But, there are issues that concern, even alarm, many missions experts!

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.