Faithful, Available and Teachable

        Sunday my pastor preached on Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8: 26-39).  He pointed out that Philip was enjoying a fruitful growing ministry when God unexpectedly sent him to what the Bible refers to as a desolate road. 

         Sometimes it feels like that is what God has done to me (and all of you).  We were experiencing wonderful fruit in our ESL Ministries.  Our students' English was improving.  Relationships were growing.  The Gospel was flowing.  Students and their families were coming to Christ.  And then came our own desolate road named Covid-19.  Everything came to a quick halt. 

         But when God disrupts our lives (which He has surely done), it is always for a reason.  We have to trust Him with this situation.  And we must learn new ways to adapt ESL Ministry.  In Hebrews chapter 10 (The Message), we are told “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out”.

         So, with that in mind, the MNA ESL Team has been working hard learning how to “do” ESL Ministry via Zoom.  We have been brainstorming ways to connect with our students in new ways.  We have successfully found a way to do our regular ESL Volunteer Teacher Training (the one we normally do in-person on a long Friday night and all-day Saturday format) via Zoom.
             
Here are some upcoming opportunities for you:
 
These Zoom versions of the regular ESL Volunteer Teacher Training will be offered on:
              August 14 – 17
              September 11 – 14
              October 16 – 19
All of these offerings will meet in the following days & times format:
              Friday night                      6:00 pm to 9:30 pm
              Saturday morning           9:00 am to 12:30 pm
              Sunday afternoon           2:00 pm to 5:30 pm
              Monday night                  6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
All of these are Eastern time.  You need to attend all four sessions.
 
        We are limiting each training to 12 participants.  Currently there are open spots in each training.  To register, please e-mail me at nbooher@pcanet.org.  Tell me which month you would like to attend.  If these fill up quickly, we will add more trainings.

         In addition, we have had many people ask if we would do a short training for experienced ESL volunteers on how to teach their ESL Classes on Zoom.  We do have a short video on our website, www.pcamna.org/esl-ministries, on this topic.  And we have addressed it in previous editions of this newsletter.  Now we are creating a 2-hour class on how to teach ESL on Zoom.   We have scheduled two times for this training:
 
              August 27, Thursday night           6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
              August 28, Friday night                7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
                             Both of these are Eastern time. 
 
To register, please e-mail me at nbooher@pcanet.org.  If response is overwhelming, we will schedule more classes.
 
         Remember that the purpose of ESL Ministry is to reach our students (and their families) with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in both Word and Deed.  And while doing this we want to teach English very well.  We want our students to have great lives here in America.  The message of Jesus and the Cross will never change.  How we hold classes and the methods we use to teach may need to adapt to our “desolate road.”  But lets also remember that this is not our ministry.  It’s Jesus’ Ministry.  If we earnestly seek Him, He will enable us to accomplish His will of reaching the nations among us.  We just need to be faithful, available and teachable.
 
Blessings,
Nancy Booher
MNA ESL Ministries Director
nbooher@pcanet.org 
410-868-3025
www.pcamna.org/esl-ministries
 

Mission to North America
PO Box 890233
Charlotte NC 28289-0233
Designate: MNA English As A Second Language (ESL)