‘Isabel Pamatmat’
Imagine a foreign country. A people group that speaks a foreign language. A dialect so unique that the only way to learn the language is to spend hours upon hours with the people. Language school? There’s no such thing in the area. A people who are lost for the gospel, a Bible not yet translated in their mother tongue. Who will bring the gospel to bear in their lives? How will God fulfill his promise to bring every person from every nation, tribe, language and tongue to worship him before the throne? Who will do the job of sharing? Who will do the job of learning someone’s language and culture in order that one, two, three or even an entire community can be able to worship in their own heart language?
Hannah*[1] lived in a small Asian city and used Being Equipped to Communicate (BEC) to learn language. Being Equipped to Communicate is a language learning program which is designed to equip people to communicate fluently in cross-cultural situations. It goes through a range of activities which asks you to reflect, jot down, take pictures and videos to grow vocabulary. The BEC is designed for relationships and gives you the ability to grow your vocabulary in the context of cross-cultural friendships. The outcomes involve not only learning vocabulary but being fluent enough to be able to share your life story and talk about worldview issues and topics which in turn bridge spiritual conversations.
‘It’s encouraging because it forces you to be participating in the culture and people’s life events and even though it’s a language learning program, it is very grounded in the context of relationships.’
For Hannah, deep friendships were one of the main joys and benefits of learning language in community. As she did BEC, Hannah not only noticed her growth in her language ability but growth in being able to better function in a foreign community.
‘I think using the BEC is a huge benefit, particularly for anyone who is planning on learning language, but also for people who are planning on sharing truth with the goal of seeing a mature church established.’
These values are present right from the very first lesson in the BEC which enables language learners to have a clear and definite goal and path toward being a Gosple witness right from the start.
Considering the brain strain and doing it full time for 40 hours per week, it can be mentally taxing. However, Hannah reflects that the purpose and end goal of seeing a mature church come to fruition is what makes it worthwhile.
Hannah had a few language helpers that were consistent in her 2 years of learning language. She reflects on how one of her friends would describe their time together as ‘therapy sessions’ because of the way that BEC enabled deep, spiritual and heart conversations that in turn led to gospel conversations.
‘I would recommend BEC because it’s the best language learning methodology out there in light of language learning to build relationships, understand culture and share the truth with the goal of planting a mature church.’
[1] Name changed for security
