By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
AVONDALE, La. (LBM) – The opportunity to share Christ with the world has come to Louisiana Baptist churches through English as a Second Language classes.
“The purpose of all literacy missions ministries is to intentionally share the Gospel as God uses church volunteers to meet literacy needs,” Brown told the Baptist Message. “ESL allows church volunteers to incorporate the Bible into every aspect of their classes.
“Prayer is a priority inside and outside of the classes, and the Gospel is also shared, no matter what the students’ religious backgrounds are,” she continued. “Anyone can participate in this ministry because a person doesn’t have to speak another language to teach someone how to speak English.”
FBCA, NOBTS CONNECT
Each Monday evening at First Baptist Church, Avondale, three to four lead teachers and three assistants, including New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College students, teach ESL classes to between 10 and 40 students from as many as eight nationalities, church ministry team leaders said.
Marc Daniels, pastor with FBC Avondale, realized while canvassing the surrounding neighborhood in 2023 that a large Vietnamese population lived near the church. Realizing the need to reach them and a growing Hispanic population, Daniels then consulted with missionary friends who determined starting an ESL ministry was a good outreach tool.
After receiving training from Brown, the first semester began in August 2024.
Since then, the church has seen four of the students and even some of their family members begin attending worship and Bible study. Daniels is grateful for the dedication of his members and the NOBTS and Leavell College students. Money from the Georgia Barnette Louisiana Missions Offering provides funding for the students to travel and teach every Monday evening.
Brown added that the GBO allows her to travel across the state to train churches — at no cost to them — and recruit volunteers to start local ESL ministries.
“It also allows some NOBTS and Leavell College students to come alongside some churches in the New Orleans area to teach English to Haitian Creole speakers and Spanish speakers, and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them,” she said. “It’s a win-win for our churches, for the ESL students and for the seminary students. For this, I’m very grateful and appreciative of the GBO. Thank you, Louisiana Baptists.”
2025 ESL workshops:
— NOLA (NOBTS – NAMB Church Planting Center), Sept. 20, 27, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
— DeRidder (Beauregard CWJC building), Oct. 10, 5-9 p.m.; Oct. 11, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
— Morgan City (Bayou Vista Baptist Church), Nov. 14, 5-9 p.m., Nov. 15, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Contact Brown via literacy@louisianabaptists.org
