- Participants deepen their understandings of Good Soil theology and missiology of evangelism and discipleship and seminar content.
- Participants become certified to teach the Good Soil Basic Seminar in their own ministries.
- Participants become eligible to purchase Good Soil Basic Seminar workbooks.
- Participants are granted access to the online Instructor’s Resource Center, which includes instructional resources used in Good Soil training.
Good Soil E&D is for Medical Ministry Teams
as well as many other kinds of ministries.
Medical Ministry Teams – Healing Bodies and Ministering to Souls
Health concerns are one thing Christians and non-Christians have in common. And because Christian medical personnel in North America have been blessed with good training and medical resources, medical ministry clinics have been used greatly of God to help hurting people in countries lacking good medical care.
Some medical clinics, both mobile and stationary, are conducted by career missionaries as an ongoing part of their ministries. Other medical ministry clinics are short-term mission projects, usually staffed by North American medical personnel. Both types of clinics can and have worked effectively to bring health care and the gospel to people who need them.
But, there are issues that concern, even alarm, many missions experts!
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Gospel presentations given in many medical ministry clinics are brief and shallow, even with people who know very little about the true God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, and salvation by grace through faith. Eager to please Christian medical personnel in order to receive free treatment, many nationals are willing to say “Yes!” to anything they are asked to do.
In many cases, it is probably wise to limit gospel presentations to what is commonly called “pre-evangelism” (Good Soil calls it “tilling” and “planting”) and let experienced missionaries handle the “reaping”– leading patients to genuine faith responses when they are confident that they clearly understand and are ready to genuinely embrace the gospel.
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Some medical workers, especially short-termers on project trips from North America, have little Biblical and theological training. And virtually none of the short-termers understand the challenges of cross-cultural, “world-view noisy” evangelism. Consequently, medical clinics often report large numbers of “conversions”, but the long-term spiritual results are dismal.
Good Soil seminars were created to equip missionaries and others for worldview relevant evangelism and discipleship. Medical personnel who participate in a Good Soil seminar become aware of many of these issues and learn lots of key tips and tools for evangelism with people who know little or nothing about the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Some missionaries have the wisdom to always connect their medical clinics to nearby local churches for ongoing ministry to clinic patients, but many—especially North American project-clinics—do not. Thus, while the humanitarian goals may be met through the clinics, opportunities for evangelistic follow-up, discipleship, and church planting are missed.
Plan medical ministry trips in conjunction with church planting missionaries and establish a plan, prior to the clinics, for connecting clinic patients to local churches for follow-up. Be sure to collect adequate information on patients, so that they can be contacted later for purposes of verifying professions of faith, conducting discipleship, and incorporating them into a Bible-believing church.
We all want to share our faith effectively…but how do we do it?
Training for Worldview-Relevant Evangelism and Discipleship
Good Soil Basic Seminar
Two Days in May or October
Good Soil’s Basic Seminar will help you…
- Understand key principles of cross-cultural evangelism that are found in the New Testament, especially from the ministry of the apostles in the book of Acts. Good Soil is solidly based on a Biblical theology of evangelism and missiological worldview-relevancy.
- Learn many practical tools and tips for effective evangelism, even in cultures that may be totally ignorant of, and hostile to, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Cut through the “worldview noise” that often prevents non-Christians in other faith-cultures from understanding the essential distinctives of the Biblical gospel, and from failing to forsake their non-Biblical beliefs and practices when they do profess faith in Jesus Christ.
- Present the Bible’s BIG Story of redemption, beginning in Genesis 1 and proceeding chronologically through the Bible to the end of Revelation 22.
- Do evangelism in a way that unbelievers—even those from non-Biblical worldviews—will clearly understand the gospel, so that they can sincerely embrace it and hold on to it.
Here are a few sample pages from the Good Soil Seminar workbook:
Begin by attending a Good Soil BASIC Seminar, so that you can enhance your skills in worldview-relevant evangelism and can begin using Good Soil’s resources most effectively.
Learn More and RegisterThen, participate in a Good Soil TRAINER CERTIFICATION workshop, where you will be qualified and certified to teach Good Soil seminars on your field or to others in your ministry with medical personnel.
Trainer Certification Workshop
One Day in May or October
Last week, we attended Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship training, which included The Way to Joy discipleship workbook and The Story of Hope evangelistic Bible study workbook. I highly recommend these resources. The evangelistic study is especially good, as it covers the 40 most important events in the Bible so Bible study participants can capture the big picture, and also includes the Chronological Bridge to Life, which includes the eight essential concepts someone needs to grasp to be saved (God, Man, Sin, Death, Christ, Cross, Faith, Life). What really struck me is how I´ve often short-circuited the process of evangelism, skipping over key concepts or not explaining the story line of the Bible. In our culture here, you may get "decisiones" but the person may not have truly understood the gospel.
—Jon, missionary in Colombia
The Story of Hope
Evangelistic Bible Study Workbook
The Story of Hope was specifically created for evangelism (or discipleship) with people from non-Christian worldview cultures—for missionary ministries.
- It begins with the assumption that Bible study participants know little or nothing about the true God, the Bible, or Jesus Christ.
- It begins with Genesis 1:1 and unfolds the BIG Story of God’s plan of redemption, from Genesis through Revelation. In doing so, it provides the overall context in which the gospel of Jesus Christ makes sense, even to people from other faith backgrounds.
- It engages participants in direct Bible study, allowing them to have “Aha!” moments about the truths of Scripture, especially regarding Jesus Christ—His claims and His provision for the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life.
- It is visually and colorfully illustrated and designed for easy understanding.
- It is time-flexible. You can use it in one-on-one studies, in groups studies, or individuals can use for self-study.
- There is a FREE downloadable Leader’s Guide available.
- There is also a Global English Edition available, written at a 9th grade reading level.
- Generous quantity pricing.
- Available in many languages.
FREE Leader's Guide
103 Professionally Designed Pages
103 professionally-designed pages of answers to the Bible study questions contained in The Story of Hope and suggestions as to how to deal with some of the common questions you may face, as well as many other tips for making your study successful. Download it for FREE and see for yourself.
FREE Leader's GuideThe Story of Hope - Kids
The Story of Hope - Kids workbook is a chronological Bible study for kids, approximately ages 8-12. It is designed to help kids understand the BIG story of redemption, from Genesis through Revelation—a perspective that very few other ministry resources provide for children. The workbook contains one page for each of 40 Bible-event lessons, including an image from the Good Soil Redemptive Art Series and questions that get kids digging into the Bible texts for themselves. Also, the Chronological Bridge to Life is presented in an eight-page sequence. There's a Personal Faith Response page too.
Questions and map activities engage kids to read and think, rather than just rotely memorize. This workbook is bright and colorful and beautifully illustrated.
64 pages, Plastic Coil Bound
One lady who went to Sunday school as a child, but never truly trusted Jesus as her Savior, was being led through an evangelistic Bible study based on the adult version of The Story of Hope. She commented:
Why didn't they teach the Bible like this to me when I was in Sunday school? If they had done so, I might have understood it and become a true believer.
I love the concept of Good Soil. God has been teaching me about the importance of his whole word in sharing the gospel for years. One of my missionary friends mentioned she was using your material and I looked at what it is. Now I am just taking The Story of Hope and introducing a picture/story a week in my girls Sunday School class. Thank you for the framework! I love the way this ties together all of the Word of God. Thanks!
—Loreena in IL
The Bible's Big Story Teaching Visuals
The Bible's BIG Story Teaching Visuals - Set of 105
Set of 105 laminated, double-sided teaching visuals for teaching the Bible's redemptive story, from Genesis through Revelation.
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13.5” x 10.75” laminated printed teaching visuals. Key Bible event content on the back, event image on the front. 105 teaching visuals, 50 Old Testament and 50 New Testament, plus five that work especially for ministry with Muslims. Great for teaching the BIG Story of the Bible that begins in Genesis and culminates in Revelation.
Key content on the back side is translatable – just request the document for translating the text into the language you need for your ministry. It’s possible that your ministry language document might already be available.
We recommend that you take some sets of these teaching visuals to the field with you, use them in your ministry of Bible teaching and evangelism—while you are there demonstrate to nationals how to use them—and leave them with national church leaders when you return home to North America.
We continue to work with the pastors and their wives at the Simbai Baptist Pastors’ and Wives’ Fellowship. In November, we introduced them to The Story of Hope (TSOH), an evangelistic tool which includes 40 laminated picture cards. TSOH is a short story of the Bible and God’s provision of salvation. Our pastors are excited about this tool. We have 30 sets of cards for them and will be giving them some concentrated teaching and training beginning next year.
—Bill, missionary in Papua New Guinea
The Bible's BIG Story PowerPoint CD
The Bible’s BIG Story PowerPoint CD contains three PowerPoint presentations of the Bible’s story of redemption, from Genesis through Revelation:
20 Events - to use with short presentations and The Story of Hope Condensed.
40 Events - to use with medium-length presentations and The Story of Hope.
100 Events - to use with more extended presentations of the Bible’s BIG Story.
Each Bible event is beautifully illustrated with an image from the Good Soil Redemptive Art Series. Also, included in each presentation are slides of Bible maps and the Chronological Bridge to Life.
All text can be exchanged with your translated text on the PowerPoint slides.
*Also available as a download
Sample Old Testament Images
Eve and serpent in Eden
Abraham & Isaac
Sacrifice of lamb at altar in front of tabernacle
Sample New Testament Images
John the Baptist
Resurrection of Jesus
Believers in heaven - around Jesus - the rapture scene
Chronological Bridge to Life
Teach people the BIG Story of the Bible, based upon eight key concepts that emerge chronologically from Genesis through Revelation:
- God
- Man
- Sin
- Death
- Christ
- Cross
- Faith
- Life
A walk through the Chronological Bridge to Life
A great Bible teaching resource to use for gospel presentations in medical ministries.
The Roots of Faith Bible Courses
Old and New Testaments
The Roots of Faith - Old Testament
The Roots of Faith - New Testament
Teaching the Bible chronologically, in a way that equips students for effective ministry in a world of competing faiths and cultures.
Chronological Bible courses that unfold the BIG Story of the Bible, based on 100 key redemptive story events. Specifically created for training Christ-followers to share God’s redemptive story in non-Christian worldview cultures AND to use in teaching the Bible to Christians from those cultures who often carry non-Christian “worldview baggage” into their Christian lives and practices—teaching the Bible to help purge the “worldview baggage.”
The Roots of Faith courses are three courses in one:
- Chronological Bible survey courses—Students master the overall chronological framework and core content of the Bible.
- Biblical theology courses—The Bible’s basic theological concepts are presented as they were progressively revealed, from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22.
- Worldview apologetics courses—Common non Christian worldview (“worldview noise”) issues are addressed throughout the courses in order to equip Christ-followers to live and minister in a world of competing faiths and cultures.
The courses also include:
- Downloadable Bible commentary for each course, to provide expert help for all of the Bible passages included in the lessons.
- Instructors Guide for each course.
- Access to online instructional resources for each course.
Additional supplemental resources are available, such as printed and PowerPoint teaching visuals and chronological Bible cards and more.
Great Bible training for your medical missions staff, especially those who have never had an opportunity for a Bible education. Ask us about a group rate.
How can you be certified to teach The Roots of Faith Courses in your ministry?
Full Certification Option: Participate in The Roots of Faith Courses
Image of a TROF OT Class at ABWE - FUN Learning
Image of a TROF NT Class at ABWE - Interactive & Engaging Learning
Provisional Certification Option: Purchase The Roots of Faith Instructor’s Kits
Gaining Ground with Good Soil
Learning to Share God’s Redemptive Story in a World of Competing Faiths and Cultures.
Gaining Ground with Good Soil is a story about and for missionaries and other cross-cultural ministry workers. In an interesting narrative form, the book explains the theology and missiology of evangelism and discipleship of Good Soil E&D. You will love the story of a missionary couple, and their national colleagues, who learn some Biblical principles that revolutionize their ministries—Good Soil principles that can help you to become more effective as well.
The audio book can be downloaded to your phone or pad. It’s a good resource to recommend to all members of your medical ministries team.
There is a FREE Leader’s Guide for teaching the contents of this book in 12 or more class sessions. See the FREE resources below.
Gaining Ground with Good Soil
Want to understand more about Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship? This is the place to start! NEW Visually Enhanced 2016 Edition - An evangelism and discipleship training narrative that is a scaled-down version of the Good Soil E&D seminar in a narrative format. Full color throughout.
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Audio Book
Gaining Ground with Good Soil - Audiobook
A 4 hours and 7 minutes audio narrative that will help you understand worldview-relevant evangelism and discipleship and their importance in a world of competing faiths and cultures. A professionally produced audio book version of Gaining Ground with Good Soil.
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This morning, Josué asked me about how he can share his faith more effectively with his friends at school. I’ve been reading Gaining Ground with Good Soil, a book about evangelism, written by Gil Thomas, a former missionary to Portugal. I’ve been learning a lot from the book and I was able to share some of it with Josué.
—Phillip, missionary intern in France
All the resources needed for teaching Gaining Ground with Good Soil in a small group or class.
FREE Book for Leaders of Medical Ministry Teams
Gaining Ground with Good Soil is an evangelism and discipleship training narrative—a scaled-down version of the Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship seminar in a narrative format. The principles gained from this book are applicable for anyone wishing to serve God through Biblical evangelism and discipleship, but is especially instructive and helpful for campus ministry leaders.
The realistic, but fictional narrative, around which the book is developed, tells the story of a couple of missionaries who were frustrated and discouraged—to the point of almost giving up—because of their lack of success in evangelism and discipleship on their field. But, the “Good Soil” principles they learned from Bible study revolutionized their ministries. It will help you think through a theology of evangelism and discipleship and help you to present the gospel so that people will clearly understand it, sincerely embrace it, and firmly hold on to it.
Free instructional resources for individual and group study are also available for download. www.GoodSoil.com/FREE
If you are a leader of medical ministry teams, with a USA shipping address, and will commit to reading this book, we will send you a FREE (and postage-free) copy of Gaining Ground with Good Soil.
More Good Soil Resources for Evangelism and Discipleship
Good Soil provides an entire toolbox of resources for medical ministry teams.
For a complete overview of our Good Soil resources:
More Good Soil E&D Stories from Medical Ministry Teams
A guy (Mausman), in our newest church plant in Papua New Guinea, told me his faith story in church today, after I preached about Nicodemus in John 3. Mausman was saved in one of our mobile medical clinics a few months ago, where we used The Story of Hope printed teaching visuals to present the gospel. Here is what he said, roughly translated from Pidgin: I was like Nicodemus. I had church but not Jesus. When you showed the pictures to us, I knew some of the stories, but I realized I had church not Jesus, like Nicodemus. Thank you!
—Bill, missionary in Papua New Guinea
Calvary Care Home, a ministry of Calvary Baptist Church of Richards Bay, South Africa, is situated in one of the AIDS hotspots of the world. Calvary Care Home provides care for four HIV+ hospice women, with the goal of providing compassionate care along with gospel teaching. Reaching people with the gospel is an extremely urgent task when the death rate of those to whom we minister is so high! When The Story of Hope was completed in the Zulu language, reaching those close to death became a bit easier (at least we now have a good gospel-teaching resource in the Zulu language!). Many challenges exist as we present the gospel to people in this culture. Commonly, people mix ancestral worship with teaching about Christ and God. The Story of Hope provides a systematic way of working through God’s Word while dispelling common misbeliefs about God. Before taking in our first patients, all of the caregivers were taken through The Story of Hope. It is not uncommon to come into the home and find a caregiver reading through the material with a patient. This thrills our heart!
—Missionaries to South Africa
Yesterday one of our pastors preached a funeral with over 1000 people attending. He decided to use the printed teaching visuals. I know they are small for such a large group and odd for a funeral, but there were some salvation decisions. We are presently working with a fellowship of 10 churches that are affected by, or started by, the medical clinic ministry. We are using the teaching visuals with the 10 ministry teams that are going to present the Gospel in 27 villages over the Christmas season.We have had a lot of drought recently and a lady gave us some funds to buy rice so we are able to give a packet of rice to each person that will be hearing the gospel in these different villages. This represents about 3500 people. God is really using the material.
—Bill, missionary in Papua New Guinea
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