Cynthia Starine Chua Testimony - School of Theology

Life-Changing

My husband and I recently discussed what it truly means when we say something is “life-changing.” It’s a phrase we hear often, but few experiences genuinely deserve that description.

If I had to sum up my journey in one word, without hesitation, it would be: LIFE-CHANGING.

This year, five members of my family—including myself—are graduating from the School of Theology (SOT) and Vanguard University (VU). My mother will receive a Diploma of Ministry, my sister and sister-in-law an Associate Degree in Ministry, I will graduate with a Bachelor of Theology, and my husband with a Master of Arts in Theology. Ask any of us about our journey, and we would all say the same: life-changing.

To date, seven members of my family—including my brother and brother-in-law—have been trained at SOT (2002–2025).

When I was 18, I was battling persistent depression, weighed down by brokenness in my personal and family life. Life felt meaningless. After graduating from junior college in 2001, I enrolled in SOT (then City Harvest Bible Training Centre) with one desperate hope: to be delivered from depression and to stop waking up dreading life. What I didn’t expect was for it to become a School of Transformation.

SOT became an incubator for healing. Day after day, the Holy Spirit hovered over us, breathing life into my weary heart and transforming my formless, downcast soul (cf. Gen 1:2). I was less than three years into the Christian faith, and SOT became a season of deep spiritual formation.

One week marked me forever—Pastor Kong taught Pneumatology, and a desire to know and walk with the Holy Spirit was birthed in me. That desire has only grown stronger over the past 23 years.

Another week changed my life. Pastor Mike Connell was ministering, and each morning I prayed at the rooftop garden, crying out for a life-changing encounter. On consecutive days, Pastor Mike called me up to demonstrate how to minister the gifts of the Spirit. In those moments, God lifted the spirit of heaviness and released a prophetic word: I would be given a ministry to young people. I came seeking deliverance—but God gave me purpose.

Two years later, I became a cell group leader overseeing 12 youths.

Today, I serve on the pastoral team with Emerge, our church’s youth ministry—still witnessing the unfolding of that prophetic word.

I could share how my husband and sisters were transformed through ADM and MAT, but I must highlight my 66-year-old mother. Despite little formal education and much hardship, she enrolled in SOT last year, quitting her full-time job in faith. Though studying was difficult, she pressed on. Today, her love for Jesus and joy in serving Him are evident. Watching God restore her has been nothing short of life-changing.

As a young believer, I often prayed Joshua 24:15: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Today, I see that prayer unfolding beautifully.

SOT is holy ground—a place where you meet God face-to-face, wrestle with Him, and are forever marked (cf. Gen 32:22–32). You cannot come and leave unchanged.

Not many things in life are truly life-changing. But SOT is.