forced isolation from Chris’s family including grandchildren, had them reassess what was important. When the borders opened in 2021, Stephen and Chriss moved to Victoria. Stephen arrived the day Victoria went back into a prolonged lock-down. During the lock-down period Stephen and Chriss surfed the internet for a church to stream services and found Clayton Church. Stephen commenced working with Clayton Church at the end of October 2022.

Stephen enjoys the odd round of golf, has played rugby and was a rower, both are now spectator events for him. With Chriss they enjoy long walks and hiking scenic areas. The bike is also used to explore areas. Stephen also enjoys photography, mainly scenery and scenic shots with Chriss in them. He also enjoys the arts, theatre and cooking, mainly BBQ’s.

Bill, as Community Care & Crisis Director, leads our annual Love Loud Christmas campaign. He works closely with the local Clayton community to form strategic relationships, which then enable the church new opportunities in local community engagement.

Bill Pontikis is a very active member, having recently served one term on the City of Monash council. In 2011 he founded Cafe Care which built upon his commitment to social justice, combined with his equally strong faith and love for Christ. He previously served as President of the Clayton Traders Association for 13 years, having operated a local cafe business in the Clayton Arcade.

Barbara has stood by Bill through all these seasons, having been happily married and together raising three children. Together, the couple sow much into the community, caring for and ministering to people from all walks of life.