Source: https://dribbble.com/shots/8750553-Hindsight-2020
I am not new to teaching ESL, nor am I new to coordinating programs of outreach ministries in this and other communities, but in 2023 I was recently new to retirement and seeking the Lord for a volunteer area in which I could be actively involved. Through circumstances I can only believe as divinely orchestrated, I became aware of our church needing to urgently find a new coordinator for the ESL ministry. By urgently, I mean that day!! Prayer and the Lord prevailed, because with no time to give it rationale thought, I knew the Lord was nudging me to assist in the role.
All my educational skills, knowledge and experience, came together in one brief moment…… my training as a teacher; my twenty two years of teaching ESL students in the UK, together with language arts and reading programs to children and adults throughout the UK and three Canadian provinces, including remedial language work on Canada’s east coast, teaching families from China in Vancouver prior to Hong Kong reverting to Chinese rule, and lastly, the twenty years of working in a not-for-profit organization, overseeing and managing programs that served a community demographic of marginalized people. It appeared the writing on the wall from the Lord was in that one brief moment in 2023.
The clarity and need heightened as students kept returning to the ESL classes each week and the church leadership kept repeating the ministry was so important to them to continue in our community neighbourhood. I believed I was reasonably well prepared…… but there were four things I did not fully appreciate in taking on this ministry…. and I learned them fast in the first few weeks, to make them part of the daily practice! My 20/20 hindsight allows me to share those four things with you now, to embrace your situation should you find yourself encountering similar circumstances.
Firstly, the church leadership needs to have a working insight of the ESL ministry as it operates in their church community. Regular communication (conversations, report submission, email cc’s, attendance at prayer and staff meetings etc.) between the ESL coordinator and the pastorate, both before and after the transition can bring this about. The group leaders who are teaching on the ground floor are, themselves, looking for guidance in a difficult situation of transition, and, if volunteers, they are unlikely to have a full understanding of the quantity of work of the ministry coordinator.
Secondly, also from the church leadership, an honest show of support for a new ESL coordinator is crucial. Again, as was my situation, bringing a new and/or different vision for the ESL ministry from that which may have existed before, needs to be supported to be effective; this is also a result of good communication between ESL coordinator and pastorate. This promotes an ongoing positive culture of the ministry and avoids resistance from long-standing members (whether group leaders, students or support staff) who have known only one way of doing things. Any change mid- program year is a big challenge and one that needs the hand of God holding it up through prayer.
Thirdly, part of the supportive prayer aspect of change in an ESL program is the inevitable use of resources. Over a lengthy time period, the source of resources can become stayed, albeit tried and true. And while such resources may be valuable and continue to be used, many additional resources grow-up and become available. CESLM was one such resource that I can share with the students and leaders in our ministry, that we are part of something much bigger than just our group. Both students and group leaders alike are pleased to know they have a connection in the Christian community for ESL ministry.
Lastly, and I believe most importantly….. the people the Lord is bringing to our church for ESL, bring a depth of living that is increasingly causing us to wonder at God’s handiwork in the lives of those in our urban community. I think I speak for all our church community, of how intensely we are moved in hearing individuals’ stories of their journey to Canada and their endeavor to navigate the Canadian lifestyle. It has been one of the most penetrating lessons for my ministry partners and I, to hear such stories, from people of a different faith, yet openly sharing the constraints of their religion, some of whom were sponsored Christian individuals, persecuted and traumatized in the treatment received in their transition to Canada; alongside even those who have been long-time residents of Canada, and are seeking a ‘home-on-the-corner’ to gather and make new friends.
CESLM is a true support; there to assist, pray and encourage all of us in ministering to God’s children from all over the world, right here in our own backyard.
May we be encouraged as we approach our work with the attitude of Colossians 1:18, ‘In all things He must have preeminence’.
Dianne Petersen
