Can an overseas ministry really care?

Living in France, I have been benefiting from TFT’s amazing remote ministry for a year now. I received so much great help and comfort from the organisation that I had to be careful not to get too used to this, but to keep looking for fellowship closer to home. Being cared for by a remote ministry got me wondering about God’s ministry to us. Is it a near or a remote one?

Welcomed to TFT

In summer 2020, I was lost and shaken in my faith, as I struggled with strong sexual temptations. Knowing too well how sin gets comfortable in the darkness, I knew I had to bring this struggle into the light and talk to someone. My battle was so intimate and unusual that I really wanted to talk to someone who could actually relate to me, and point me to Christ. I found TFT’s ministry through a book I was reading at the time. It was such perfect timing that I knew that only God could have led me to find it.

With TFT, I found a community of people living with the same struggles as me, who all wanted to honour Christ and walk the path of purity. I joined in with online conferences I could never have been able to attend if they were held in person. I joined an online book club, where I found trustworthy women who cared for each other, and to whom I could openly share my temptations. There was also a Facebook group for women where we could share some thoughts, articles and videos, and send prayer requests. The TFT women’s worker was also always available for a text or video chat on WhatsApp if needed. 

It was amazing to see how God’s family knew no borders. I was experiencing His stunning plan of forming a community of people from all nations.

Getting too comfortable

The danger was, I felt so comfortable that I was not seeking to share the same love and support with my local church family anymore. Instead, I was happy sharing with people remotely, and then I could also avoid sharing with people who were nearer to me.

I did not have to confess my sins to people who were close to me anymore. I could share some of my sins with my remote family and hide other sins that were just as ugly. From far away, apart from our common struggle, we all seemed perfect and holy. We had no opportunity to forgive, no opportunity to bear with one another, no opportunity to love when we are difficult to love:

“Bear with each other and forgive one another… And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:13-14)

By living as the Church only through remote ministry, we don’t fully live as the Church in the way God intended.

When I was going through the COVID crisis, and we were in our third lockdown in France, I could not meet up with my local church. The UK was lightening the restrictions, and people could finally start meeting. People from TFT who were living close to each other in the UK began to make plans to meet up again. It made me feel sad and lonely, and I also started longing to meet the people with whom I had been forming a remote family for a year.

Like the Apostle Paul, when he was away from the Thessalonians, I felt orphaned, and I wanted to see my family again, both the remote one and the close one:

“But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you.” (1 Thessalonians 2:17)

It was so hard not to see, not to touch, not to laugh, not to cry with my fellow Christians. I understood that although I could get comfort, love, support and even encouragement from afar, I also really needed people close to me with whom I could share, cry, pray and grow in Christ.

Paul could not leave the Thessalonians alone for so long. Later in the letter, he finally sent Timothy to encourage and strengthen the Christians:

“We sent Timothy… to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials.” (1 Thessalonians 3:2-3)

Just like the Thessalonians, we also need a close ministry to strengthen and encourage us in our faith, so we can stand firm in trials when the devil comes whispering lies in our ears.

Jesus came close

But Paul was just a follower of Christ, as we should all be. Did not Christ leave His glory, descended from heaven to become flesh for us, so He could closely minister to us? And because He gave himself away for us, because of His death, we can now closely approach God’s throne. 

And now that Christ is risen, sitting at the right hand of God in the heavenly realms (Hebrews 12:2), He gave us His Spirit, so that from far, He is still close. 

I am so grateful for TFT; both the organisation and the people have helped me tremendously in a time of greatest need and sorrow. As I need multiple brothers and sisters in my life to bring out different and less apparent sins in me, I will continue to attend TFT conferences and regular online meetings because I also need brothers and sisters who can relate to the specific struggles TFT helps me deal with. 

As the in-person fellowship is also really important, I need to stop making excuses not to reach out to my local church family. I need to stop believing the lie that I don’t need people close to me. If COVID taught me anything, it is that I was not called to be alone. I am meant to form a body with my fellow Christians: 

“So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12.5)

I cannot easily run if my left foot is in one place and my right in another. 

So, I’ll intentionally take part in my local church gatherings, and intentionally reach out regularly to brothers and sisters close to me because I need them. 

One of my pastors said:

“’Para-church’ exists for the local church. They are not on equal footing despite having some overlapping qualities. As long as your ‘remote ministry’ helps you live more effectively a Christian life in your immediate context within your local body of believers, the ‘para-church’ is doing its job.”

If the remote ministry serves its purpose well, it’s a blessing to have both a remote and a close ministry just like we have the Father (in heaven), the Son (who came down) and the Holy Spirit (who lives in us). The Trinity work together, both remotely and closely, so that we can progress in being blameless and holy in his sight. 

This story was originally published in the autumn 2021 edition of the TFT magazine, Ascend, under the title "Do you remotely care for me?". Click the button below to download your copy.