Meet Trinity Alumni and CRU West Director, Ed Surrey

Ed Surrey says he knew within a couple of weeks of becoming a Christian that he was going to tell people about Jesus for the rest of his life. 

Growing up just south of London, Ed had the privilege of being taught about the gospel from a very young age by his parents and through their local church, but the turning point for him came while he was at university.

Facing Death and Finding Life

“My father got diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of an orange,” Ed explains. “And for the first time I had to confront death. The way he was dying really commended Jesus to me as not just turning your funeral into a slightly happier thing, but actually a way to live and to die.”

After working as a maths teacher in England for a couple of years, Ed and his wife moved to Perth for what they thought would be a one-year adventure before they headed back to England to study at Bible college—but God had other plans.

An Unexpected Detour 

Ed ended up doing an apprenticeship through their church,  St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in Shenton Park, and in 2011 he started studying his Master of Divinity at Trinity. After graduating, Ed worked at a church back in England for a few years before the opportunity arose to take on the role of Director of CRU West in Perth, which he has been doing now since 2020.

Despite having originally planned to go back to the UK to undertake theological studies, Ed says there were a number of different reasons why Trinity became a compelling option.

Why Trinity?

One reason was that every current student and graduate he had spoken to at the time spoke very highly of Trinity. He also knew lecturers through church circles, and he held them in high regard.

“They were men and women I trusted, and it was also the fact that they were training you for ministry, not for a degree,” Ed says. “They want to see people come to maturity in Christ—so they want to equip people for that.”

Ed explains that the pastoral care he received during his time at Trinity confirmed that he’d made the right decision. As an example of that, he recalls the support he felt from the College when his wife was due with their third child during exam week, and lecturers told him right from the outset that he could be sitting his exam early if he needed to.

A Lasting Connection

Now that it’s been more than a decade since he graduated, Ed says one of the highlights of his time at Trinity is actually the long-term friendships he made during that time. Four or five times a year, he meets up with about 10 others from his cohort.

“Many of us have now been demoted to leadership, so we spend longer praying than we used to,” Ed laughs. “Obviously there are still different viewpoints, because we’re serving in different denominations, but it’s lovely to journey together, because we all experienced the same thing at Trinity.”

Ed is still quite involved with Trinity, more than 10 years post-graduation. On a personal level, he’s currently teaching a Trinity at Night course, and he’ll be speaking at a chapel service later this year. He’s also a trustee, so he attends the AGM each year. 

On a bigger scale, Ed sees the relationship between Trinity and CRU as a significant one.

“I would like Trinity to be bigger in 20 years time because more kids are more aware of how much Jesus loves them,” Ed shares. “ I want to make sure that I’m giving back to Trinity.  I want to be able to take the input they gave me and continue to share that, however broken and frail that may be.”

Because he believes that the quality of Trinity students and graduates is very high, Ed would also love to see more Trinity students take up opportunities at CRU, such as writing good, clear, simple Bible studies for teenagers, or giving a Bible talk at a camp for primary school-aged kids.

According to Ed, Trinity does what it says it will do—equip people for effective Chrsitan ministry. 

“You will know and see Jesus in such a way that you’ll be desperate for others to know him too.”

Please pray for Ed in his ministry at CRU. Ask God to help CRU form deep partnerships with churches and schools, and pray for wisdom as Ed seeks to make strategic decisions for the organisation moving forward.