MISSION PROPOSAL INDEX
This is a proposal requesting funding for English language teaching and evangelism project development in the area of language mission schools and churches. In this proposal you can see purposes, goals, innovations being worked on and needs. Read whichever areas interest you and please contact us for more details, samples or anything else that you require.
TEFL AND MISSION PROPOSAL
Brief Summary Of Proposal
Funding Applicants and Types
The Reason For Our Mission
Why English Language Education?
Spiritual Results From Mission TEFL Schools
Basic Goals & Biblical Solutions for Crime, Poverty and Disease
SUMMARY OF TEACHING INNOVATIONS
Creative Expression
Learning the Basics Effectively
EVANGELISM INNOVATIONS TO IMPLEMENT IN TEFL MISSIONS
MAJOR PROBLEM—The Back Door of the Church
SOLUTION—Closing the Back Door and Building Effective and Healthy Churches
FINANCIAL NEEDS
What Investment Do We Need?
Why Is This A Good Investment?
What Are The Benefits Of Sponsoring Vision English Projects
Contact Info
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
TEFL AND MISSION PROPOSAL
Brief Summary Of Proposal
We have been inspired as many lives, including our own, have been changed through Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in mission schools. It is one of the most ideal ways to develop real relationships with people who may never visit a church and to influence them in positive ways spiritually while at the same time giving them many more opportunities in their practical life here on earth. We have a vision to complete research and development that we have been doing in education and to combine this with effective methods of evangelism directly in the classrooms of TEFL mission schools. We believe these ideas can help put mission schools on the cutting edge of English TEFL education and greatly improve our evangelistic efforts by showing students through science and personal experiences how God’s truth brings solutions to the problems that we face. The materials could also help many churches start and develop self-supporting TEFL mission schools as an outreach to the communities around them and as a way to provide jobs for church members.
Funding Applicants and Types
These are the people associated with Vision English mission school and it’s projects:
1)Bryan Bissell, founder of 2 language mission schools. He has worked in TEFL in South Korea for 11 years as a TEFL missionary. He has been developing many of the TEFL innovations below from discussions of TEFL research with Dr. Palmer and other teachers and also wanting to implement the evangelistic innovations from many leading pastors in the TEFL area. He has a B.A degree from Andrews University in religion and a minor in psychology.
2)Jung Nam Oong, has a B.A. degree from Sahmyook university and is nearly finished with his M.Div in theology. He has worked in TEFL mission schools for several years.
3)Ray Klassen has an MA in Philosophy and 4 years of TEFL experience and has presented at many professional conferences. He has strong abilities in helping students develop critical thinking, building community, conflict resolution, etc.
4)(advisor) Dr. Robert Palmer has worked in South Korea as a teacher and professor in TEFL for over 25 years. He has a Ph.D. in TEFL and is an extremely insightful TEFL professional who has provided us with a lot of research that isn’t being used very much in the TEFL field as of yet.
The funding we are asking for can be of 3 types:
1)Sponsoring the salary of 1 or more people at our school short term or long term.
2)Donating money to help us develop innovations in TEFL and mission, pay off debts, etc.
3)Loaning money to assist us in starting up this important work..
Specific details are in the financial section. We thank you for considering supporting our mission and education projects.
The Reason For Our Mission
We are enthusiastic about doing God’s work because it is the only work that really brings joy, unity, freedom and success into the human experience long term. The Bible and 2 Christians eloquently express the fact that the purpose of mission is to bring satisfying life to people…both in this earth and for all eternity:
John 10:10 “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Deuteronomy 30:19 "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!20Choose to love the LORD your God and to obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life…
David Livingstone wrote before he returned to mission work in Africa:
"I personally have never ceased to rejoice that God has entrusted me with His service. People talk a lot about the sacrifice involved in devoting my life to Africa. But can this be called a sacrifice at all if we give back to God a "little of what we owe Him"? And we owe Him so much that we shall never be able to pay off our debt. Can that be called sacrifice which gives us the deepest satisfaction, which develops our best powers, and gives us the greatest hopes and expectations? Away with this word. It is anything but a sacrifice. Rather, call it a "privilege"!"
"Instead of linking himself with the greatness of Egypt, he [Moses] chose to bind up his life with God's purpose. Instead of giving laws to Egypt, he by divine direction enacted laws for the world. He became God's instrument in giving to men those principles that are the safeguard alike of the home and of society, that are the cornerstone of the prosperity of nations--principles recognized today by the world's greatest men as the foundation of all that is best in human governments. The greatness of Egypt is in the dust. But the work of Moses will never perish. The great principles of righteousness that he lived to establish are eternal." (Ellen White in Education, p. 70)
The Pharoah’s work is all dust and stones now, nothing more. But, the effects of Moses life continue to this day and will continue throughout eternity.
Even Bill Gates wrote that no business wins forever. He said, "Microsoft won't be immortal. All companies fail. It's just a question of when. My goal is to keep the company vital as long as possible." (Klein, Maury; “The Change Makers”, p. 150)
We have read the principles of growing churches from several places around the world and want to implement them in the TEFL environment. We believe that only God’s work has long lasting effects in this world and eternal results and so there is no more important work to be involved and no better way that we can spend our lives than to serve God and help people live better lives in this earth and live with God for all eternity. Our vision is to help students understand this truth and unite with their Creator in work that lasts forever.
Why English Language Education?
These days, millions of people around the world want to speak English because it is the world’s lingua franca. If someone can speak English well, they can be accepted in top colleges, have an average 35% higher salary (according to Business Week magazine), get more promotions, be involved in international business and have other advantages. So, many people strongly desire good English ability.
Christians havesuccessfully met people’s felt needs through medical ministry, education and other areas. Then the people were more open to hearing about their spiritual needs. Millions of people study English. TEFL education is an ideal way to have frequent and significant contact between the unchurched and dedicated Christian teachers. Already 1000s of people have accepted Jesus as their Savior through Christian TEFL schools. It’s a proven and effective method for reaching a wide range of unchurched people.
Spiritual Results From Mission TEFL Schools
Helping students learn about their creator and develop a friendship with him is the primary reason we started Vision English.
We have extra mission programs every weekend where students can learn about God’s purposes and truths in English activities and discussions. About once a month, we have a special mission day about once every 2-3 months for all students where we invite students to study the Bible. We also have participated in a Christian summer camp with our students. And when students express interest in the classes, we are able to share spiritual things in the classes on topics ranging from overcoming addictions to issues relating to freedom and living the fullest life through Jesus.
In our first 6 months with only 60 students attending our school so far, we have already had 8 baptisms and several students signing up for Bible studies. Students have also told us that they were really impressed by the knowledge and ideas that they learned during the classes about God.
We are planning to start a church in the beginning of 2005 using the campaigns from the “Purpose Driven Life” (see and are extremely interested in developing the ideas of discipleship so that we can save lives for eternity and just as important train new believers to reach out and save other lives. To this end Ray Klassen has been adapting an evangelistic book from Thailand for use in Korea. It has worked very effectively with adults in a strongly Buddhist context and it has helped to start 4 new churches. We will adapt it and include many ideas of practical Christianity to help people in mission schools grow spiritually and to help them experience God in their lives. Next are 3 stories of real students that Bryan Bissell had while teaching English and Bible in Korea.
SARA (Miss Lee): Sara joined English and Bible classes at a mission language institute in South Korea. Bryan’s class was reading about Joseph and his unfair imprisonment and what we can learn for our lives from that story. Sara was shy, but interested in the Bible. Suddenly she didn't come to class for a few days. We worried about her and prayed for her. When she returned, she told us that she had gone to another city for a meeting, but that the meeting had been a cult of some sort. They had kept her confined for several days and tried to brainwash her. But, the story of Joseph that we had read gave her hope and mental strength. Finally she escaped. She was later baptized and also served as a missionary in the Philippines.
HUNK (Young-Bok Song): “Hunk” also joined the English and Bible classes. He was always asking the hardest questions. He was nice but seemed to be a skeptical joker just out to give the teacher a hard time. Bryan Bissell and Hunk were friends and enjoyed the challenging questions and discussions, but Hunk never seemed to show much serious interest in the Bible. Hunk’s questions challenged the teacher to discover more deeply the reasons for his belief and the seed planted by the teacher did eventually bear fruit.
About 7 years later, they met again by chance and Hunk had been baptized into the church and was a missionary himself teaching English. Hunk said:
“For seven years, I have had some up-and-downs, but I could not forget what I learned from your classwhich guided me to the right way. I want you to know there are some people who remember you and what you have said even though you hardly remember them.”
JORDAN/PAUL (Nam Oong Jung, current co-director of Vision English): Nam Oong Jung joined English and Bible classes at a TEFL mission school. Before that time he had been somewhat of a Gen Xer/hip hop college student who was into sports and especially basketball. God changed his life through Bible studies, friendship with AYs, Bryan Bissell and pastors. He was baptized, became a youth leader president, studied theology at the Adventistuniversity in Korea and has worked under several well known Korean pastors. Most importantly, he was not just converted. He has become effective in leading many students to make commitments to Jesus. His life has changed so much that instead of using the English nickname Jordan (after Michael Jordan), he now uses the nickname Paul because he wants to be like the apostle Paul in evangelism. His life is an inspiration and challenge to those around him, including those who originally brought him to the truth! He is now a partner with Bryan Bissell in Vision English!
Basic Goals & Biblical Solutions for Crime, Poverty and Disease
We are focusing our energy in 3 areas:
1)ENGLISH LANUAGE EDUCATION: We are developing mission TEFL school program with many innovations so that mission education will be on the cutting edge and many close friendships will be created for now and for eternity. Many things they learn in our classes will improve their lives even if they do forget English.
2)BIBLE STUDIES & MISSION OUTREACH: We reach people’s human/felt needs by teaching them excellent English communication skills. Through the classes and especially the connected church programs we will then invite them to find the solution to their spiritual needs in Jesus Christ. In our churches, we will integrate principles of healthy churches where people’s lives are changed and they experience genuine community. Our #1 goal is to help them start a personal relationship with Jesus and then disciple/train them to win others to Christ and fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28.
We feel we can make important improvements in integrating Bible stories with science and real modern experiences and applications in the regular English classes to show the students the truths of God's word as they are learning English. No one has really succeeded in doing this very well. We believe that this can be done tactfully (esp. showing how Bible principles are a foundation for many areas of western history, philosophy and law and culture and language) in a way that improves their English skills and helps students trust God’s word more and also attracts them to learn more at church about how Godcan change their lives.
3)LIFE SKILLS & WORLD VIEW:
Even if students eventually forget the English we teach them, we want them to have learned things that will greatly improve their lives. Some topics include conflict resolution, dealing with stress, setting goals and achieving them, creative dating, parenting ideas, effects of media on society, living healthfully, how to make positive habit changes, using money wisely, and others. We want our students to benefit in their normal lives from our classes practically even if they do someday forget English. They will also show them why God’s principles work in real life. This is something that is seldom if ever included in secular or Christian produced English textbooks as of yet.
There are project samples available in a separate file, but are 3 examples of areas that we teach on some already and they show the kind of topics that we want to develop to help improve our world. We aim to include Bible principles with real stories and scientific research so that we can break down barriers to truth of many different types of people and help people gain respect and admiration for the wisdom of God put down in the Bible so long ago and investigate more carefully the claims of Jesus. Here are three areas VERY briefly that show how God has the answer to major problems in our world (more details and references are available on any area):
TOPIC / BIBLE / SCIENCECRIME / Philippians 4:8 “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8) We become like what we habitually admire. So, judge the books, TV, music, games and all media that you use carefully. It will have an effect on your actions. / The Journal of the American Medical Association wrote that ""the introduction of television in the 1950's caused a subsequent doubling of the homicide rate, i.e., long-term childhood exposure to television is a causal factor behind approximately one half of the homicides committed in the United States, or approximately 10,000 homicides annually….If, hypothetically, television technology had never been developed, there would today be 10,000 fewer homicides each year in the United States, 70,000 fewer rapes, and 700,000 fewer injurious assaults" (June 10, 1992).
POVERTY / God’s economics in the Biblesay that:
- Every person is God’s child and has a right to own some land or resources that God created.
- We must give 10% of our money (tithe) to help the poor and do God’s work. Be generous to needy.
- We should not charge interest.
- We should never give to someone who is lazy.
Confucius said, “When the Great Way prevailed, the world community was equally shared by all… Thus evil schemings were repressed, and robbers, thieves and other lawless elements failed to arise, so that outer doors did not have to be shut. This was called the age of Great Harmony (Ta Tung).”
The UN estimates that all children in the world could be given clean food, water, education, and health care for only $80 billion more. If, America gave 20% of it’s military budget or just US Christians paid tithe, we could end world poverty.
HEALTH / Exodus 15:26 “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and laws, then I will not make you suffer the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you." / People who follow God’s principles of health (whether Christian or non-Christian) have between 50-80% less disease than average people and live 5-10 years longer.
SUMMARY OF TEACHING INNOVATIONS
We will explain our educational innovations first because this is what draws students into contact with Christians. This is how we meet their needs. If we do this well, we can attract them to Jesus who meets their spiritual needs.