Equipping students for the Great Commission
Meghan Andrukaitis, our ELL teacher, works with a variety of students from different backgrounds who are all in the process of learning English as a second language. She began teaching middle school back in 2010 with refugees before spending time in China doing missions work and evangelism in a very unreached area in western China. After her time in China, Ms. Andrukaitis immersed herself in various discipleship and evangelism opportunities before eventually finding her way back to teaching. She spent four years teaching at a Hmong charter school before coming to Maranatha.
Ms. Andrukaitis' role at Marantha is incredibly important in that she is a key leader in our international program. “I teach Bible to our students who are new to Maranatha. Most of our international students don’t have any background in the Bible. They’ve never read the Bible [...] So we go through the Bible together, starting with Genesis and going through Revelation.” Mrs. Andrukaitis also teaches them English in order to help get them up to par with their classmates. One of her main focuses, however, is discipling her students and coming alongside them in their faith walk.
When asked what discipleship is to her, Ms. Andrukaitis said, “Discipleship can look a lot of different ways, and for me it looks two different ways. First of all, it’s teaching our students who are not Christians yet and discipling them, hopefully, into a relationship with Jesus and beyond. [...] And then the other way is with our American students. In this Evangelism and Missions class, it’s helping them to see they have been given the mission of sharing the Gospel with other people.” She trains her students to be able to have conversations with people about their faith. “How do you start a conversation? How do you talk to someone about Jesus in a respectful, Christ-honoring way that’s still speaking truth to them?” These are questions that students wrestle with in class so they can go out and influence others for Christ.
Ms. Andrukaitis' classes aren’t just about learning with no action. She takes her classes on trips in order to give students the opportunity to share their faith with others. “We went to the Brooklyn Center Transit Station, and we had four adults and six students. [...] We had three teams, and we just went out. Well, first we prayed and we worshiped; we just kind of set the stage.” This trip was the byproduct of weeks of preparation, and the team ended up witnessing for about an hour and a half. “We talked to people who were homeless, people who were recovering addicts, people who had maybe lost everything in life and were kind of at bottom.” Ms. Andrukaitis expressed how many of her students were surprised just how easy it was to share their faith and how they’d like to do it again.
Being able to give students these opportunities like Ms. Andrukaitis does in her evangelism class isn’t just great hands-on learning, but it’s life-changing for all involved. Jesus has called all of us to go into the world and spread the good news of the Gospel. If we’re not doing that, we’re missing out on something beautiful. “If you share, whether it’s with a coworker or a friend or anyone, it just brings your relationship with God to the next level. And that’s what I want the students to really get so it can change them.”
Jesus has called all of us to go into the world and spread the good news of the Gospel. If we’re not doing that, we’re missing out on something beautiful.
When asked what she hopes her students come away with at the end of the year, she said, “In regard to the Evangelism and Missions course, I want them to come away with a lot of tools in their tool belt that they can use at different situations in their future. For myself, I had a lot of people pour into me, and discipled me, and made me memorize Scripture. I have not forgotten those truths and those verses, so I make my students memorize 12 verses over the course of the semester. My goal is that they would retain those truths, and that when the Holy Spirit brings someone across their paths, that they can share it with them, and that they would be more comfortable to share their faith.”
