Rev Dr Alston Henry

Cristo me ama, bien lo se

Su palabra me hace ver

Que los ninos son de aquel

Quien es nuestro amigo fiel

(A spanish translation of the song Jesus Loves me this I know)

The world truly is a small place, but it will be more so on Sundays, thanks to the Church of the Open Bible's bold new initiative to teach some Sunday School classes in Spanish and French.

The Washington Boulevard-based church commenced their novel programme on Sunday, with a total number of 20 people registered for their Spanish class and 10 for French

The church's pastor, Reverend Alston Henry, told The Gleaner that the project was in its pilot stage as so did not include the entire Sunday school population; instead two classes have been specifically created for the purpose.

No English

The reverend made it clear that only Spanish in the Spanish class, and only French in the French - there will be no English!

"It is a way to add value, you can come to Sunday school and have an opportunity to practise your foreign language, be it Spanish or French," Rev Henry said, as he explained why the church had undertaken the initiative.

"It will help people with their conversational Spanish and French; it will also prepare some of our people to minister among some of our Spanish-speaking and French-speaking neighbours.

"It will help our people with their second language for their exam, for work - there's a lot to be gained and so we are doing our little part in helping people to learn a second language."

Currently, the class comprises a wide cross-section of individuals, from adults to young people. There is expected, however, to be a balancing and restructuring of the classes further on in the programme.

Gabrielle Hosin, the young teacher of the Spanish class, said she thinks the classes were a good idea though, and offered a tremendous opportunity for the church to help others.

"As the world becomes globalised we as the church ... are being given more opportunities to minister to people ... who may not speak our language," she said.

"They'll come to our country and need a church home and not be able to find one because they can't necessarily speak the language," Hosin explained.

andrew.wildes@gleanerjm.com