Shiao C. Chong is the Christian Reformed Chaplain serving York University. Chong (as everybody calls him) has an MA in English Literature (U of Alberta) and is an accomplished writer and speaker/preacher.

Hired and supported by the Christian Reformed Churches in the Greater Toronto Area, Chong is the director of LOGOS Campus Ministry. In addition to heading Leadership, Culture & Christianity, The Epistle and the Christian Resource Corner, Chong also provides the following FREE services to all York U students and community members:

• Individual Spiritual/Pastoral Dialogues
• Speaking Engagements on Various Christian Topics
• Resource Help on Christian Perspectives for Academic Learning, Research or Current Events

Here is a list of Chong's suggested speaking topics:

• Is the Bible Anti-Women?

  Explores some key texts in the Bible that pertains to the role of women and the surrounding controversy

   

• The Idols of Our Culture

  Lists some of the spiritual "idols" that shape our culture today and how Christians can avoid them

   

• The Total Gospel

  Presents an argument for the Total Gospel concept - against the incomplete gospels of salvation as only "saving souls", or of the church's mission as only "social justice and charity work"

   

• Our Lives & God's Calling, Will, & Mission

  Does God have a specific calling or purpose or mission for each of us? How do find that? How do I know God's will for my life? We will look at these questions

   

• Modernism, Postmodernism & the Church

  Explores, in general terms, the shift in our culture from the age of modernism to postmodernism, and how the Christian church has engaged these cultural forces. Ends with a discussion on how the church ought to respond to post-modernity.

   

• Is the Bible Racist? Christianity & Diversity

  Why has the Bible been used to justify racism and slavery? What do the texts used to do so really mean? Does the Bible support a multi-cultural or inter-cultural approach to community and church? Or does it support the concept of ethnic churches? Should Christians embrace our culture's multi-cultural ideology?

   

• Finding Your Self: Modern, Postmodern & Biblical Options

  What is the framework that helps us answer the question of our own identities: who am I? We will look at some ways Western culture has attempted to frame that question, both modern and postmodern, and their consequences. We end by exploring a biblical option of framing our selfhood.

   

• God's Mission and World Religions

  What is God's mission in the world? How do Christians and the church join God's mission? How does our relationship with people of other religions relate to God's mission? How are we to relate with other religions?

   

• The New Testament Canon and the Da Vinci Code

  Explores the claims of the Da Vinci Code bestseller on how the New Testament was formed and its relation to the divinity of Christ

   

• Why the Pagan Christ is Wrong

  Tom Harpur's bestselling book, The Pagan Christ, claims that Jesus' death and resurrection did not historically occur but was a spiritual myth with pagan roots (Egypt specifically). Find out why these claims are highly dubious.

   

• The Bible and the Environment

  What does the Bible has to say about our relationship to the ecology? Does God care about the environment?

   

• Is Heaven NOT our Home?

  Contrary to popular misconceptions of our eternal destiny, the Bible suggests that the earth is humanity's true home, not an ethereal heaven. Heaven is real but it is God's home, so to speak, not ours. Humanity's eternal future will be lived out on the new heaven and earth, not on a disembodied, earth-less heaven. We will explore some key biblical passages that show why this is so, and the implications for our spirituality and lives.

   

• The Story of the Bible

  A summary of the Bible's ONE story or message. Essentially, this is your chance to hear the Bible message in a nutshell!

Among some of Chong's published writings:

• “Interpreting the Self and George Herbert: Modern, Post-Modern and Biblical Options” in The Strategic Smorgasbord of Postmodernity: Literature and the Christian Critic (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007)
• Called: Discussion Guide, second study of five in the Discipleship series (Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2007)
• “Christian Education and All That Jazz” in the Christian Educators Journal (Vol. 45, No. 2, December 2005)
• A series of four articles on "Life's Big Questions" in the online journal Comment (2004 issues) published by the Work Research Foundation - read them at http://www.wrf.ca/comment/authors2.cfm?ID=25