Reintroducing TIF

TIF stands for Tenth International Fellowship. Many of you may have heard about TIF but probably not all of you know what TIF is about even though it has been a ministry of Tenth for over 60 years.

Core Values of TIF

TIF’s core values are community, outreach, and discipleship (COD). All the activities that TIF does are around these core values. We want to reach out to the internationals that God has brought to our doorstep here in Philadelphia with the good news of salvation. We want to disciple them with the word of God, teaching them to observe all that our Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us. And we want to provide a community of believers for them as they are far away from home.

What are some of our activities?

We have a multinational worship service meeting on Sundays at 11 AM in Fellowship Hall. At this service we pray in different languages, allowing great interaction between people from many nations. We have an ESL program on Friday nights (in the catacombs) and Sunday morning (at 315 S 17th Street), in which a group of tutors teaches the students English, American culture and the Bible. We have a network of Bible studies meeting in different parts of the city every day of the week. We have ESL Bible studies on the campuses of Temple University and University of Pennsylvania. Throughout the year, we have various events and celebrations that are opportunities for outreach and engagement.

How can you get involved at TIF?

As you can easily notice, we have a great influx of internationals in America and in Philadelphia in particular. We feel very privileged to have various universities that attract students from all over the world. If you ever felt a desire to participate in missions but never had the opportunity to go overseas, the good news for you is that God has brought the nations to us, and part of the mission of TIF is to provide members of Tenth opportunities to engage in missions right here in Philadelphia reaching out to internationals.

All the activities listed above are ways to engage with Internationals. You can partner with us as we do outreach, disciple, and provide community for internationals here at Tenth. You can email me at eleal@tenth.org if you want more information about our activities or if you want to know how to get involved.

The story of Yang H

Last, I want to share with you the testimony of one of our internationals that today is a Tenth member and serves at TIF as an intern reaching out to internationals in our ESL Temple University Bible study. Yang’s story is one of many stories of people who have been impacted by TIF throughout the years of TIF’s existence. Many internationals have heard the gospel from people at TIF, leaders and members of Tenth. Some of these internationals are still with us here at Tenth, as is the case of Yang, but many of them are back in their country of origin today, where they bring the gospel with them as the most important event in their lives.

This is Yang’s story:

Yang H came to U.S. as a visiting scholar at the School of Law at Temple University in September 2010. With the recommendation of a Tenth member in the law school, in 2011 he began to attend the TIF ESL program and became a follower through that program. Later on, he was baptized at TIF in July 2012. Soon after he became a believer, he received a sense of calling from God. However, he went back to China in September 2012 to continue his doctoral program there. At that time, he was attending an international church, Beijing International Christian Fellowship, until December 2013. He left that church for a family church to seek clear guidance from God for his calling. After two years of struggling, he confirmed the call from God in 2014 and became a M.Div. student at Westminster Seminary. During all these years, from the time when he became a believer to the time that he came back as a seminarian, TIF kept in close touch with him. Now he serves as an intern in TIF and leads a small group that consists of visiting scholars at Temple University, the place where he was converted and called by God. 

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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Enrique Leal. © 2024 Tenth Presbyterian Church. Website: tenth.org