As Christians, we all know about Christ’s Great Commission to his followers, to go and make disciples of all nations. As the former Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said:

It is the whole business of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.

However, if we are Christian English teachers, many of us may not see ourselves in the ‘traditional’ missionary mold. Answering a call to go overseas to share the gospel is not possible for everyone, particularly in times of pandemic.

We can use ESOL as gospel outreach right where we are

The good news is that we have a real opportunity to get involved in Christian outreach right on our doorstep. This is because in most English-speaking countries there has been a steady flow of migrants arriving to live, work or study.

We have the opportunity to share the love of Christ with them through teaching of English as a second language. In this new course, we will demonstrate how you can reach others through English language teaching.

Specifically, this course will look at how you can:

• do this practically, through serving
• do this relationally, through getting alongside others and introducing Jesus to them
• engage the whole church with a vision to reach internationals, welcoming them into our lives
• build a team to support your ESOL project, making it sustainable for the long term
• encourage the whole team to work together to build relationships with your learners beyond the classroom

We’ll use real-word examples and your own experiences

Through case studies and action ideas, we look how churches are responding to the challenge of taking gospel ministry to internationals in the COVID pandemic. We will also begin to plan for what outreach might looks like in 2021 and into the future.

You’ll have the opportunity to examine your current ESOL programme. However, if you are just at the planning stage and thinking about stepping out in faith we can help give you ideas to develop your own programme. As a result, we can all share the hope that we have in Jesus.

The short ESOL Outreach course forms part of our Zoom-based Spotlight series.

The course workshop take place over Zoom and is for anyone involved in ESOL outreach, so it’s a great opportunity to learn, whether you are the project co-ordinator, volunteer teacher, or just helping out with teas and coffees, and providing a warm greeting at the (virtual) or real door. Join, share and network with others from different churches, or bring your ESOL church group together and take advantage of specialist training and support from Christian TEFL.

As churches prayerfully consider what outreach will look like in 2021, join us to see how we can help bring others to Christ through English language teaching.

We look forward to welcoming you online!