Rev. Mitchell Young, a fourth-generation Chinese American, was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He claims to be among the first generation of pastors born into the United Church of Christ (UCC) as the UCC. He grew up in the peaceful neighborhood of Kaimuki, East Honolulu, raised in the Kaimuki Evangelical Church, UCC and graduated from Kalani High School in 1979.

 

He graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1984 (B.A., Drama &Theatre) and from Fuller Theological Seminary (M.Div., Christian Formation and Discipleship) in 1989. Before entering the pastorate, he served a 3-year mission in Thailand through the Presbyterian Church (USA), serving in their Departments of Education and Evangelism.  

 

Rev. Young served his first two pastorates in the Hawaii Conference UCC as associate pastor of The Community Church of Honolulu, UCC (1994-1996) and then as pastor of Hanapepe UCC (1997-2005), during which time he was ordained in the Kauai Association UCC in 1998, married Nitaya Luckanavonaporn of Chiangmai, Thailand in 2001 and together welcomed the birth of their daughter Natasha in 2003. 

 

Since 2005, Rev. Young has been serving as senior pastor of Montebello Plymouth Congregational Church, a historically Japanese American, now multiracial, multicultural UCC church in Montebello, California. 

 

Rev. Young’s other training and experience includes Clinical Pastoral Education, Interim Ministers Network training, hospital and police chaplaincy. He has coordinated several multi-church pulpit exchanges on Kauai and in Los Angeles. One of his passions is for multicultural and multilingual diversity and has helped express “God is still speaking,” and “A Just World for All” in a variety of languages spoken in the UCC. He is also an active member of the Pacific Islander and Asian American Ministries (PAAM) and has served as editor of PAAM Sunday liturgy for several years. Rev. Young and spouse Nitaya also enjoy crafting multicultural clerical stoles.