History of
the ISOM Bible School

The International School of Ministries (ISOM) was founded in the mid-1990s by South African, Berin Gilfillan. The vision was formed when Berin Gilfillan worked with evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, in Africa, as his TV director and experienced hundreds of thousands of people coming to saving faith, in Jesus Christ. But the pastors had almost no material to support and train so many young believers, to become disciples of Jesus and future leaders.

And so, to address this need, the vision was formed, to invite many of the best teachers in the world to record video courses, teaching about the strengths of their ministries. In this way, Christians could be trained as disciples of Jesus, in their mother tongue via these video courses and the study folders which were developed around them, wherever they are – in tens of thousands of places worldwide. In the meantime, the ISOM Bible School has developed courses from over 100 teachers, from all continents.

The first five semesters were filmed in what was the church of Pastor Bayless Conley, over a period of three years. In 1998 the first ISOM Bible schools came into being in Germany, and a short time later also in Austria and Switzerland. The first five semesters were recorded bilingually, namely in 18 different languages, which are the most widely spoken languages worldwide. In the years that followed until the present day, the ISOM Bible School has been translated into 80 languages, which enables approx. 95% of Christians in the world to train with ISOM in their own language.

70 Languages - ISOM Bible School

In the meantime, almost 15,000 Christians in German-speaking countries alone have attended the ISOM Bible School and have been trained for ministry. Many of those students are now pastor and have themselves started new churches and ministries. Worldwide over 350,000 students in 155 nations study with the ISOM Bible School. In China, over 60,000 pastors and leaders of some of the largest house church movements have gone through the five semesters of the ISOM Bible School and in turn, have trained many millions of Chinese Christians using ISOM.

Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees

IIn 2008, a comprehensive Bachelor’s and Master’s program was developed, which currently consists of 13 modules that build on and deepen, the first five semesters. Now, local Christians can even do a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree and be trained for every type of calling and ministry.

In the meantime, a German Express version has also been created, where the German language has been superimposed on the English original so that a video lesson only lasts about 30 minutes, instead of the previous 60 minutes.
The time saved as a result is a great gain and leaves more time for reviewing and implementing what has been learned.

The vision and history of the ISOM Bible School are described in detail in the book by Berin Gilfillan “Unlocking the Abrahamic Promise”. This book can be ordered on its own or as part of the introductory package of the ISOM Bible School, for only 15 euros.

Introduction package - ISOM Bible School