Starting an English as a Second Language (ESL) ministry can feel overwhelming. You may wonder where to begin, how to find teachers, what curriculum to use, or whether your church has the resources to make it work. The good news is that you don’t need everything figured out before you begin. Start small, pray, gather people who love others, and trust God to lead you.
Here are some practical steps for starting an ESL ministry in your church.
1. Start by Praying
Before making plans, invite one or two people to pray with you about the possibility of starting an ESL ministry. Ask God to give you wisdom and direction and to show you whether this is the right time and place to begin.
2. Talk with Your Church Leaders
Once you have prayed about the idea, approach your church leaders to see whether they support starting an ESL ministry. Come prepared to answer some practical questions. Church leaders will likely want to know:
- When and where will classes meet?
- How many teachers will you need?
- What curriculum will you use?
- What will it cost?
- Will students pay a registration fee?
Will you charge students a fee?
One decision you will need to make is whether ESL classes will be free or whether students will pay a small registration fee.
There are good reasons to consider charging a minimal fee. When students make even a small financial investment, they may feel more ownership of the class and be more likely to attend regularly. A registration fee can also help cover the cost of books, allowing every student to have a book to take home and use outside of class.
3. Build a Prayer Team
Before classes begin, form a prayer team specifically for the ESL ministry. Ask people who may not be able to teach but have a heart for the ministry to pray regularly. Give them specific things to pray for. Continue communicating with the prayer team throughout the year. Let them know about answered prayers as well as ongoing needs.
4. Recruit Teachers and Hospitality Volunteers
Next, begin recruiting teachers and people who can help create a welcoming environment. Don’t assume that ESL teachers have to be professional English teachers. Retired school teachers and homeschool parents can make a natural transition into ESL, even if they have never specifically taught English. Look for volunteer teachers who love people, are patient, are culturally sensitive, and willing to try new things.
You will also need a hospitality person or team. Something as simple as coffee, tea, and snacks can make a tremendous difference. Food creates opportunities for conversation and helps students feel welcomed and valued.
5. Provide Training for Your Teachers
If some of your teachers have never taught ESL, don’t let that stop you from recruiting them. Instead, provide training before classes begin. Invite an experienced ESL teacher to lead a training session. Even a few hours of practical training can give new teachers confidence and help them understand how teaching ESL differs from teaching native English speakers.
If you’re looking for training materials, Austin Stone Community Church will soon be providing video training and other ESL ministry resources that can be helpful for churches starting or strengthening an ESL ministry.
6. Offer at Least Three Levels
Whenever possible, offer a minimum of three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Students learn best when they are placed with others at a similar English level. A beginner can become discouraged in a class where everyone else speaks English comfortably, while an advanced student may become frustrated if the class moves too slowly.
Evaluate students before classes begin
Set aside a day before the first class to evaluate new students and determine their English level. This simple step helps students get into the right class from the beginning, helps you to manage classroom sizes and gives teachers time to prepare for their class adequately. You don’t need a complicated testing system. The goal is simply to get a general idea of each student’s speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities so you can place them appropriately.
7. Consider Your Community and Choose Your Curriculum
Before choosing a curriculum, consider the people you hope to reach. Who lives in your community? Are most of your students beginners? Are they highly educated professionals? Are they refugees, international students, immigrants, or people working in local businesses? What are their ages and educational backgrounds?
Your answers should influence your curriculum choice. We recommend using a “secular” ESL book to teach grammar and vocabulary and then complementing it with C2C Bible stories. Teaching English directly from the Bible can be challenging for English learners because the Bible often contains vocabulary, sentence structures, cultural references, and concepts that are difficult even for native speakers. A traditional ESL textbook provides a clear structure for teaching language skills, while Bible stories provide a natural way to introduce biblical truth and begin spiritual conversations.
8. Remember That You Will Make Mistakes
Finally, remember that you will make mistakes—and that’s okay. Your first year probably won’t look exactly the way you imagined. You may choose the wrong curriculum, underestimate the number of students, discover that a class level isn’t working, or realize that you need more volunteers than you expected.
That’s how ministries grow. You try something, learn from it, make adjustments, and try again. Don’t wait until everything is perfect before you begin. God is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). He can work through a small group of volunteers, a borrowed classroom, a pot of coffee, and a handful of students who simply want to learn English.
An ESL ministry may begin with only a few people praying and a few students sitting around a table. But as you welcome people from different cultures, build friendships, teach English, and share the hope of Christ, God can use those small and imperfect beginnings for something far greater than you imagined.
Pray. Start small. Love people well. Teach faithfully. And trust God with the results.