#WeAreCERC ft. Joshua Tay | Our Stories | Christ Evangelical Reformed Church (CERC)

Our Stories

#WeAreCERC ft. Joshua Tay

Posted on 15 Oct 2019 by CERC


Debate champion, Imperial College London engineering graduate, teacher, consultant, river rescuer, Joshua Tay. Once you get to know Joshua, you’ll find that he has a wide array of talents and experiences.

Joshua received scholarships for A-Level programmes in private colleges in Malaysia and also for his undergraduate degree at Imperial College London.

“Being at Imperial was deeply humbling, as I realised I was amongst some of the world’s brightest! My time at Imperial developed a strong foundation in quantitative & qualitative analysis and resourcefulness.”

As the Head of River Safety for White Water Summer Camp (WWSC), Joshua develops and establishes the standards for river safety, and as a member of CERC, he crunches the financial numbers for the Fundraising and Finance departments, and even writes copies for newsletters!

“I am thankful for the education and exposure I have received because that has allowed me to better serve across a range of needs in church. My work and education have equipped me well to learn, understand and solve problems quickly even though I may have little to no prior experience in dealing with said matters. I view this gift as a means to better serve.”

Upon graduation, Joshua was selected by cabinet ministers of Malaysia for a chance to work with the Minister of Works. He then joined Teach for Malaysia as a Fellow, where he was posted to Pulau Ketam to teach History and English for 2 years while obtaining a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the Northern University of Malaysia.

Joshua knows deeply how instrumental education has been in setting him up for life. Despite having worked as a Senior Associate in a global investment holding company, Joshua definitely still has a heart for his first love — teaching.

“I used to think that education was the means by which I will help save Malaysia – I actually wanted to be the Minister of Education one day. But my understanding of education is now grounded in the fact that a solid education would prepare a person to firstly, read the Bible, and next, to think critically about what it says about who God is and who the person is in relation to God. One would then have to make a conclusion about what to do with that knowledge. This, to me, is the foundation of education.”