Today, to celebrate our third anniversary, we have the founder of TCKs for Christ with us! Welcome!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the different cultures you are part of?
Sure! But I won’t reveal my name as I wish to be kept anonymous. I’m an adult TCK, currently in my late 20s, and the helpmeet to my husband who is also an adult TCK. We hope to labor in missions in an unreached country (maybe Japan), Lord willing, in His time.
I was born in Singapore, then moved to South Korea when I was five due to my dad’s job. It was there that I came to know the Lord and He saved me. After living there for four years, my family moved to China, where we also stayed for four years before repatriating to Singapore.
I completed my high school and university in Singapore, then moved to the Czech Republic. It was there that I started to be heavily involved in ministries and realized the Lord’s leading towards missions. After two years in the Czech Republic, my family repatriated to Singapore where I’m currently abiding.
I’m married to a man who was born in the US and grew up in South Sudan and Uganda – this has made our cultures more interesting, more complicated, yet more simple because we often don’t consciously link the other’s behavior to a specific culture. Instead, we see it as part of the other’s individual mannerisms.
What made you want to start TCKs for Christ?
The lack of support, a support that’s rooted in the Bible, for Christian TCKs – and this is not only for MKs, this covers all other types of TCKs such as those from business, diplomat, military, immigration, and unique family cultures that are born from transnational marriages.
Before I discovered the term Third Culture Kid, I thought that I was the only one facing challenges from being uprooted numerous times, and I thought I was the only non-MK because the few support groups I encountered were solely for MKs. On top of that, it was challenging to find support that I could access from my geographic location.
But because of the lack of support and accessibility to support, the Lord stirred my heart to pray that He could use me to reach out to at least one Christian TCK who was in the same position as me. This led to the birth of the email ministry TCK Letters several years later from my personal blog, which then brought about TCKs for Christ. You can find out more about how TCKs for Christ began by clicking here and scrolling down to “How we got started.”
If you could change anything from the beginning of TCKs for Christ, what would you change?
Nothing! The journey wasn’t perfect of course, haha. Every bump, roadblock, and sanctification brought the ministry to where it is now – praise God! Apart from that, I guess one thing I would want to change about myself is to serve the team more, as they’re like a TCK family to me and the Lord blessed me so much through them. Although I tried to spend time with the individuals in the team, I wish I’d set aside website work more often to serve them more as siblings in Christ.
What are the most valuable lessons you learned starting TCKs for Christ?
Having the humility to serve the team. Looking back, I’m reminded that I was not only reaching out to readers but also primarily to the team.
Are you still active in ministry for TCKs?
I left TCKs for Christ in mid-2023 due to the Lord leading me into a new season of life, which involved chronic health issues and my husband courting me. I still miss and pray for the team. In a way, the ministry served not only TCKs outside the team but also the team members themselves.
What ministry are you currently active in?
Due to my physical health, I withdrew from almost all ministries I was part of, but there was one thing that remained that the Lord enabled me to use – writing. Though I can’t generate several articles in a month anymore, I can write short chunks. I’m in the Diamonds community, a ministry for Christians with chronic illness. When I’m physically and mentally able to, I draft and share a short series of posts called “Attributes of God” with the ladies in the ministry. But since getting married, my husband has become my primary ministry!
What have you learned in dating someone from a foreign country?
Being intentional and humble are a couple of lessons I’ve learned. During my courtship with my husband, I had to be intentional in communicating and spending time with him, especially since it was long distance and we were both in different time zones. This reflects my walk with Christ – I need to be intentional in prayer, His word, worship, and choosing Him over sin.
Second, be humble and do not focus on myself, but rather on the other person, to understand matters from their view in order to figure out how to better serve and encourage them in Christ. Being humble also means accepting the blessings from the very person whom the Lord has led me to. For example, I often rely on myself, but my husband points out that I can lean on him – just as I can lean on the Lord.
What Bible verse/s have encouraged you in your various transitions?
Oof, it’s difficult to choose because there are many. Here are a few of them:
“I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”
Isaiah 45:2–3 KJV
“But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”
Psalm 3:3 KJV
“And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”
Isaiah 46:4 KJV
“Jesus wept.”
John 11:35 KJV
We’re continually learning about ourselves and processing our childhoods. What is the most recent thing you’ve been learning about yourself as an ATCK, and how have you been processing it?
One thing that stood out to me recently was how much the Lord has taught me through my TCK life and how that has encouraged me in my chronic illness journey. My earthly body is not my home, my health is not my identity, and my health will always be changing unexpectedly and unknowingly. Sound familiar?
The Lord reminded me that He is my home and one day He will create a new body for me. Christ is my identity and nothing else should take the place of Him. The Lord never changes, He is sovereign and faithful, and He is one step ahead of me when I can’t see.
Due to sin in the world and us still living in our sin-prone flesh, all of us have baggage in our lives, including myself. One of the heaviest pieces of baggage is my CPTSD. It frustrates me often that I can’t seem to completely heal from it. However, I have kept learning and being reminded that I need to give my baggage to the Lord; and while the side effects may remain, I can rest in Him that He’ll carry all of me through, including my baggage.
And now I’d like to say something specifically to the team:
Dear team, life on earth will get harder. But whatever season you’re in currently, even if you have stopped moving, the lessons God taught us in the past are still reliable because they’re from His Word, and our Lord is always true. He remains who He is regardless of the country we’re in, our trauma, thoughts, and emotions. As you write, support, and serve each other in this ministry, I pray that the Lord will continue to use it to encourage you in Him. I love you, but the Lord loves you most.
Very Sincerely Yours,
You-know-who ❤
tcksforchrist.com 
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