Ellen Fok would not have made the decision to follow Christ this time last year had it not been for a simple sign advertising English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at All Saints Anglican Church, West Lindfield.
She began going to the classes and found the course helpful and the teachers friendly.  The ESL teacher informed the class they could also meet once a fortnight to study the Bible and invited them to come along.
“All my life I was asking why we were born and searching for purpose in life and at the bible study I got to learn more.”
Ellen realised that Christianity was more than just a religion and decided that she was ready to follow Jesus.
Next year 133,000 new migrants like Ellen will enter Australia.  The Anglican Church, mindful of the vast mission field they represent, set up English as a Second Language classes 13 years ago as a means to teach people the practical skill of speaking English, while reaching out to people from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds (NESB) with the gospel.
About 60 per cent of the migrants were born in countries where English is not the predominant language.
Yet, despite the growth of ESL classes in Sydney Anglican parishes, the number of ESL students that become active church members has been lower than expected.
The Rev Brian Tung has been running the program for Riverwood-Punchbowl parish for over three years and says that although ESL classes have been an effective awareness raising and pre-evangelism opportunity it has been harder to translate ESL class participation to active church membership.
“What we’ve found more effective is to run simple English ministry to people where the gospel can be clearly explained,” he said.
“But we’ve needed things like ESL classes to get people to the point of being involved in that ministry.”
In response Anglicare has developed a suite of resources and workshops to ensure churches can experience the full evangelistic potential of ESL classes.
“We develop resources that are biblically based so that students can hear about the gospel while they are learning English,” said Cheryl Smith, Director of Anglicare Strategic Ministries.
“A team are also creating a resource with simple devotional segments that can be used before or after class to reach people with the gospel more effectively.”
A key part of Anglicare’s strategy is a program of workshops to help those running ESL ministries to think laterally about evangelistic opportunities.
“Our recent training day dealt not only with the practical skills of teaching English but also included panel discussions on how ESL students can be integrated into church life and we plan to run a similar training course in July this year.”
The workshops draw on the experience of those leading cross-cultural ministry teams such as Stewart and Helen Binns from St Luke’s, Liverpool, who have integrated ESL ministry into a wider evangelistic strategy.
“It was a deliberate strategy to hold ESL classes after church on a Sunday morning so that both the congregation and the ESL students would have the opportunity to meet and interact with each other,” says Mr Binns.
“A Chinese professional came to know the Lord through the ministry recently.  Even though they are back in China we still keep in contact by email.”
For Marcelina Rodriguez, ESL classes at St Luke’s are more than an opportunity to learn English.  It is also a chance to evangelise to other Spanish-speaking students in her class.
Originally from Bolivia, Marcelina had previously made a commitment to Christ, but through the relationships formed in the course of attending the class, she is now attending the St Luke’s morning service every week. She is also bringing two family members along with her.
“ESL is a long term ministry,” says Cathryn Thew, ESL coordinator for the Diocese. “It’s rare for someone to come to ESL class one day and realise they would like to become a Christian that day.
“But as Christians we are meeting the needs of people in our community, offering friendship and providing the opportunity to introduce them to the greatest friend of all.”

For information about ESL training days phone Cathryn Thew on (02) 9895 8000 or email esl@anglicare.org.au.