Since I am blogging at the moment, I thought it would be a great time to share the blessing God has visited upon us concerning the English classes we give.
In our post-modern society, often the best way to reach a person’s heart with their need of a Savior is to meet their daily physical needs. Being able to earn enough money to support a family is one of the biggest needs of the people God has brought into our lives.
In spite of what the world/U.S. media might have you believe, ENGLISH is STILL the key to financial success and success in the world market! Bolivians know that English skills will gain them a better job here, and if they go to any other country to work, being comfortable or fluent in English gives them an immediate pay raise.
So… we are in our 2nd year of offering high-quality English classes to those who want to learn. I am still re-writing the content to base the teaching more directly from the books of John and Romans. Right now we are memorizing scripture as part of our training.
We did very little advertising or promotion this year, and yet each week we add new students. And the students we have this year are working HARD and attending faithfully, even though their attendance requirements are 4 times that of the course last year. [Last year the requirement was 1 hr/wk. This year, the minimum attendance is 3-4 hrs/wk., and most are attending the extra sessions as well!]
I have had to add a “level up” session just prior to the classes so that the later enrollees can come up to speed with the rest of the class. If we gain any more new students, I will have to convert the level-up time to a class hour of its own.
These are WONDERFUL “challenges” to face!
Because we are only offering Basic English this year, we had some students who worked hard last year, who wanted a bit more of a challenge. So we created an Intensive Basic English class!
Steven teaches this class totally in English. The student are responding well and those who can’t keep up are welcome to come back to my class, where we teach in a hybrid of Spanish and English.
Now… some of you may be wondering “fine… but what does this do for the Kingdom?” Well, I will tell you, from my perspective.
First, we need to realize that not only is the post-modern world skeptical of “traditional evangelism”, Bolivians tend to be more “immune” to those traditional approaches than other cultures we know, particularly because of the betrayal they, as a people, have encountered by leaders over the centuries, and they tend to apply this skepticism to religion as well.
So the first step is to gain the trust of your congregation (those people who are drawn to you). When they trust you, they will listen to you. And then you have a chance to reach them for the Lord.
We started our English ministry with a mostly “Christian” group of people… friends we had made in the various churches with whom we have worked and participated.
But even in THAT group, last year we had 1 salvation and several confirmations of salvations!
But beyond that, out of our investment of last year and this year… we have some seminary students and graduates who want Steven to teach them more about being Servants of God/Christ!
So… we will begin a work of pure direct ministry (that is, apart from our services on Wednesday night and Sunday morning).
And this new ministry is a direct result of the investment of time and love made through the “post-modern outreach” of the English classes, which are a witness in themselves.
But I will leave the details of the GREAT BLESSING of the new class for Steven to share with you!
Thank you for your prayers and for your support. We need your prayers and partnership in order to be able to reach deeper into hearts and the community for the cause of Christ.
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