Kim Wilson said she can’t pick just one.
They’re all wonderful, she said. And they all have great stories.
“Every student that we’ve had has been special,” Wilson said of Conversation Café, an English as a Second Language (ESL) class held regularly at her church — College Park Baptist Church, Mobile.
A 17-year-old exchange student from Japan is one of those.
“She’s not a believer, and we’ve been working with her trying to share the gospel with her,” Wilson said. “She stands out in my mind. We will continue to pray that the Lord will continue to work in her life.”
Another lady from China comes “just because she’s lonely,” Wilson said. “She doesn’t have any family or friends here and she needs that fellowship.”
Another, an au pair from France, comes to the class to improve her English so she can do her job better with English speakers back in France.
For all the students, it’s a safe place to go, she said.
“Their faces light up because our people hug them and ask how their week has been, and they open up and smile,” Wilson said.
And College Park Baptist’s Conversation Café is just 1 of 7 ESL programs in the area welcoming students weekly as part of Mobile Baptist Association’s International Language School (ILS).
The school, directed by Wilson, has been going strong since 1981, doing ministry based on relationships, she said.
Thomas Wright, executive director of missions for Mobile Association, agreed.
“More than 50 caring teachers build relationships while meeting an important need to help internationals become functional or fluent in English,” he said. “Students often ask why our teachers donate their time and skill to help.”
That gives teachers an opportunity to share how the love of Jesus impacts their lives, Wright said.
“The schools are labor intensive but can make an eternal difference in the life of each student and teacher,” he said.
And the seven participating Baptist churches in Mobile — College Park; Crawford; Airport Boulevard; Spring Hill; First, Tillman’s Corner; 3Circle and Dauphin Way — are invested in building those life-changing kinds of relationships by meeting a practical need, he said.
It’s a great way to reach out to the 68 language groups in the Mobile area, Wright said.
Wilson agreed.
“ESL is such a unique ministry,” she said.
Some people come, for example, because they have arrived in the United States with engineering degrees but not enough English proficiency to get a job, she said. Others just want to be able to build a normal life in Alabama.
Between the seven sites, there are eight meeting times available for students to attend ILS. There also are different proficiency levels that they can join, Wilson said.
Many of the sites have classes that offer in-depth work on sentence structure and grammar. Many also offer citizenship class help and practice sessions for TOEFL, the standardized Test of English as a Foreign Language that prospective students have to take before enrolling in a university in the U.S.
Informal classes
But at College Park’s Conversation Café, the classes are informal and focused strictly on helping them speak clearly, Wilson said.
“We help them with their proficiency and pronouncing words correctly, as well as helping with conversation techniques,” she said. “We also try to do cooking projects, crafts and sometimes special things like manicures and pedicures. We try to do things that are a little bit different but that make them feel special.”
For more information, visit mobilebaptists.org/international-language-school.
Tips for starting a Literacy Missions ministry
1. Contact the state literacy missions coordinator, Kristy Kennedy, at kkennedy@alsbom.org or 334-613-2311 to discuss starting an ESL ministry.
2. Enlist prayer support.
3. Obtain church or associational approval.
4. Select a literacy missions program director or literacy missions committee.
5. Secure funding for training and materials.
6. Train volunteers.
Possible positions in Literacy Missions
- Prayer warrior
- Director
- Assistant director
- Teacher/tutor
- Substitute teacher/tutor
- Teacher’s/tutor’s aide
- Nursery worker
- Furnish refreshments
- Serve refreshments
- Transportation/van driver
- Clerical duties/finance duties
- Fundraising
Share with others: