Benson and Josephine Goh

Last updated: October 14, 2024

Benson and Josephine Goh first met at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore while participating in an orientation group organized by Campus Crusade for Christ (now called Cru). 

Before coming to the university and meeting each other, Benson and Josephine each had significant moments of becoming followers of Jesus. Josephine grew up in a strong Buddhist family and did not have any opportunity to hear the gospel. “I had some Christian friends around me in school, but they have never invited me to church, never told me about Jesus Christ,” Josephine says. 

However, Josephine soon faced a major challenge that caused her to start reassessing her life and beliefs. Her father tragically died in a car accident when she was very young. “That caused me to ask tons of questions,” Josephine says. “Like, where are we heading after our time on earth? Is there such a thing as eternity? I was gripped with fear. And so because of that, I began to ask my mom lots of this question and she couldn’t answer me.” 

After her father’s passing, many of Josephine’s family members instructed her not to cry in order to be emotionally strong for her mom. Though their intentions were good, the result was detrimental to Josephine’s emotional health. “My emotional tank was kind of shut down,” she says. “So I couldn’t cry for at least three to four years.” 

Thankfully, Josephine’s missed opportunity to hear the gospel growing up was amended later in her teenage years when a Christian classmate shared the good news with her. One of the teachers in her equivalent of an American high school was a Christian who invited students to his house for a Christian meeting. Josephine attended and heard the worshippers singing the song “Let There Be Love.” “When they sang it, I was very touched and then I felt water on my cheek, and I thought there was like water dripping from the ceiling,” she says. “But then I realized it was my tears. I felt I was in the presence of someone supernatural or something supernatural.” 

Shortly after, that Christian classmate, whom she did not know, approached Josephine and shared the gospel with her using Romans 5:8. Josephine was moved by the idea that someone sacrificed himself for her sins even though she did not know him. “Who is this who died for my sins even before I know him?” she says. “And so the rest is history. That day when he shared with me the gospel was the first time I heard the gospel and I gave my life to Christ.” 

Josephine’s subsequent spiritual growth was quick, but she faced much opposition from her family because of her new faith. Her family threatened to ask her to leave and she was not invited to extended family gatherings. However, the members of her first church greatly encouraged her to endure. After starting at Nanyang Technological University, she quickly became involved in Campus Crusade, which fostered the continuation of her discipleship and formation through learning basic Christian beliefs and practices. Not only so, but she met her future husband and partner in ministry, Benson. 

Benson grew up in a family that was much more receptive to Christianity. In contrast to Josephine’s family, he had five older siblings who had already become Christians. “They set the pace and the stage as well,” he says. “And so, I became a Christian having acknowledged that I know I really needed God.” 

However, during his teenage years, Benson’s life was marked by a failed friendship. The unfortunate falling out left a negative impact on his life. He was still experiencing the pain of this loss when he attended a gospel rally in Singapore. A message about the second coming of Jesus moved his heart. “The character and person of Jesus made me realize that I shouldn’t give up on people,” he says. “But here is a God who has chosen to give his life for me. And, so I’ve decided that if he were to do that for me, the more I should reciprocate and respond.” 

He says that his entire outlook on life changed after that moment. “Learning how to forgive became one of the first lessons as a Christian for me,” Benson says. Soon after, his parents also became Christians. 

Benson and Josephine were both involved in Campus Crusade during their college years. After her initial training, Josephine began boldly sharing the gospel with her classmates and seeing many of them come to faith in Jesus. When she reached her final year at university, she began to wrestle with the tension of her business degree and her newfound passion for ministry. However, a mission trip to Taiwan clarified her calling from the Lord. “The Lord opened my eyes to see, wow, the harvest is plentiful, but the labors are so few,” she says. “So that was when I decided to surrender my future and really submit to the Lordship of Christ and his calling for me.” 

This surrender came at a great price. As the first graduate in her tribe, it was very difficult for her to answer her family’s questions regarding why she was not going into the corporate world to potentially earn much money.  

“I went through a very hard, hard time then,” Josephine says. “But by the grace of God, the Lord delivered me time and again through that difficult season. So, I also joined staff with Campus Crusade in Singapore.”  

In due time, she saw the fruit of ministering in this context. She witnessed what she describes as a small revival that took place during her time with Campus Crusade. “A little glimpse of how when God’s people come together, seek his face, turn from our wicked ways, His blessing, His healing comes on our campus,” she says. 

Benson’s discernment of a call to ministry was not as difficult as Josephine’s, by his admission. After his father died suddenly from illness, Benson began to realize that there was something more to life than simply making a living. His mother had already seen him commit many hours to Campus Crusade and go on several mission trips. “To the extent that I think she’s realizing that her son’s not going to be an engineer anytime,” Benson says. 

However, he did have an internal obstacle to cross to accept this call to ministry. “The hurdle is more myself as well as what I hold dear in life and to be willing to place all of that in God’s hand,” Benson says, “The hurdle was more of God asking me a question: are you willing to surrender your whole life, everything that matters in it, to me, to trust me to hold that for you and to plan all that for you rather than doing it in your own strength and doing it in your own will?” 

That was the test for Benson. Once he said yes, he felt his path straighten and his purpose in life became more clear. One of the next major steps in that path was to gain greater theological education. After getting married and serving with Campus Crusade for many years, Benson and Josephine began their respective roles at the East Asia School of Theology (EAST). Benson started studying for his M.Div. degree and eventually became a teacher’s assistant. Josephine helped out with the Partners in Ministry program which sought to equip the spouses of seminary students. 

Toward the end of his time earning his M.Div. degree, Benson reached another point of having to make a decision about his next steps. He started working at EAST as Operations Director, largely to remain close to his professors and to hopefully continue gaining theological knowledge and guidance. He began to see the Lord for what would be next. “I especially asked God, what would he have me do for the next 20 years if I have 20 more years to serve him full time?” Benson says. “And the picture shows up about the need for Asians who rise up to take on our own responsibility for theological education. So that probably ignited a spark in me to want to be on that journey.” 

Benson applied to Asbury Seminary for the Ph.D. program and was surprised to be accepted. He and Josephine came to the U.S. and moved into residential housing in Kalas Village on the Kentucky Campus. “We were there for six and a half years,” Josephine says. “It’s a long time, but that period of our lives we would always say that it’s one of the greatest highlights in our journey with the Lord.” Josephine originally saw her role as helping Benson get his degree, but she would soon discover a path of her own at Asbury Seminary.  

Before their time at Asbury Seminary, tragedy struck Benson and Josephine’s lives. Their firstborn child, Samuel, died only five days after being born due to lung failure. “It was a valley season of our lives as well,” Josephine says. “But, long story short, I think I encountered the Lord’s healing grace just going through the grieving process.” Josephine describes Samuel as “the hero of our family.” 

During the preceding season after Samuel’s passing, Josephine found healing and comfort in works on Christian spiritual formation. “One of those things that God used to help me in my healing process was the writings of Henri Nouwen, Eugene Peterson, C. S. Lewis on the problem of pain and some of this. So, I began to be really interested in this whole field of spiritual formation that is totally new to me.” 

Through the pain of losing a child and the subsequent slow healing process, Josephine discovered a new aspect of her calling. When she and Benson came to the Seminary, she discovered there were classes in Spiritual Formation. “Before Asbury came into the picture, I told the Lord, if there’s opportunity to further equip in this area, spiritual formation, You show me,” she says. “So it was when I was updating the classes I realized, oh, the Lord remembered.” She began to audit spiritual formation classes at the Seminary and eventually worked toward an M.A. in Spiritual Formation.  

Benson, Josephine and their family experienced an enriching time at Asbury Seminary. They both remember fondly the professors who greatly influenced both their education and spiritual growth. They relished the opportunity to gain all they could while at the Seminary. “All of this adds up to a wonderful experience that helps us to bring this Spirit of excellence as well as the taste of humility of a teacher, all with the aim of equipping a new generation of ministers,” Benson says.  

After completing their degrees, Benson and Josephine went back to Singapore to teach and serve at EAST. As resident faculty, they are using their knowledge and life experience to equip Asian ministers to spread the gospel throughout Asia. “I think our current mission remains unchanged and that is, while we have time, to trust the Lord to raise Christ-like servant leaders for the Great Commission,” Benson says. “I think the harvest is still plentiful in Asia, but the laborers are few.” 

As Benson equips future church leaders in the classroom and serves as Associate Dean of Academics, Josephine provides spiritual direction and guidance to pastors, such as those in countries in which persecution is a threat and who are at risk of burnout. “I think we just want to trust the Lord to raise the Joshua generation,” Josephine says. “And the young people who have given their life to Christ, equip them not just in the head knowledge, but their heart formation.”