Running head: REFLECTION ON ENGLISH TEACHING AS CHRISTIAN MISSION

Reflection on English Teaching as Christian Mission: An Applied Theology

Chienyu Jade Yi
Wheaton College Graduate School

for
INTR 614 Curriculum and Materials Development for TESOL
Dr. Cheri Pierson
February 3, 2016

REFLECTION ON ENGLISH TEACHING AS CHRISTIAN MISSION

Reflection on English Teaching as Christian Mission: An Applied Theology

Snow humbly states that this book is written specifically for Western Christian English
teachers due to his personal limited overseas experience (Snow, 2001a); nonetheless, he offers
insightful observations and suggestions which would benefit any professionals who plan to go
abroad as missionaries either for a short-term or a long-term commitment. Snow focuses on the
gift of reconciliation throughout his book and emphasizes the importance of building up the
competence of intercultural communication for Christian English teachers teaching abroad. I
highly recommend this book to any ministry team or missional board to read before launching
the ESL course at a local church or sending missionaries abroad for teaching the EFL class.
In the beginning of his work, Snow lays out the historical background of why Christianity
is mistakenly considered as a Western religion and explains the significant role that Christian
English teachers play in the mission work of Western churches. He delves into the needs of
learning local cultures and languages of the host country and building authentic relationships
with students for CETs, and recognizes the challenges CETs face by quoting Paul Hieberts
words: Cross cultural translation and communication are no easy tasks (page 55). From
chapter 3 to 8, Snow effectively explains English teaching is witnessing, doing ministry, offering
Christian service, peacemaking and bridging the differences between churches.
There are three themes that I would like to reflect upon. The first one is the priesthood of
all believers; each believer is gifted uniquely to minister to each other at all times and all places
(Romans 12:1-8; Galatians 3:26-28; 1 Peter 2:5). The second one is the Golden Rule which is
significantly related to the Great Commandment that guides believers to love God and all people
with dignity and respect just as much as how they want to be treated (Matthew 7:12; 22:36-49).

REFLECTION ON ENGLISH TEACHING AS CHRISTIAN MISSION

The last theme is Jesus prayers for both believers and non-believers to be one in our Triune God
(John 17). I address each theme in the following paragraphs.
Embracing the identity of the priesthood of all believers is a simple expression of our
gratitude to Gods grace and mercy. We all are blessed by God to be a blessing to all. God
constantly offers each of us opportunities to be that blessing to those in our lives. It could
happen at home, at work, at school, at the mall or at the supermarket. Like any profession,
Christian English teachers have their special roles to play as priests in the body of Christ and to
any of their surrounding communities. However, unlike most professions, CETs have greater
opportunities to engage with other ethnics all over the world who are in need of learning English.
Subsequently, it entails a great responsibility on CETs to be ambassadors of the West, the church,
and the teaching profession. Snow suggests at several places in his book, mainly in chapter 3
and the last chapter, that learning about students cultures and countries and taking time to listen
to them are important ways of demonstrating respect. Snow points out two great tendencies that
people tend to have in the midst of unfamiliar environments, which are overgeneralizing and
stereotyping the unfamiliarity. Listening attentively and learning from others would enhance the
quality of our ministry. Embracing the priesthood of all believers and living out that unique
identity is not so much about doing but being, being thankful to the teaching gift and
opportunities of living abroad as ambassadors that God has entrusted us to be, which is well
affirmed in the scripture, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a
holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5
NRSV).
Thus, by knowing that we are the priesthood of all believers, we minister to others just as
how we would like to be ministered to by using our spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12) to produce

REFLECTION ON ENGLISH TEACHING AS CHRISTIAN MISSION

the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus teaching about being a good tree that bears
good fruit (Matthew 7:18) reminds me of Gods words in the story of creation. After God
creating mankind in His image, God declares, it is good. Jesus commends us to love God with
all our hearts, minds, strengths, and souls, and in everything do to others as we would have them
do to us (Matthew 7:12; 22:36-40). The Great Commandment and the Golden Rule are asking
believers to live a questionable life1, that challenges the values of the world. However, we often
live a life with a self-centered and self-serving agenda as Snow mentioned (Snow, 2001b, pp.
142143). People of God, the church, should be an embodied question mark, through which,
non-believers would question and wonder about why we live the way we do, which creates great
opportunities for us to tell our faith stories and our wonderful merciful God. Even though we all
know that every life is precious in Gods eyes and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity,
it takes faith and confidence in God to go the extra mile to be the people that God has created us
to be. We are called to minister to the poor, the needy, and the disadvantaged individuals and
communities as Snow articulates well with his biblical understanding of the ministry in chapter
6. He concludes, It is to the credit of Christians everywhere when people find that English
teachers engaged in service that is more sacrificial than self-serving are Christians (Snow, 2001b,
p. 123)
Toward the end of Jesus earthly journey, Jesus prays for both his disciples and future
believers to become one, one reconciled and unified body in Christ. What makes people of God,
the church, become one body is the common faith that people profess to believe (Ephesians
4:406). In his last chapter, Snow emphasized once again that CETs have a unique opportunity to
work toward reconciliation by building bridges of fellowship and understanding between
1 A term that has been well used by church planters to refer our ordinary lives as
Christians come with extraordinary calls from God, which makes people wonder and
curious enough to question our ways of living.

REFLECTION ON ENGLISH TEACHING AS CHRISTIAN MISSION

Christian communities which may not have close relationship with each other (Snow, 2001b, p.
153). Having been interacting with Christians coming from different denominations and
traditions, I find it is very helpful to remember what is essential and what is not as we look at the
cross, through which, Jesus suffers, dies, and conquers. Not every CET is able to articulate all
the doctrines and their developments throughout the Christian history; however, remembering
what really unites all of us is our belief in the power of Gods salvation through the life of Jesus
is always a good start to engage faith conversations. Snow notes correctly that Christians of
different cultural backgrounds can help each see cultural assumptions and learn different
theological perspectives (Snow, 2001b, pp. 158, 165) Without doubt, approaching a new
culture with a learner posture can easily open a meaningful conversation with people of the host
country.
It is fascinating to read about Snows background, his twenty years teaching experience
and leadership in China (Don and Wei Hong Snow, 2011). Being a non-native English
speaking person from a non-Western country, I appreciate very much Snows book and his
sensitivity toward other cultures. He presents his thoughts and suggestions with a solid biblical
theology of mission as a basis. A great book like this one can create a great conversation. It is
my prayer that people reading this book will not be overwhelmed by the role and a variety of
responsibilities that CETs need to have, but think of it as a part of preparation for ones future
transformation.

REFLECTION ON ENGLISH TEACHING AS CHRISTIAN MISSION

References
Don and Wei Hong Snow. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/snow-donald-andwei-hong/
Snow, D. B. (2001). English teaching as Christian mission: an applied theology. Scottdale, Pa:
Herald Press.