Overview

From the very earliest pages of Scripture we see our loving God at work in His world calling His fallen and lost creation back to Himself. This world-wide, God-driven project we call world missions. We also see the Lord graciously inviting His people to participate with Him through the guidance and power of His Holy Spirit in this divine effort of reaching all the nations of the world with the Gospel.

To take part in this great task requires preparation. First and foremost it requires God's calling and His empowerment. It also requires prayer and discovering what the Lord's specific will is for our lives. To take part in world missions also requires lots of hard work on our part to learn how to successfully adapt to new ways of living, how to relate cross-culturally, and in many cases to learn a new language. Our purpose here at King's Way Language & Missions Training Center is to help equip those who find themselves on this kind of journey and who have a special focus on the Spanish-speaking world.

At King's Way we teach Spanish and world missions in the context of how God is working in the 21st century. We do not teach only Spanish or only mission-related classes. We include both because in order to successfully reach out to the Spanish-speaking people of the world, we must not only know their language but also their customs, their world view, their specific problems and many other vital facts. Most importantly we must learn how to enter their culture as learners and servants.

Our Spanish course is complete, and it is intense! Our program consists of six levels of coordinated conversation and grammar classes, and each level must be mastered before moving up to the next one. Anyone who thinks that learning another language is a simple task hasn't tried it yet. We don't recommend our course to anyone who is not prepared to study and work hard. Our Spanish course includes ten hours a week of conversation with native speakers along with another ten hours each week of grammar. We also have a class in Spanish phonetics and ministry-related Spanish, and there are daily language lab assignments and activities. We also cross the border into Mexico frequently, including an extended trip into the interior of the country each semester, to allow our students practical experience in Latin America and to practice what they are learning in the classroom. From time to time our visits include activities with local Mexican ministries that network with King's Way, such as orphanages and a church located inside a dump. Besides the time you will be in class, students should also plan to spend several hours every day in additional study and preparation at home. Our program is a full-time job, and no student should come thinking that they will have time for part-time work or for extensive involvement in mission work and ministry with friends across the border. King's Way is looking for students who are serious about learning Spanish and being involved in world missions and who realize that their main calling during their time with us is to learn the language and absorb all they can about cross-cultural ministry.

The heart of our missions curriculum is the well-known Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course, which was originally developed by the U.S. Center for World Missions in Pasadena, California. The Perspectives course is a college-level class taught once a week over a fifteen-week period during our Spring semester. Each week is a delightful adventure of learning as world-class instructors specializing in various mission-related fields travel to King's Way from different parts of the United States to teach that week's particular topic. Perspectives does have homework including reading assignments, quizzes and a term paper focusing on an unreached people group in the world today. During the Fall Semester we also present another course entitled Modern Missions, which covers many important and vital topics related to missionary service specifically in the Spanish-speaking world. Our missions courses are a required for graduation and are part of our overall training program. They are designed to prepare and equip our students for successful ministry in the field of world missions especially among Spanish-speaking people.

Having said all this we would also like to add the following words of encouragement. Even though we admit that we intentionally try to communicate to our prospective students that our program is challenging and not for the faint-hearted, we do also have numerous activities that are just for fun and relaxation. King's Way is located a little over an hour from the Gulf coast, and one of our students' favorite destinations is South Texas' premium beach resort town of South Padre Island. We are also located only minutes from Mexico itself, a fact that we fully implement into our language and missions program, and the popular tourist town of Nuevo Progreso is only about half an hour away. Of course, the Rio Grande Valley is alive with interesting things to do and places to visit including parks, libraries and museums along with international shopping, local festivals and three nearby national wildlife refuge areas, not to mention the more than eight hundred quality restaurants located here in the Upper Rio Grande Valley. Yes, we do work hard at King's Way, but we also know how to have fun as well!