Women’s 2012 Spring Semester has begun! With help from volunteers, we are now running three levels of English classes: Very Beginner, Beginner and Low-Intermediate. Our Very Beginner class runs Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30am-10:30am. Our Beginner class is held Tuesday-Thursday from 10am-11am and our Low Intermediate class is held Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-10am. Our missions opportunities include: teaching, tutoring, visiting students in their homes and prayer. Please contact Abby at abby@acts-29.org if you are interested. Thank you!
Acts 29 Fellowship is currently looking for volunteers for its Men’s ESL program. Volunteer positions are open for multiple commitment levels. We would appreciate any commitment from occasional help to teaching commitments of more than six hours a week. We are looking for men who are passionate lovers of Jesus Christ, affirm our Statement of Faith and are available for at least part of our current class time schedule. Our current ESL class schedule is 9:30-11:30 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, but opportunities in the afternoon and evening will be opening as well. English, ESL/TESL, or Education degrees and training would be helpful, but are not necessary.
We are looking for teachers who can make a consistent commitment to teach or assist an entire class and maintain a strong Christian witness. In addition to classroom opportunities, we would be blessed by teachers and assistants who are available to visit with students in their homes and engage in cross-cultural relationships. If you are a proficient English speaker and reader, have a living relationship with Jesus Christ that you are willing to share, and a warm heart you are perfectly qualified to teach English with us. On-the-job training in teaching English and cross-cultural ministry will be a part of the process. Please pray about this opportunity and tell your friends, churches and church members.
This summer Acts 29 is redeveloping our ESL program for men, preparing a new format and focus to ensure our students success in the classroom, the workplace and the wider world. Part of this redesign is a move to a more formal classroom setting, regular testing intervals, grading and a structured curriculum of progression in skill as we prepare our students for the workplace, community college or vocational training in our cabinet shop program.
This demands the use of a professional curriculum designed to thoroughly address the needs of English language learners and enable them to smoothly progress in skill and fluency. We were blessed to have been given a discount from Learning English with Laughter, distinct curriculum that builds student proficiency in English from the ground up with extensive material for teachers and students. The curriculum blends and builds material to progress through six modules of study from beginner to advanced, and allows room for us to insert our own activities and relational learning. The Learning English with Laughter curriculum will allow us to rebuild our program with confidence that the material sufficiently addresses the needs of our students and establishes them in a firm knowledge of the language, while pushing them into the next level of learning.
Our hope is that our ESL class will become a truly transformational ministry that addresses the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of our students and enables them to achieve success.
Acts 29’s Easter week was packed full of fun! In four locations throughout Hamtramck, our staff joined with high school youth to lead Easter Kids Clubs. Three women who worship and serve at Acts 29 opened their homes and yards to host clubs for kids in their neighborhood. About 40 kids heard the Gospel through these kids clubs. On Saturday, we invited families to our building for an afternoon of games, snacks and an Easter Story Drama. Twice during the event, Mary Magdalene walked children and their parents through her experience, while three scenes were acted out: the crucifixion, the resurrection and Jesus on the shore with his disciples. The majority of the attendees were Muslims from Bangladesh and Yemen. After seeing Jesus nailed to the cross, one Yemeni woman remarked, “Did that really happen?” A Christian woman standing nearby was able to tell her that yes, it is true! As you can see, there are families in this city who don’t know the Gospel, and as we share it, we pray diligently that those who hear will believe.
Women’s ESL has begun its spring semester with a smaller, more intimate group in the low intermediate level and a growing group of beginners. All of the students are either Bengali or Yemeni. We have seen improvements in the use of the language among the women, especially the ones who attend class regularly.
As we teach English, we also teach words that are pertinent to Christ and who He is in our lives (i.e. friendship, peace, joy). We hold discussions related to these words and tell stories from the Bible and testimonies from our lives. Over Christmas we showed a clip from a movie about Jesus’ life called Magdalena in order to explain the Christmas story. We showed it in three languages and a couple of students borrowed the movie to watch the rest of it at home. Our prayer is that they will come to know Jesus and want to be His disciple as they learn about Him. Please pray with us as we look forward to the classes surrounding Easter, when we will have a chance to share about the death and resurrection of Christ, and what that means for all people.
Acts 29 has taken the men’s English as a Second Language classes in a new direction this winter by preparing the Bengali and Yemeni men for vocational training in the developing Acts 29 Wood Shop program. Getting the men out of the classroom and into hands-on work, opens up new situations for them to learn English, American culture and to build character and work ethic. The classroom context has changed as the men become involved in group projects to learn to use tape measures and basic hand-held tools. Axis Construction leaders Brad Setser and Andrew Layer are now additional teachers, using their expertise to instruct the men in proper safety measures and in the skills needed to complete carpentry work. This functions as preparation for the launch of the Wood Shop Vocational Training which will involve the Axis Leaders in teaching international men, high school students and the unemployed not only valuable job skills to produce a quality product, but also the character of Jesus Christ.
The international men enjoy the hands on training as it allows them to learn skills they can use in normal house repair and prepares them for manual labor in a number of industries. Learning team work and cooperating with a group without the use of their native language is an important ability as they enter the American workforce. Our hope is that even as we teach the basics of how to build a table or use a drill, we equip these men to live and work in this country, but beyond that, to live with the strong character that Christian values bring. Every class is intentionally designed to draw out teaching on good character, values and lifestyle in an effort to illuminate the Christian life and inspire questions as to the motivation and source for strong character which we find in Christ. Please pray for us as we prepare to transition the international men into a more intense vocational training that will put them in closer contact with us and with the saving gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Biblical stories and storytelling are a major part of our English as a Second Language outreach, and give us the ability to both provide a need in the community and evangelize the lost. Muslim ministry on this level requires a sympathetic and deliberate foundation for the gospel. This week Sharon Buttry has written a Bible Story Curriculum for the women English Language Learners at the beginning level. The story come directly from Luke 15:8-10 and leads to the question “Does God look for people who are spiritually lost?”
Please pray that God uses this story as we lay a foundation for the gospel message.
Acts 29 Winter ESL for Women Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM; home visits and social events TBA
Volunteers welcome, call Abby or Sharon at (313) 365-2287
As Fall begins, Acts 29 puts its best foot forward to recruit students to join our Bible Quizzing Program. This season about 20 youth have shown an initial interest in joining our team. Acts 29 Bible Quizzing focuses on helping students Christian and Non-Christian enjoy God’s word and learn what it means to their lives. Many of our teen-agers receive Christ after studying His word through Quizzing.
This season youth will be studying the Gospel of John. Our first quiz meet is September 11th and will cover the first 3 chapters of John.
Please consider being a part of this life changing ministry by sponsoring a quizzer this year. Contact Liza Gmetro for more information.
Acts 29 is constantly looking for opportunities to create “fish pool” ministries. A “fish pool” ministry by our definition is a large ministry event to which we invite large numbers of people so that we can meet them and then create a reason for us to follow-up with them to see how we can serve their needs. Hamtramck is home to five major cultural groups and more than 26 language/dialects. Through community outreach events we literally “touch the world” for Jesus.
Acts 29 puts on several “fish pool” ministries each year:
Fall Family Festival
Christmas Dinner Theater
Easter Dinner Theater
Acts 29 has also hosted several other “fish pool” events that are not annual:
Bed Distribution to ESL families in need
Lead Testing
WARM Training
Women’s Luncheons
A Free Store (hosted in conjunction with “The Free Store” a Detroit ministry)
The purpose of these “fish pool” ministries or outreach events is to meet new people in large quantities. The hard work involved to put on an outreach that may serve up to 400 people in one night is well worth it when a follow-up visit to a home yields a relationship that lasts. Many of the current members of Acts 29 came from the follow-up for these outreach ministries.
Outreach ministries also allow the community to see Acts 29 in another light. Outreaches let the community know that we are accessible and have something interesting and productive to share with the city.
How can you help?
financially give to outreach ministries
bring your small group or youth group down to help
cook food for an outreach
donate candy, desserts, small prizes, or play props
