The Call to Reach the Nations

The COVID-19 Crisis has given ODILS (Open Doors International Language School) and Redeemer Church Plymouth more opportunities to support those who are most vulnerable and isolated even in normal times.

Read more about how we’ve adapted and how it all started…

We usually teach about 260 learners face-to-face per week (80% Asylum Seekers and Refugees) but have now moved online. Despite the difficulties of internet connectivity, we have been able to re-engage with 180 of our learners through Zoom. Even those we call ‘pre-beginners,’ who are illiterate in their own language, and our Muslim mums have been able to connect via phones. This has led to a joint project with Redeemer Church to provide entertainment packs, colouring books, pens, chalk and lots more to families who are not connected to the internet and are trying to keep their children occupied, yet they can barely pay for their food. Schools are struggling to support them adequately because of their levels of English. We hope to move from giving packages in the short-term to building good strong relationships, eventually involving the families in church activities once lockdown is ended.

Read about their story in part 1 below” 

 “What did He mean that He would bring the nations to us?”

In this first of 3 blogs, Cassie Roberts is Chief Executive and co-founder of Open Doors International Language School (ODILS) in Plymouth shares their story.

Missionaries.  Most of us understand a ‘missionary’ ‘ as ‘one who is called to go and to cross geographical boundaries to bring the Gospel to the nations’.  But, what if a missionary is called to stay where they are?

When my husband and I felt the call to missions, we assumed the Lord wanted us to go overseas; so we prayed, prepared and started making plans to go…

Then the Lord began speaking to us through prophetic words and He very clearly told us to stay because He was going to bring the nations to us.  This turned our world upside down.  We were ready and willing to go. Could a missionary even be called to stay?  What did He mean that He would bring the nations to us? 

At this time, Plymouth was 98% white British, and it seemed unfathomable that we could be missionaries here.  But God’s ways are not our ways.  The Lord has called all of us to obedience, faith, and perseverance wherever we are; I knew I had to obey.  However, I didn’t just have to, I wanted to; even though it was going to be challenging.  God is always more interested in what is happening in us than through us, and He was definitely doing some work in my husband and me.  He was challenging our ideologies, our dreams, and our plans for the future. 

We grounded ourselves in His word, remembering that He holds our future and that His plans are above our plans. We stayed in Plymouth and continued to cultivate and plant the ground we had been given.  I didn’t find it easy to put roots down, and it was a process for us to accept these instructions to stay without understanding why. 

But, God is a God of ‘Suddenlys’; even if it takes years of waiting to get to that point.  We spent four years continuing to serve the church locally, wondering where the nations were, when suddenly we began to see the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise to us.  Plymouth became a designated dispersal centre for asylum seekers, and I was given the job of being the Refugee and Asylum Seeker Coordinator at a local college.  We soon received over 1500 people in one year, all of them speaking languages that were not previously represented in our City. Most of them came from countries located in the 10/40 Window, which meant that they were ‘Unreached’.  They had never heard of Jesus before, never even had the opportunity to, and now the Lord was sending them to us.  From that time on, He continued to bring the nations to us, and we began to understand how it is that a missionary can be called to stay, and what an honour that calling is.

For more information about ODILS please visit www.odils.com

For more information about the Cert TESOL please visit www.onlinetesolcourses.com or contact Chris at 01752 258770 or cwilson@odils.com