Heng and his wife, Lan*, a Chinese couple living in South Africa, were invited to attend a dinner at our church plant, located just outside Cape Town. At the close of the dinner, I challenged the couples about their relationships with God. Those interested were invited to sign up for a marriage builder’s course.
For five weeks, Heng and Lan attended the course faithfully. They listened as we studied what the Bible says about marriage. Just prior to the last session, they expressed an interest in continuing a Bible study.
For the following 10 weeks we met to study the Bible using Good Soil’s The Way to Joy. Although we had only been using The Way to Joy for discipleship, I thought it could work as well for an evangelistic study.
As we began the study, it was obvious God was already working. Lan was ready to believe and received Jesus as Savior during the second week of the study. Her husband, however, was a bit doubtful. His “engineering” mind was still working through what he was learning as he tried to pull together the big picture of the Bible. During our times together, I found out that Heng had been seeking God for several years. He owned a Bible and had read it from cover- to -cover five years earlier.
He was even attending a Bible study at his office at the local university during this time. You could see God working in his life.
When I arrived for the fifth session, I did something I usually don’t do; I simply began by asking Heng if he understood what God’s desires for him were and if he was ready to receive Christ. In the most uninhibited way, he looked at me, and very matter-of-factly stated, “Yes, I now have the faith to believe.”
God had given him the eyes to see the truth and the faith to accept Christ.
We continued working our way through The Way to Joy, which included a session on baptism; Heng and Lan were now both ready to be baptized. At the first baptismal service in our new worship center, Heng and Lan boldly testified to the changes God made in their lives and their desire to serve Him. Their faces shone. They had truly discovered … the way to joy!
*Names have been changed.
New Good Soil Publication
In 2004, the leadership of ABWE decided to train its missionaries to be effective in evangelism, discipleship, and cross-cultural church planting. Several significant ministries grew out of that decision, including Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship. Since then hundreds of missionaries, pastors, and laymen have received training in this theological approach to evangelism and discipleship.
But many people have not taken the training, nor are they motivated to do so. These people also need to learn how to evangelize effectively in this postmodern age. Gaining Ground With Good Soil: An Evangelism and Discipleship Training Narrative communicates Good Soil principles in a narrative format to reach the masses.
Written by ABWE missionary, Gil Thomas, Gaining Ground with Good Soil is enjoyable to read, and it will challenge the way you do evangelism and discipleship. To order, call (877) 959-2293 or go to www.goodsoil.com/resources.
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