Welcome to ISLC!
The Institute of Strategic Languages & Cultures (ISLC) is devoted to providing Christian workers with essential training for complex cultures. You can quickly learn Russian or Chinese in one of our year-round or summer language programs.
MANDARIN CHINESE CLASSES NOW AVAILABLE!
The Chinese language institute is now up and running. Part-time courses begin this August with a full-time summer institute planned for 2013! Click on the Evening Language Courses tab for more information or contact us - classes are forming now.
We offer a full-time (5 days/week) intensive Russian language program, summer full-time Russian and Mandarin Chinese language programs, and part-time year-round programs for both Russian and Chinese.
We are currently developing a full-time language and culture program for Mandarin Chinese, with potential for Arabic in the near future. Interested? Click here to learn more about the Arabic Language Institute, or here to learn about the Chinese Language Institute.
Our World
Of all the important regions in the world, China, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union stand out as strategic areas for which workers must be thoroughly prepared and trained in order to maximize their potential and ensure success.
The three dominant languages in these regions are among the most difficult to learn. The cultures there are influential and complex. And the spiritual needs are acute, making such cultures strategic. A strategic culture is defined as one that has a widespread influence over a large region of the world and presents Christian workers with formidable challenges in cultural assimilation, language acquisition, and apologetics.
For the untrained, the trials of life and ministry there may mean disappointment and an early ticket home. The Institute of Strategic Languages and Cultures exists to equip you with the basic language and cross-cultural skills you will need to make a lasting impact. To be trained for life and ministry in these cultures, you need someone who has been down the same road. A person who knows what it takes to make it there: a mentor. We provide several mentors, both American and native-speaking instructors, who will teach you to speak these languages fluently. Their passion is to enable you to reach your target culture for Christ. They assist you in understanding your new adopted culture and adapting to a totally different way of life. At ISLC, our mission is to invest in your training so that you can fulfill your calling and stay the course on the field.
ISLC is an inter-denominational organization committed to providing essential cross-cultural and language training for Christian workers who are preparing to serve God in the most challenging contexts. Though the cultures of the Arab, Chinese and Russian worlds are some of the earth’s most strategic and challenging cultures, we continue to explore opportunities to offer training for other strategic languages and cultures as God leads. We appreciate your prayers!
ISLC Goals
- To equip workers with the cross-cultural skills to be proficient at serving in their target culture.
- To provide quality Russian, Arabic and Chinese language programs that will accelerate language learning so that workers are equipped to work effectively within their new culture as soon as possible.
- To provide workers with a broad understanding of the worldviews prevalent in their new cultures.
Our Location
ISLC is located in Columbia, South Carolina right next to Columbia International University, with whom we have a strategic partnership to equip workers with the knowledge and skills they need to make Christ known among the nations. Please address any correspondence to:
ISLC
P.O. Box 212667
Columbia, SC 29221
(803) 333-9119
Over 6.5 billion people living in 195 countries including over 1,500 different cultures and speaking over 5,000 languages.
There are billions of people living in our world today
How many of them know Jesus as their personal Savior?
China has a great need for church leadership training.
It is also home of one of the hardest languages to learn.
The need to equip workers for the Arab world is greater than it has ever been.
The needs are overwhelming. Are you ready to make an impact on the Arab world?
The Russian world - wracked by a thousand years of violent and oppressive history…
A challenging language and complex culture in great need of Christ.
Of all the important regions in the world, China, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union stand out as strategic areas for which workers must be thoroughly prepared and trained in order to maximize their potential and ensure success.
The three dominant languages in these regions are among the most difficult to learn. The cultures there are influential and complex. And the spiritual needs are acute, making such cultures strategic: A strategic culture is defined as one that has a widespread influence over a large region of the world and presents Christian workers with formidable challenges in cultural assimilation, language acquisition, and apologetics.
Russian Speaking Countries