Discipleship Institute
The Discipleship Institute offers studies in several ways:
The Prisoner's Bible Institute (PBI) is offered to prisoners.
The Sojourner's Bible Institute is offered to churches for Sunday School curriculum.
The Servicemen's Bible Institute is offered to our military personnel.
The Prisoner's Bible Institute functions mainly in two ways. First, through our Rock of Ages missionary chaplains who teach the Bible Institute in a classroom setting. This allows our chaplains to involve local pastors and qualified lay people who have a burden to help with the Rock of Ages Prisoner's Bible Institute. Second, Bible correspondence courses can be offered to each inmate. The "PBI" is promoted by the revival teams, the discipleship ministry, and missionary chaplains. The correspondence and classroom divisions are independent of each other in format, presentation, grading, and testing methods. However, the content and subject matter are compatible. Material in printed form is used along with audio and video tapes which can be aired on the prison closed circuit television and radio channels at designated times each day of the week.
The Discipleship Institute provides printed Bible Studies as correspondence curriculum free of charge to prisoners and military personnel. This is a faith-based ministry, trusting God to move upon the hearts of His people to give to enable the ministry to print and mail the lessons. This cannot be accomplished without your help, prayerfully and financially.
The institute began in 1995 with two lessons and has grown now to more than 60 lessons with over 24,000 questions. The King James Bible is the only textbook needed to answer these questions.
Prisons (Prisoners Bible Institute - PBI)
The Discipleship Institute's outreach into the prisons is through the printed page. We are attempting to saturate the prisoner with the Word of God through Bible Lessons, Gospel Tracts, Booklets, Poems, etc.
The only hope for the prisoner, we realize, is that the Word of God be available to them. It is the Word of God that they need to be exposed to, for the Bible has the power to change their lives.
At present these lessons are in EIGHT COUNTRIES besides the English and Spanish speaking prisoners here in the United States. These printed lessons are impacting the lives of over 22,000 prisoners worldwide.
As a result of these lessons going into the prisons the Rock of Ages Discipleship Institute has seen an average of over 5,000 souls saved each year for the past four years. These are men, women, and youth that have written to us telling us that as they sat and did these lessons in their cells, God convicted their hearts, and they prayed and asked God to forgive them and to save them.
Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
It is not man, but God's Word that has impacted the lives of so many that are incarcerated around the world.
These lessons are sent to the prisoners free of charge as most inmates do not have any money available to them. It is an enormous cost to accomplish this task, but the souls that are reached with God's Word are well worth every cent.
Please, pray about partnering with us prayerfully, and financially, to get these lessons into the hands of those behind bars.
Churches (Sojourner's Bible Institute)
These lessons are the same as the lessons we send into the prisons. We have changed the covers to distinguish the lessons for the church. The cover is changed but the goal is the same; to saturate the student with the Word of God.
Discipleship of new believers is an area lacking in many churches today. One reason is the lack of materials available and another is lack of structure to do so.
The Sojourner's Bible Institute is a great resource to accomplish the task of discipling new converts or anyone desiring to grow in the knowledge of God's Word.
New Convert Classes, Sunday School Classes, or just as a study for anyone in the church, these lessons are an outstanding way to get people into the Word of God.
These lessons can be purchased by churches for use in any of these areas of ministry in the church. When a church purchases the lessons for their use, it simultaneously helps Rock of Ages Ministries to send lessons to those behind bars.
Military (Servicemen's Bible Institute)
These lessons are the same as the lessons we send into the prisons and churches, with changed covers to distinguish the lessons for the military. The cover is changed but the goal is the same, to saturate the student with the Word of God.
Many times our men and women serving in the military are stationed in areas that do not have access to materials for the study of God's Word. We want to help to fill that need by providing them with studies that they can do by correspondence.
These lessons are sent to the military men and women free of charge as many times their service location may not afford them a safe opportunity for monetary transactions. It is an enormous cost to accomplish this task, but the souls that are reached with God's Word are well worth every cent.
Graders (Friends Serving Inmates - FSI)
We receive literally thousands of lessons each week to be graded. Our small staff at the Rock of Ages are doing all they can to keep the lessons printed, grades entered into the computer, and print certificates for the completed lessons that are enclosed in the next pack of lessons mailed to the prisoners. However, the grading of the lessons is accomplished by volunteers called FSI (Friends Serving Inmates).
The FSI - Friends Serving Inmates is a vital part of the ministry. They accomplish a great task for the ministry, by grading the lessons. Thousands of hours each week are invested by those grading the lessons!
We bundle the lessons and mail them to FSI graders all across the United States. They in turn grade them and send them back so we can enter the grades and print the completion certificates for the prisoners.
1 Corinthians 3:9 "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building."
We ask our FSI graders to grade the lessons promptly and return them as soon as they can, as prisoners are anxiously waiting to receive their next package of lessons.
Without the FSI graders we could not continue to reach out to the thousands upon thousands that wish to study God's Word behind prison bars.
You may be one of many that thinks there is nowhere for you to serve the Lord, but maybe you could serve as a FSI grader.
For more information on the Discipleship Institute contact us: (423)479-3243 or Roadisc@aol.com