fbpx
×

Log into your account

We have changed software providers for our subscription database. Old login credentials will no longer work. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. If you do not know your new account number you can contact [email protected]
October literacy conference offers training
BSC Communications
September 16, 2013
3 MIN READ TIME

October literacy conference offers training

October literacy conference offers training
BSC Communications
September 16, 2013

About 32 million adults in the United States have low literacy skills – a struggle that doesn’t just go away.

Seventy-four percent of children who have trouble reading in third grade are still poor readers as high school freshmen. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s (BSC) literacy missions ministry seeks to help reverse these trends by showing the love of Jesus Christ in a practical way through ESL workshops and training events. About 65 churches and associations, and nearly 2,000 students, participated in literacy missions ministries this year.

“When my husband and I came to live in North Carolina after serving as International Mission Board missionaries to Brazil for 16 years, I was at a loss as to how I would answer my missionary calling. God soon provided the answer,” said Barbara Martin, BSC literacy missions consultant.

09-16-13literacy.jpg

“Our church teaches English as a Second Language to people from countries around the world, many of whom have never even heard the name of Jesus. These internationals would normally never set foot inside a church, but because we are helping them meet their need to speak English, they come,” she said.

“They also come to know who Jesus is, and some of them accept Him as their Lord and Savior.”

Martin is helping coordinate the annual literacy missions conference, which will be held Oct. 18-19 at Caraway Conference Center and includes a variety of workshops and breakout sessions. This year’s theme is “Know Love, Show Love,” based on 1 John 4:11. Doris Edwards, author of Beyond our Borders, will lead a three-hour workshop on English as a Foreign Language. Kathy Boyd, literacy missions leader for Mt. Zion Baptist Association, will lead a three-hour workshop on how to tutor at-risk children and youth. Literacy missions associate Glenda Reece will lead several breakout sessions such as pronunciation, Business English, the Lipson Method, using Bible stories to teach English, and 12 conversational “musts.” Lisa Wohlrab, acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Raleigh-Durham area, will lead a session on teaching citizenship.

Other breakout session topics include refugee ministry, literacy missions on a budget, understanding the Hispanic culture, adult reading and writing, and tutoring youth and children. Continuing Education Credits are often available for public school teachers who attend the conference.

For more information, call (800) 395-5102, ext. 5629, or email [email protected]. The conference begins at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18.

For more information and to register, visit www.ncbaptist.org/literacymissions.