Evangelism Coach International

I’ve been thinking recently about “the testimony” — your story of conversion.

Most of us have one, most of us have done exercises where we write it out, revise it, and figure out how to share it in 5 minutes or less.

When it comes to the part of telling your story, I often ask: “Do you have a faith worth sharing?”

Not Always Easy

In the evangelism training workshops i’m asked to conduct, I often find that people have little practice and understanding of their own story.   Many don’t even know how to communicate it.  When I ask them to tell me their story, it’s awkward, it’s clumsy, and it’s usually very weak.

The stories may be full of

• Jesus cliches (He’s the answer!),
• inspecific generalities, and
• maybe even over 20 years old (is God still relevant?).

Rethinking the Testimony

When I hear teaching on testimony telling, it’s often focused only on your conversion experience.

How you found Jesus, or How God saved you.  The journey to that point is often neglected.

Sometimes the “helpful suggestions” for improving your testimony descend into “family-history-blame-your-parents-for-your-sin” navel gazing. Some people such a tortured past that digging into what their life was before Christ is an exercise in self-torturing.  It doesn’t have to go that far, and doesn’t have to be that painful.

Other times, the “helpful suggestions” require us to frame our story to cover certian doctrinal points. “I was 7, but lying to my parents. My sin of lying was sending me straight to hell, so i needed to accept Jesus into my heart to be forgiven. I changed and never lied again.” That sounds so contrived.

Maybe a better model of testimony is this: transformational stories.

What is God working in your life right now that makes the gospel Good News? Transformational stories occur all during our walk with the Lord. Its beyond conversion and into today. Transformational stories show that God is relevant to us today and still at work.

After all, we are being transformed, by the renewal of our minds, and being transformed into the image of the one who created us. That transformation is ongoing, and often reveals to us where God’s calling intersects our life. Moments when we are redirected by God’s leading, when we are changed by an encounter with Christ, when a destructive habit or pattern of thinking is redeemed, or when an old wound is healed.

Transformational stories don’t fit our theological propositions. Stories are lived experience that communicate truth. Our theology interprets our stories, not determines them.

By moving to transformational stories, we have many more stories to tell. We are not limited to an experience of our conversion which could have been many years ago. I do have a faith worth sharing. I can joyfully share the good news of the sovereign love of God, because God is at work in my life NOW.

Let me ask you this:
Do you have a faith worth sharing?

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