Training and resources were specifically created to help cross-cultural missionaries.
Good Soil Evangelism & Discipleship can help cross-cultural missionaries from any evangelical agency overcome some of the common challenges faced when ministering to Buddhists, Hindus, Muslim, animists, postmodern, and others from non-Christian backgrounds.
Good Soil’s Basic Seminar will help you...
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 mission agency.
Moving Beyond Lecture will enhance your ability to teach and train, beyond what you can probably imagine. You will…
Clark, Training Director of Biblical Ministries WorldwideI just wanted to share the impact of Moving Beyond Lecture on the teaching team at Biblical Ministries Worldwide.
One week after Gil’s Moving Beyond Lecture seminar here at our office in Georgia, we started our Candidate Seminar. I challenged all of those who attended Moving Beyond Lecture (MBL) to take at least one principle from MBL and apply it to one of their classes and then report back to me. I made it a contest of sorts: the winner would receive a nice gift.
Results? I have ten (10) examples of how impactful MBL was on the training team. In just one week, this course material has dramatically changed how we design and conduct many of our sessions. One of my trainers is a VP of Academic Affairs for a seminary and he completely revised his approach to his class. Who is the winner? They all are! Not only did they see more enthusiastic response to material from the students, they now “own” the MBL principle they used. So, everyone is going to get a small reward (Starbucks card).
I'm not going to let the pressure off, though. Even though everyone has returned to their “real job,” my thoughts going forward are
-Have everyone complete a Training Wheels for their course(s)
-Revise the handouts they use, if any, with learning objectives clearly stated
-Reduce dependence upon PowerPoint as the primary content transfer modeThank you so much for making such a contribution to our training processes at Biblical Ministries Worldwide. Only eternity will tell the real impact of your gracious gift to (or for) the cause of Christ.
One of the keys to effective Bible teaching with any age is telling Bible stories so that historical Bible events “come alive” in the minds of those who hear them!
This BibleStorying (Bible story telling) workshop will enhance your skills as a Bible story teller and teacher. You will learn lots of tips and techniques for improving your ability to tell Bible stories that will gain and hold student interest. And, you will learn about—and practice using—several Good Soil Bible teaching resources.
For the sake of the gospel, we want to share with other mission agencies the cross-cultural ministry training and resources that God has given us.
We will gladly waive the registration fees for two of your agency's key leaders to attend up to a full week of our May or October Good Soil training seminars or workshops. A $600 value.
As seminar participants, representatives from your agency will be certified and equipped to teach the Good Soil Basic Seminar in your ministry organization.
Dates and More Info Regarding Good Soil Training Events
Use this form to send us your name, contact information, name and website of your mission agency, and we will send you the code for FREE registrations, which you can share with one other key leader or trainer in your mission agency.
Contact us at Info@GoodSoil.com or 717.909.2397 for more information.
Gary, missionary in LiberiaGod’s BIG Story: In August we began teaching in Garjaws Town, Grand Bassa County. For our first teaching, we placed a 600-foot long orange timeline through the middle of the village. We then hung most of the 100 events we will study in The Roots of Faith, along with the 25 Bible “Eras” (Creation, Fall, Flood etc.). We then gave an overview of God’s Story from eternity past to eternity future. The people are excited to see what God has, is, and will do and that they are included in God’s Story! In September the lessons continued and included integrating “Bible Telling” for those who cannot read.
Chronological Bible courses that unfold the BIG Story of the Bible, based on 100 key redemptive story events. Specifically created for training missionaries 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.”
Additional supplemental resources are available, such as printed and PowerPoint teaching visuals and chronological Bible cards and more.
Phil and Barb, missionaries to the PhilippinesTaking The Roots of Faith after being on the mission field for several years was a great encouragement and review for us. It also gave us the tools to help teach the Old and New Testament in our Bible school here in the Philippines. Both the outline and the pictures have been so helpful in organizing our materials for teaching. It also helps the students understand The Story of Hope in the bigger context of the Bible.
Image of a TROF OT Class at ABWE - FUN Learning
Image of a TROF NT Class at ABWE - Interactive & Engaging Learning
Good Soil provides a wide variety of evangelism and discipleship resources for missionary ministries. And some of these are already available in multiple languages. But if the language you need is not currently available, we are willing to work with you on translation projects.
The Story of Hope was specifically created for evangelism (or discipleship) with people from non-Christian worldview cultures—for missionary ministries.
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 GuideSteve, independent missionary to the Philippines, Vietnam, and MyanmarI have found The Story of Hope and related resources to be the most effective tools for evangelism in my 35 years in the ministry. I have found no better material for evangelism and discipleship for any country than the Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship's The Story of Hope. Good Soil also has a children's edition with lots of games and songs. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! With all my responsibilities in our ministry in Southeast Asia, IF I could only do one thing, it would be to teach this material.
We have developed a curriculum plan for teaching The Story of Hope in a class setting. Lots of people were teaching it that way, so we decided to make it easier for them and others who would want to do so. A generous donor provided funds so that we could have the class facilitator's guide professionally created and offer it to you FREE—the entire 120 beautifully designed pages!
The Message of Hope is a chronological Bible study workbook for ministry with Muslims. The study begins in Genesis 1:1 and proceeds through the Bible to the very end of the book of Revelation, including 40 lessons, each focusing on one major event in the Bible's BIG Story of redemption. The Message of Hope lets the Bible speak for itself and engages participants in thought-provoking discussions along the way. The 40 events were strategically chosen to address religious issues of interest and concern to Muslims. While the study is similar in many ways to The Story of Hope, five events were substituted in The Message of Hope in order to make this study more appropriate for a Bible study with Muslims. There are two editions of The Message of Hope:
FREE Leader's Guide - 147 professionally designed pages, developed by people who lived and worked in Muslim majority countries for many years.
32 Pages - Both editions contain Bible maps. Available in a growing number of languages.
The Message of Hope Power Point Presentation: A 40 event image PowerPoint presentation for The Message of Hope. Includes Bible map images and the tabernacle image. All text can be translated and changed in PowerPoint.
PhD College Professor of Old Testament in the USAA couple years ago I showed copies of beta-versions of The Message of Hope for Muslims to a faculty member colleague who had been a missionary in the Middle East. At the time he did not seem too interested. He uses “The Story” and likes it. He then left our college for a year to head up the Muslim Studies program at a major seminary. He just came back to our college to teach again. By now he must have had more time to look over The Message of Hope and told me today that he really likes it. So I showed him one of my older versions of The Roots of Faith—Old Testament and he was impressed. He said if we had that in Arabic he would love to teach it to Muslims. In addition to the content and concept, he is impressed with the quality of the materials—and who wouldn’t be? He says the Muslims have a different “story” about the Old Testament, which undermines the gospel. He sees this type of work, such as The Message of Hope and The Roots of Faith, as setting them on the right trajectory.
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:
Bible memory verse cards, as well as a Bible reading and prayer journal are included. Available in several languages . Contact us if you are interested in a language currently not available.
The Way to Joy (TWTJ) was specifically developed at the request of missionaries who serve in a variety of countries around the world, in order to provide a foundational discipleship study to help new believers or others who have never been grounded in the Christian faith and walk.
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 GuideAaron, missionary in PeruJust want to let you know that my use of The Way to Joy is going great. I now have four different discipleship classes going on. On Monday’s at 9:00, I meet with a new believer, Carlos. He was a devout Catholic. The questions he has is just incredible. He has lot of questions about idols, etc. When we finished Monday, he said I want you to teach me to pray! Man I am so thrilled. Today I have two different classes going on—one this morning with five ladies, none of which are in our church yet, but hopefully soon. I have another class tonight, with the youth of the church. I probably have four or five for that class and another Thursday mornings with a man who just started coming to church. His son was saved back in January. Everyone seems to like it so far and I am thrilled to have these materials. I hope to have at least one more class lined up by the end of the month. I met with a Peruvian pastor yesterday and showed him the materials and I will be with his church for an outing the 28th presenting the materials to them. The sky is the limit. Can you tell I am excited? I am totally blown away!
The Way to Joy was originally developed to be a one-on-one or small group basic discipleship study. But, many organizations found it very useful for teaching in classroom settings. Now, we have a FREE resource that provides the adaptation and curriculum design work done for you—for teaching a The Way to Joy class. Thanks to a generous donor, we are now able to offer this professionally designed resource to you for FREE.
A fun way to teach a basic discipleship class and train believers to make disciples
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.
Eve and serpent in Eden
Abraham & Isaac
Sacrifice of lamb at altar in front of tabernacle
John the Baptist
Resurrection of Jesus
Believers in heaven - around Jesus - the rapture scene
Charles, WorldVenture, Littleton, COI am a WorldVenture (Baptist mission in Littleton, CO formerly in Wheaton as CBFMS) missionary in Senegal, West Africa, where I teach Old Testament courses at the undergraduate level, Bible institute level, and grass roots level. I would also like to teach an overview of the whole Bible such as these slides in a biblical theology course that I would like to create. Thanks for this great resource!
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.
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.
Contact us: Info@GoodSoil.com
ChronoBible Cards: Genesis-Revelation
A complete set of 135 pocket-size cards (4.5" x 3.375") for learning and reviewing the content and chronology of the Bible's Big Story.
Pocket-size cards for learning and reviewing 100 key Bible events as they appear chronologically from Genesis through Revelation. Each Bible event card contains an image from the Good Soil Redemptive Story art collection on the front and key content information on the back. 25 major Bible era cards and 10 Chronological Bridge to Life cards included.
Bill, missionary in Papua New GuineaWe 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.
The activities for teaching Hooks are FUN for students of all ages, even the teachers.
And there are FREE instructional helps.
The 12 "Hooks" for Hanging the Old Testament Storyline
The 1 + 12 "Hooks" for Hanging the New Testament Storyline
Ariel, Filipino visiting in New JerseyMy latest Hooks for Hanging the Bible’s Storyline workshop was last Saturday in a Bible study in the home of the owner of Sam Ash Music Stores in Bayonne, NJ. Several very diverse cultures were represented in the group (Filipino, Russian, German, American, African, Hispanic, Arab, and Jewish). They were amazed and enjoyed it - and everyone understood. Some said, “I finally got it!” “I’ll read my Bible again.”
Reflections from God’s Story of Hope unfolds the storyline of the Bible through 50 Old Testament and 50 New Testament events—from Genesis through Revelation.
$20 in Quantities of Eight or More - $40 for One Book, $30 each for Two
Many missionaries have given these as “Thank You” gifts to their prayer and financial supporters.
And other missionaries have used the book and its 100 Bible event pictures to tell and teach the Bible’s redemptive story to non-literate individuals and small groups.
Reflections - The Audio Experience
Professional recordings of all 100 narratives from the book, Reflections From God's Story of Hope.
MP3 files on a flash drive
Watch a (2:36) video to see how the Reflections - The Audio Experience audio stories are correlated with the printed and visually illustrated stories in the Reflections from God's Story of Hope coffee table storybook, as well as The Bible's BIG Story Teaching Visuals.
For you to use in your ministry and to encourage those to whom you are ministering to load on their own mobile devices. Great way to teach and review the events of the Bible's BIG Story and the eight chronological Bible concepts.
Good Soil’s resources for reaching and teaching children include the same distinctives and emphases as our adult resources. The Story of Hope, for example, teaches the chronological story of redemption in a way that kids come to understand how the Bible fits together.
Some of these resources are available in non-English languages. And, if not, we are open to working with you on translation projects.
Jim, missionary to children around the worldIt was my privilege to travel recently to a communist country where it is illegal to teach children about Jesus Christ, as well as to a Muslim country. In both countries, I chose to present Adventures in The Story of Hope to the children’s workers who wanted to reach and disciple their children for Jesus Christ. It was so exciting as the workers saw the beautiful pictures. I was able to tell them how most teachers in America had not seen these pictures or learned how to do chronological Bible teaching. In both countries, children’s teachers went back to their local churches and had a fantastic tool to present the one redemptive plan of God which gives hope to all sinners. These teachers now have a one year plan to teach their children how God always existed and proceed through the rest of the 40 stories. We also taught them how to teach creatively. They really “grabbed hold of” how to use The Story of Hope so that children will understand the redemptive plan of God and have real hope!
A walk through the Chronological Bridge to Life
Gaining Ground with Good Soil is a story about and for missionaries. In an interesting narrative form, it 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. Audio clips from the audio book can be used to spice up teaching sessions.
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.
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.
Phillip, missionary intern in FranceThis 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.
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 cross-cultural missionaries.
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 cross-cultural missionary, 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.
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