Read the previous two articles (here and here) to understand more about the risks and challenges of studying abroad

If you are considering studying abroad, I advise you to study abroad because you want to grow in faith. Studying abroad is an excellent opportunity to grow and mature in faith.

By the grace of God, I had the opportunity to study abroad, and looking back, I see that the past few years of studying abroad have been pivotal in my journey of faith.

Making faith your own

First and foremost, studying abroad lets you truly take ownership of your faith.

We are relatively blessed in Singapore, where many of us do not need to travel long distances to get to church. Some youths studying abroad pay S$100+ each weekend to travel 2.5 hours to church.

Yet, each time you embark on this journey, it’s a proclamation not just to God but to yourself as well, how much your faith means to you. When you must pay a higher price to go to church, you learn to treasure it more.

It’s a reminder of how much our faith means to us, and how far we are willing to go for the sake of our faith.

As shared above, the difficulties of living abroad and having no family around us to immediately turn to help us build up our personal relationship with God.

A global TJC family

True Jesus Church is a global family. God's grand building project encompasses so much more than what we see in our local churches or in Singapore.

It’s easy for us to become complacent when we stay in our local church. Seeing TJCs worldwide is eye-opening and allows us to learn from the good examples set by many other members and youths all over the world.

This helps us to realise how lacking we are and how much more there is for us to learn, but at the same time, we can also better appreciate the strengths of our own local church which we may have previously taken for granted.

When I visited Newcastle church, it felt like it lived and breathed evangelism. The church as a whole and youths individually were all so zealous in preaching the gospel.

The church had an evangelism planning group that anyone could join, and this group would meet every Sunday afternoon to pray and plan for evangelism matters. During the tea break, all their sharings centred around preaching the gospel. You can feel the sense of commission among the members.

In Europe, various members travel hours to get to church. Many churches are small and have few members, and youths as young as 16 begin training to teach RE or speak sermons. University youths often travelled with church workers to help pioneering churches in other European countries.

In the US, there is much emphasis on fasting and prayer. The default is fasting for breakfast in any church training course. As a result, the youths are prayerful, having been trained to turn to God in deep, long prayers whenever they face any challenges in their lives. The mindset of members and youths in the UK towards the doctrines has left a deep impression on me. I previously thought our articles of faith are mainly to preach to non-believers, but I could not have been more wrong!

Our beliefs are as relevant to us each day as to people outside. Many churches in the UK have "doctrine fellowship" weekly or monthly, where members strengthen their understanding of and conviction in the truth. I have learnt so much from the mindset of the members in the UK in contending for the faith.

In small prayer houses, sometimes there are only two sermon speakers who alternate every week, on top of leading other fellowships and teaching RE. Yet, you will never see them complaining or "burning out"; instead, they are always joyfully serving the Lord.

The list can keep going on and on. The point is: it's really edifying to visit our brothers and sisters all over the world, and even more so to worship and serve in another TJC somewhere else in the world for an extended time. (Although please do come back to Singapore and share all that you have learnt with the youths here).

"Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” (Genesis 28:15)

Reflection Questions:

• What is the state of my faith now? How independent am I in my faith?

• Why am I going overseas? To experience the world, to go to a top University? Or because I want to learn from the churches and the youths there, to continue to grow in faith and in the grace of God?