How to be a teacher with convictions while respecting those of your students

As evangelical Christian English teachers, we all desire to be able to share our faith with our students. We know that ESL ministry is an incredible platform for outreach and evangelism and we want to take advantage of these opportunities to reach people on a deeper level. But how do we do that in a way which won’t be misconstrued or seen as deceitful? Where is the line between providing a service that we have advertised, and sharing the hope that we have within us?

For many of us, these questions seem difficult to answer and the line may appear blurry.

Kitty Purgason brings us some practical guidelines to answer these questions. With wisdom and insight, she shares from her own extensive experience of balancing professionalism and faith. Practical and directly applicable, she covers topics such as:

  • Professionalism in teaching
  • Transparency and openness in our gospel witness
  • Virtues, ethics and God’s kingdom
  • Treating students with dignity, respect and love
  • Models for evangelism
  • Using English as a tool to connect with people on a deeper level
  • Power dynamics between teachers and students
  • Maximising on opportunities outside the classroom

The author also challenges us to take a look at our own lives and reflect on how certain traits may impact our witness, as well as our teaching methods. She comments that ‘good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher’ and that ‘the state of our soul will eventually impact our students’.

Thought-provoking, practical, attainable and readable, this book will challenge your perceptions on gospel-outreach and ESL ministry and will fire you up to use your God-given position as a teacher to reach many students for His kingdom!

 

Author: Kitty Barnhouse Purgason
Publisher: William Carey Library (October 10, 2016)
ISBN-10: 0878084975
ISBN-13: 978-0878084975