the World at Our Doorstep:

Boston church reaches out with Alpha for ESOL

Last year, I was given an opportunity to travel with the Alpha New England team to Chicago for the National Converge Conference. As I looked over the list of workshops, I was drawn to one that presented a new specialty course called Alpha for ESOL (Alpha for English Speakers of Other Languages). I absolutely loved what I heard presented and when I talked with our pastors at Grace Chapel about the course, they gave me the ball to run with.

We prayed, recruited, trained, promoted and launched our first Alpha for ESOL course this past June and the Lord worked miracles! It was incredible to see the diverse group of Alpha leaders and guests the Lord brought together for our course. The nations represented included Turkey, China, Haiti, India, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Portugal and Korea. One of our leaders commented, “It’s like sitting in the middle of the United Nations.” All of us learned just as much from our guests as they learned from us. The live talks and warm-up exercises helped us form strong connections and enabled us to communicate the Gospel effectively to our international friends, several of whom had no prior understanding of God or Jesus. Our guests felt welcomed, valued and respected, and they were thrilled to contribute by sharing their cultures and histories with us.

We watched the Lord transform our friends’ lives, as well as our own, from week to week. All of our guests moved forward on their journey towards surrender to Christ as each guest prayed out loud to Jesus for the first time during the course. Further, all of our guests want to return to serve on our second Alpha for ESOL Course so they can continue to move forward on their journey toward Christ.

Some random comments from guests: “I am so happy no one is forcing me to believe, I have Christian friends who send me CDs and books, and preach to me all the time. I don't like that, this is different.” "I feel more at peace since I have come" "I am different" "I am less angry" "I could be out with my friends, but there is no where else Id rather be than here, I love coming to Alpha." "There is evil in the world but God does not cause it and if I have a relationship with Him, God will protect my heart so the evil cannot get inside." "I believe God or someone great is guiding me" “I would like to start to read the Bible." "God really loves me and He is my father." “Growing up I was not taught anything about God, I want to learn all I can." "I want to change my life." "I understood so much more at this Alpha Course, it was much easier for me to understand.”

I am thrilled to be a part of the Alpha for ESOL ministry in New England. It’s a great privilege to partner with the Lord and all of my teammates to reach the nations that live right at our doorstep with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith, 11/25/2009