Harmony Methodist Church in Iredell County started offering free ESL (English as a second language) classes to community members wanting to learn English in September 2019.
Six years later, the program is still up and running and has earned some of the highest test scores in the state when compared to similar programs. Their secret to success? Forging a partnership with Mitchell Community College (MCC) that helps the church meet new neighbors and break down barriers in the process.
The church and the college joined forces thanks to the NC Rural Center’s nine-month Connect Church program, which helps churches identify current congregation and community needs, pinpoint existing assets, and create new programming that meets one of those identified needs using an uncovered asset.
The church participated in the Connect Church program in 2018. Chris Lakey, the church’s pastor, says going through the program helped the church decide to reach out to the large Hispanic community in northern Iredell County. They decided to create an ESL program and partnered with Mitchell Community College.
The classes run on the college’s school year calendar and are open to students ages 18 and up. MCC screens the students and provides the teachers, registration, materials, and testing.
For the church’s part, Lakey says, “We just open the doors and give them a snack and a handshake and a welcome and turn it over to Mitchell. Then they do the rest.”
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Laidback class draws students from other counties
The classes offer a more laidback opportunity than a college setting for people in the local area to learn English, with some students coming from the nearby towns of Statesville, Mocksville, and Yadkinville. After completing the course, they receive a certificate of completion, which can help students obtain better positions at work, given proof of their proficiency in English.
Ximena Davidson is one of MCC’s ESL teachers. This school year marks her 14th year teaching ESL in North Carolina grade schools, and her 12th year doing so for the Iredell-Statesville School District.
Four years ago, Davidson became involved with the Harmony ESL program when one of her coworkers, a program volunteer, asked if she’d be interested in teaching ESL to adults.
“It’s breaking down barriers and it’s giving the church an opportunity to see that they need to look beyond their walls.”
Pastor Chris Lakey
While Davidson noted that she loves the grade-school students she teaches during the day, she repeatedly mentioned how motivated her adult students at Harmony are to learn, which makes the twice-a-week evening classes easy to teach.
She calls the partnership between MCC and Harmony “a match made in heaven,” given how welcome her students feel at the church.
During the classes, the students use textbooks, but Davidson says that if students need to learn extra vocabulary, such as terms related to their employment or a medical appointment for example, they also receive additional assistance from the professors.
For Davidson, the program is different due to the care the college and church show the students, which aids in their success. They even have some people who aren’t officially students due to their job schedules — the class has an attendance requirement for enrollment — but they’re so motivated to learn English that they attend when they can just to listen in.
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Church creating ties by reaching beyond congregation
By providing space for the classes to meet, Lakey says that one of the benefits of the program for the church has been “the opportunity to minister to someone who doesn’t look like us.”
Lakey also mentions how the hearts of people in the church’s congregation have changed as the program forges relationships between the Hispanic community, the teachers, the college, and the church.
“You know, there’s some people that struggle with that stuff. It’s breaking down barriers and it’s giving the church an opportunity to see that they need to look beyond their walls and do stuff for the community,” he said.
“We’re the only church in this area up in this north part of Iredell County that does anything like that,” he added. “There’s no other church that does anything like it.”
This fall, the church will start another year of opening its doors to help others and creating stronger community ties in the process.
This article was originally published by the NC Rural Center.
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