Kingsway Church nurtures pupils’ proficiency in English

Morris Mtisi
KINGSWAY Adventist church in Greenside-Mutare is not only a holy place of worship. It is also pretty much ‘‘a school’’ of English language for Adventist school-going pupils. They come from various surrounding schools and homes. The Adventist church is one church of God that has an open policy which seriously resembles Jesus’s ‘let the children come to me’ attitude. At Kingsway church, I am sure other Adventist churches around Mutare and elsewhere, there are a plethora of children’s or youth programmes giving children space to attend Bible study lessons, lead discussion and prayer sessions and even ‘‘preach’’.

Four such youth groups or programmes are Cradle Roll (age-a few months to 3 years), Kindergarten (4 to 5 years) Adventurers (Primary school age-6 to 9 years), Pathfinders (10 to 15) and Ambassadors (16 to 18). Finally Senior Youth! All of them benefit immensely from a well-organised programme of leadership training and speech development both offered informally and indirectly but highly effective.

How did the Kingsway Adventist church catch the interest of this writer who himself will soon become a full member of the Adventist church after prerequisite observation of required procedures and doctrinal protocols?

Many attractions of course in the manner in which worship is conducted and how it is strictly a Bible-based faith that drives the conduct of belief and faith here, but above all the full throttle reading and Bible studying, the way youths from as young as eleven to high school students are given space to actively involve themselves in all church business. And they do it all in English. Not as a church rule or regulation, but by choice or preferred habit. So you see why I fall in love with these children, don’t you?

Except that there are no written compositions and other language syllabus regulars, the church is a perfect school of English communication skills development. Children develop public speaking skills in all scheduled youth presentations. This develops their confidence and trains them in leadership skills. In the assessment of this writer there is no doubt the church is doing far better than most schools to achieve this end.

Last Saturday church service at Kingsway Church was one particular children’s service where students from Mutare Boys and Mutare Girls High demonstrated most adorably these skills at work. It was the Ambassadors’ service, a service wholly conducted by teenage boys and girls attending Kingsway church.
This is where I met Trish Murefu (16) a Form 4 Mutare Girls High pupil who speaks beautifully, confidently and knowledgeably.

“Who taught you to speak so easily, beautifully and confidently?” I asked her.
“I owe it to my English teacher Mrs Zembe and Mr Sithole,” she replied.
Then there was Gamuchirayi Mutamba (only 13). She ‘teaches’ like a qualified teacher and is as articulate as a grown up. She does not stammer and speaks at a speed that defies stubborn grammatical errors and mistakes.

Sixteen year old Raphael Mupande is not only confident in speech. He is eloquent and so verbally organized that you think you are listening to a religious politician or theological professor. Wonderful speaker! He makes no exaggerations of accent, no laconic boredom and has no stage arrogance! He is just a straightforward thinker and prolific speaker. What a marvelous young man!

“And you Raphael! How did it come about?” I asked the young ‘Barack Obama’.
“I am a member of the Mutare Boys High public speaking and debating club. That is where it came from I guess,” said the young flaming orator.
Vanessa Mncube is in a class of her own. Only 11, Vanessa can talk to and address anyone on earth without breaching one acknowledged rule of grammar. She will not stammer, adulterate or misplace one tense in the English language. Beautiful little girl! Amazing in all senses of the word!

“My mom Emma is my inspiration. I go to Little Hilcrest and in Grade 6. I attended Little Angels kindergarten in Rusape.” said the little cute Adventist.
“My wish in life is to become a doctor, a surgeon to be exact,” smiled the little eleven year old Vannessa, beaming and oozing confidence and aspiration all over her beautiful face.

“I love reading, especially adventure stories. I read two biggish books a week,” she said and told me, “I live with my mom in Zim . . . my dad is in South Africa.”
What a sweet little girl full of verve, hope and future!

Little wonder! Here is one little girl, only 11, who is already in love with reading and speaking. What more can be a better way of developing intellectual sharpness and leadership skills?

If it is their schools that nurture these children’s communication skills, no doubt they do, Adventist Kingsway Church sharpens the skills and gives children bonuses in moral rearmament through loving God and development of leadership skills.

Catch them young, they say, and Jesus said, you will recall, “Let the children come to me, for the Kingdom of heaven is in them (Matthew 19 vs. 14). I say to Adventist Kingsway church “Continue to let the children come and work for God, for the future of the nation is in them.” There is no better way of developing children both intellectually and morally.

To the Kingsway church elders and organizers of these youth programmes at Kingsway church, I recommend that you consider offering proper or actual training in public speaking and communication skills. The work of God can and will be done better and the children, at the same time, sharpening communication skills vitally important in their studies in school life which is essentially their core business at this stage in their lives.

A lot of preachers and religious teachers nowadays, upcoming evangelists and pastors, are handicapped by poor or unpolished communication skills. They may have the Word, but not the mouth. Many of them need to learn the psychology and science of speech to avoid boring and disappointing those hungry or thirsty for the Word and ultimate salvation. Good speakers, ‘‘teachers’’ of the Word are called or hand-picked (by the Lord Himself), or trained by human experts. There is no in-between. The best of them are products of both.

Some preachers or teachers of the Word, think they have the license or divine permission to offend audiences with careless and unthought-of statements. For example condemning divorces and separations as if those who went through it were religious idiots yet, many of them in the churches are single mothers and fathers looking for shelter under the wings of one merciful and forgiving God. And meanwhile overzealous and over-excited preachers seem to be suggesting those who had difficult or failed marriages are sinners more sinful than their own marriage circuses. Or talking about HIV or AIDS as if everybody who has it is dead or dying or unclean before God! As if everyone who is HIV positive did something wrong and you don’t have it because you are righteous . . . yet some endure hypertensions, heart problems, breast, prostate cancers and other terminal and near-terminal illnesses, there in the church! and no one thinks they did something wrong. Some holier-than-though preachers and speakers meanwhile take Church to be a platform to show how they love each other in their families, with their wives or husbands, and seemingly implying that all those whose marriages didn’t work out are fools and God hates them. He does not! Jesus came for these and these will not be distracted by blabbermouths at church or be diverted from pleasing both themselves and God who is the ultimate judge, the beginning and end of it all.

In the excitement of preaching and speaking, there is need to think before hurting or offending audiences. Many leave churches because of unthinking rattlers who ‘‘kill’’ audiences and individuals by their crooked and vile utterances. And those who don’t leave endure the pain of simple foul-mouthed and unthinking ‘‘activists’’. They think God is their friend, and theirs alone, and everybody else they don’t like is His enemy too. The office of our Maker does not function or operate that way. That is a truth as truthful as The Word itself.

Congregations are not assemblies of ‘‘no-gooders’’, sinners who will consume any verbal garbage and pulpit euphoria. That stage is holy. It represents God’s platform. It is sacred and must never be used as a podium to show-off personal ego or useless snobbishness. If the pulpit does not calm you down to humility and God-fearing reverence, and you start repulsive stage-acting, taking audiences for granted, you drive good intention out of good listeners’ ears and minds and bury their purpose of coming to church. Church assemblies go through this torture in their churches every church service, every Saturday or Sunday it doesn’t make a difference, but none is brave enough to stand up and speak against it.

Speaking to God’s people in His church is not the same as film –acting. It is a sacred privilege to represent Him above, correctly and decently. There is nothing more unchristian than clowning in front of the church, imitating funny or strange role models seen on television or encountered somewhere, and putting up a real theatre performance before a Christian congregation. Sometimes preachers, young or old need to pray for wisdom before speaking to God’s sheep.

Let our children not be hindered by such poor presentation skills. God provides the Word, as a matter of fact He is the Word, but it is our own duty and obligation to train the mouth that speaks them. He will not teach you the correct eye contact and elocution needed. He will not give you the syntax and semantics to deliver His Word. He will not supply the ability to control audience through correct intonation and voice undulation.

He will not teach you to speak with sensitivity, fluency and confidence, to think before you speak. He will not teach you to sustain points of view during presentation, help you to shape and manage discussion, synthesize essentials from un-essentials, responding with authority and to make dynamic and influential contributions in discussion and presentation.

God will not teach us to speak with purpose in a structured way or help us to use correct English vocabulary and grammar. We can only learn all these skills and that means training, receiving proper training.

This writer would like to congratulate Kingsway Church and its sister assemblies all over the city of Mutare for offering young boys and girls excellent space to develop leadership and public speaking skills that make their school life all the easier and worthwhile, meanwhile bolstering moral rearmament. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, future churches will have sharper and more effective and purposeful preachers and teachers of the Word. The Adventist church is doing extremely well to achieve this end.