Prison Ministries
Jails and prisons are a very fertile mission field for planting the seeds of the gospel.
The millions of Americans who are incarcerated are often broken and desperate, “ripe unto harvest”. Many times they may call out to Jesus in a desire for real change, but do not fully understand what it means to follow Christ. Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship can help inmates clearly understand, genuinely embrace, and firmly hold on to the gospel.
The Story of Hope
An Evangelistic (or Discipleship) Bible Study Workbook
The Story of Hope (Global English Edition) works very well as a resource for ministry with jail or prison inmates, for several reasons:
- 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 the 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 group studies, or individuals can use it for self-study.
- There is a FREE downloadable Leader's Guide available.
- Global English Edition, written at a 7th through 9 th grade reading level.
40 pages edition with staple binding for jail and prison ministries. If you are a jail or prison ministry chaplain, ask us about possible funding assistance.
FREE Leader's Guide
102 Professionally Designed Pages
102 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.
FREE Leader's GuideBetty from MinnesotaWe work with a very small number at a time, all women. We have had quite a few who have had very little contact with the Bible. We give them Bibles. We have had young women who say they have no hope. We define the word hope as used here. The Story of Hope gives us a way to try to show them how the whole Bible points to Jesus. They are hungry for pictures and color so they are attentive. We read and discuss it together. We are allowed to send these back to their cells with them.
Since it is county jail, we have women who are in jail for only a few days up to a few months. It is difficult to know what lessons to do—we try to find things that are clear and stand alone, but if someone is there for a bit longer, we will also continue building on what we have been using. They ask difficult questions. We usually send some “homework” Bible reading back with them so they can follow up on their own and some of them do.
Please pray for us as we try to share with these troubled women the only place they can find hope. Many of them have young families and will be going back to the same setting as before.
The Way to Joy
A Basic Discipleship Bible Study Workbook
The Way to Joy was designed to teach new believers some of the most essential Biblical truths they need to know and help them establish basic spiritual disciplines they need to begin to practice, after receiving Jesus Christ as Savior. The study includes these ten lessons:
- The Joy of Hope: Knowing God's Eternal Plan Gives Us Hope
- The Joy of Eternal Life: Receiving God's Salvation Gives Us Eternal Life
- The Joy of Confidence: Having Salvation Assurance and Security Gives Us Confidence
- The Joy of Guidance: Reading and Studying God's Word Gives Us Guidance
- The Joy of Prayer: Praying Brings Us into an Intimate Relationship with God
- The Joy of God's Power: The Holy Spirit in Us Gives Us Power to Live for God
- The Joy of Purity: Obeying God's Word Helps Us Live Pure Lives that Please God
- The Joy of Sharing: Sharing the Gospel with Unbelievers Offers Them Hope
- The Joy of Fellowship: A Bible-Believing Church Provides Us a Place to Grow and Serve
- The Joy of Service: Understanding God's Plan for Us Gives Us a Sense of Purpose
Bible memory verse cards, as well as a Bible reading and prayer journal are included.
32 Pages, plus the Bible memory cards. Ask for 32 page (prison ministry) edition of The Way to Joy. If you are a jail or prison ministry chaplain, ask us about possible funding assistance.
FREE Leader's Guide
44 Professionally Designed Pages
44 professionally-designed pages to help you lead someone through this discipleship study. Includes answers to all of the Bible study questions in the study as well as lesson plans for all 10 discipleship sessions. Can be used for one-on-one studies or small groups studies. Download it for FREE and see for yourself
FREE Leader's GuideAdditional Recommended Evangelism and Discipleship Resources For Use in Jail and Prison Ministries
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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This set of 105 printed-laminated teaching visuals (13.5" x 10.75") works well in teaching the Bible to inmates, especially for those who are low-literate.
Includes high-quality Bible-event visuals for 50 Old Testament and 50 New Testament events from the Bible's BIG redemptive story. Also, includes five Bible event-visuals that are particularly helpful in teaching the gospel to Muslims.
Begins with an "In the beginning God…" (Genesis 1:1) image and continues chronologically through the last two chapters of Revelation. Great resource for teaching inmates what the Bible is all about and how it unfolds, as a story.
Key teaching content is printed on the back side of each visual. Or, you can tape your own teaching notes to the backs of the visuals.
Take a "Look Inside" and see for yourself
Dave, prison ministry worker in ColoradoIn our ministry with prison inmates, we're doing some imagination stuff (“put yourself in the image”) with the printed teaching visuals in a small group. And, then we go to the Bible texts. It’s been very encouraging! I'm amazed as to how much the inmates can pick up from the images.
Chronological Bridge to Life
Teach inmates 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 simple but flexible gospel presentation for use in jail and prison ministries.
We all want to share our faith effectively…but how do we do it?
Evangelism and Discipleship Training for Jail & Prison Chaplains or Jail and Prison Ministry Volunteers
Learn to share the gospel, God’s story of hope, in a way that people will clearly understand it, sincerely embrace it, and hold fast to it.
The top ten takeaways from Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship training:
- Learn how to initiate conversations that open up to unobtrusive opportunities to share the gospel.
- Learn how to determine where a person is on his/her level of understanding of the gospel and receptivity to knowing more about salvation through Jesus Christ.
- Learn how to present the truth of the gospel in a way that it isn't misunderstood by the person with whom you are sharing, regardless of his/her religious worldview.
- Learn how to share God's story of redemption, from Genesis through Revelation, so that the recipient will understand the Biblical context for the good news of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
- Learn how to present the gospel, using the Chronological Bridge to Life.
- Learn how to share the gospel, using your own faith story.
- Learn a variety of ways to use The Story of Hope, in evangelism, with confidence.
- Learn how to use The Way to Joy, in discipling believers who are still weak in their faith.
- Learn about a wide variety of evangelism and discipleship resources that you may find to be helpful in your ministry.
- Learn to teach others what you have learned about evangelism and discipleship, and train them to do what you have learned to do through the training you have received.
Always, engaging, interactive, and FUN learning.
The Roots of Faith Bible Courses
Old Testament and New Testament Bible Courses
The Roots of Faith Goes to Prison
The Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution at Dallas, PA (SCI Dallas) is a medium-security prison for adult male felons. SCI Dallas houses more than 2,100 inmates, some 400 of whom are serving life without any possibility of parole.
Ricardo Jackson, a chaplain at SCI Dallas, attended The Roots of Faith courses at ABWE, in order to be equipped to teach the courses to prison inmates. The class sessions were held on Monday evenings.
The class was promoted as an “Exploring the Bible” course. Chaplain Jackson asked some of the men to submit a note or letter, expressing what The Roots of Faith - Old Testament course had meant to them.
FREE Book for Jail and Prison Chaplains
Gaining Ground with Good Soil is an evangelism and discipleship 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 ministry leaders, including jail and prison chaplains.
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 men and women 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 jail or prison chaplain, 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
For a complete overview of our Good Soil resources:
Good Soil E&D Training and Resources for Many Types of Ministries
The focus of this page has been on using Good Soil in your jail ministry. But, Good Soil provides training and resources for many different kinds of ministry.
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