Over the past couple months, I've been honored to participate in a local church's development of a new Sunday morning English language learning program. A team of about 10 members of the church volunteered to invest in this program as a way to love and serve the international members of our community. Most of them do not have a teaching degree, and only a few have worked with people from other cultures, but I've been so impressed and blessed by their willingness to do whatever is needed to make this possible. So we met several times to plan, practice, promote, prepare, and pray together, and last Sunday was our first scheduled class! Look at all these beautiful, eager, friendly faces that were just anticipating welcoming their first students!
No students showed up that morning.
Smiles and shoulders sagged ever-so-slightly as the whole team felt disappointed but worked hard to maintain a positive outlook. We sat around the classroom and looked at the snacks that were waiting to be eaten, the pencils that were waiting to be held, the chairs that were waiting to be sat upon. I looked around at the faces that were waiting to greet, connect, teach, learn and love, and prayed silently, Lord, we're ready...what's the hold up?
There have been times in "ministry life" when I have felt spiritual oppression, barricades, and attacks and have learned how to pray against those things in the name of Jesus. But that morning, I didn't feel any of that. I felt like we were all exactly where we were supposed to be, doing exactly what we were supposed to do, and could almost visibly see Jesus sitting with us, smiling, nodding, even clapping. I got the strangest feeling that he had no intention for there to be any students in our class that day. This was smack-dab in the middle of his will and plan. What I couldn't figure out was... why?
Our group decided the best way to spend this time together was to pray. We prayed for the dream and vision that we shared, we prayed for those who would join us soon, and we thanked God for whatever-the-heck He was doing. Then we came up with a new strategy to bring people in...
See, the original plan was to invite clients through World Relief, invite local international churches to come, and announce it at this church. We purposefully did not send mass announcements out through the schools and other community organizations, because we didn't want to get overwhelmed. Since this team is new to this sort of ministry, I wanted to keep it small for our 6-week "trial run." The plan is, after the trial period, the team will take the summer to use what they learned and prepare a full program to launch in the fall. We just didn't expect our limited invitation to have no results at all.
So the new strategy is this: personal invitation. Who do you know in your community who could benefit from this program? Do you know anyone who does not speak much English? If not, take it to another degree - do you know anyone who knows anyone who wants to learn English? A friend or neighbor is much more likely to show up at this church, than someone who is handed a flyer about a place they've never gone and a group of people they've never met. The team considered this, and then started to respond:
"I could tell some of the parents of my kids at school..."
"My manicurist might be interested..."
"You know, I've been looking for a good excuse to check out that new temple down the road..."
Fast forward to Week #2!
Same smiling and welcoming faces, same bright and empty room. Except... one. One woman came in, and the beautiful shade and shape of her face told me that she was probably from South Sudan. She was welcomed with all the pent-up joy and love that our team had been storing for two weeks! She was familiar to some people in the group because she attended that church and had friends there. She understands and speaks English well, and said she hoped to learn to read and write with us. We all introduced ourselves to her and asked her to share some of her story with us, which she did. We prayed with her, and as we ended our time one volunteer (who had brought a beautiful spread of snacks) wrapped up all the cookies and oranges for her to take home to her family. The woman thanked us and asked if it was OK if she invited a couple friends to come with her next week. YES!! we all but shouted eagerly.
While the team was waiting, I talked with a few of the members, and listened to their stories. They told me about the people they had seen, met, and talked with throughout the previous week, people they had barely noticed before that they realized were all around them: the Korean man who owns the dry cleaner, the Pakistani couple with the gas station, the Hispanic construction crew in their neighborhood, etc. The team was suddenly seeing and caring about the international members of their community! And I wonder if maybe that was God's plan and purpose all along...
One person matters. She is strong and brave and full of grace. She felt loved and welcomed into our room, and will link arms to bring others in. Maybe the people in the community - the nail salon, the gas station, the temple - will feel loved and welcomed, too, and because of that maybe they will come see what this program is about. It might be small and slow-growing for a while, but it is also deeply personal and intentional.
The measure of success of this dream is not in numbers of students or progressive language skills, but in renovated hearts and transformative relationships... in the ways we begin to look and act and love more like Jesus.
