Teach to Reach: Making the missiological most of your mother tongue

This article was written by David Baldwin, CEO 2:19 Teach to Reach.

Seth Porch makes the following missiological observation in his recent article, “A Tongue for Every Tribe: How English Serves the Global Church” (August 2025: Desiring God: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/a-tongue-for-every-tribe):

“English-speaking Christians would do well to consider how they might leverage their tongue for every tribe."

OK, Americans use the word ‘leverage’ a lot more than Brits do, and with different pronunciation, but that aside, I fully agree.

Some may see this as controversial – surely, we should focus on translation into people’s heart languages. That’s true enough, but I’m sure there is room for more than one kind of guest in the global mission banqueting hall! Others may see English as the language of the oppressor, but that doesn’t seem to stop people worldwide wanting to learn it.

Porch rightly points out that English is the most spoken in the world today, the modern lingua franca. And of 1.5 billion speakers, only 25% are native speakers, which is a far lower percentage than speakers of other potential competitors, such as Mandarin or Spanish. Only 25%! That means that 75% of English speakers today, over a billion people, have learned English as a second language. This makes English both the most widely spoken and the most avidly learned language on the planet. Nothing on this scale has ever been seen before in linguistic history – what an opportunity!

Tavid was a Syrian illegal migrant, who arrived at a down-town church in a Berkshire town and was hungry to improve his English and learn more about Jesus. He was so grateful for everything his teachers taught him and, perhaps even more importantly, the time they took with him, showing Christian love and care. He was regular at mid-week activities soaking up everything the church had to offer. On Sundays what he loved most were the children’s talks, as the gospel was always made clear in simple English.

Tavid came to understand the gospel and realised that following Jesus meant informing the Home Office of his status and deporting himself back to his homeland. He did this just before Syria dissolved into civil war, and the rest is another story, but suffice to say here that the Lord sustained him. He kept on following the Lord he first heard about through simple English-speaking believers who bothered to teach him English and then to teach him of their saviour … in the English that they’d taught him!

2:19 Teach to Reach* is all about helping churches engage with the nations in their own communities. You don’t need me to tell you that, in addition to mission ongoing overseas, cross-cultural evangelism and discipleship happens increasingly in our own towns and cities, even our villages.

Most church members feel ill-prepared and under-resourced for such a task. Previously, missionaries going overseas had to have cross-cultural orientation, but when the missionary direction of movement is the other way around, and the recipients of the gospel are moving towards us, where’s the help going to come from for ordinary church members?

As well as advice and consultation, 2:19 Teach to Reach produces attractive resources that are a pleasure to teach from. There are both ESOL teaching resources and Bible teaching resources in simple English. All resources are ‘oven-ready’ with lesson aims, plans, timings and reproducible materials ready to cut out and place before learners. If there’s one thing your average church member hasn’t got its loads of time to dream up their own lesson plans. No need to re-invent the wheel.

The first Bible resource book, So Lord, Speak, points forward to the promised rescuer in ten easy OT lessons, always anticipating the saviour who would come. The sequel, So Lord, Speak 2, tells the story of Jesus in fifteen lessons – from birth to ascension. A third book, on Acts is currently being written and will give a further ten lessons on the early church. Animations accompany these lessons. Learners love them. They work.

There are plenty of other resources too, such as Utter Wisdom, with pithy proverbs from around the world and bridges across to the ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus. These provide material for stimulating spiritual discussion at higher English levels. Why not check out the full suite of 2:19’s resources (here).

Not everyone coming into our country and our churches is from a non-Christian background. Tavid is Syrian, but Milza is a Latina. Milza arrived in North London from Bahia State, Brazil, with a nominal Christian background. But she wasn’t going to church at all until a local congregation leafletted and advertised both their regular Sunday services and their ESOL classes. She went along and hasn’t looked back, starting with basic English classes but now fully participating in church life, including mid-week Bible study with native English speakers!

Seth Porch is absolutely right. The ubiquitous English language, the modern-day lingua-franca, is in many ways a Godsend. Because Porch is an academic, he lists things like access to English language theological education and commentaries etc. He’s right again …. but maybe misses a trick. One of the greatest opportunities the English language provides is for cross-cultural evangelism.

An old homiletics lecturer of mine used to advise students on the secret of a good sermon; ‘Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em what you’ve just told ‘em!’

My lingua franca version would be, ‘Tell ‘em you’re gonna teach them English. Then teach ‘em and love ‘em. Then tell ‘em the Gospel.’

In world mission, why wouldn’t we want to take up the most obvious tool that God has placed right within our grasp; the wonderful, eclectic and marvellously functional English language?

If you are interested in running English classes/café in your church or finding out more about how it could work for you and your communitry, please contact marina@twonineteen.org.uk.

*2:19 Teach to Reach. 2:19 is taken from Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19, where Paul highlights the oneness of all believers, regardless of their ethnic origins, and teaches about their new status together in Christ.