The Power of Your Testimony

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

As followers of Christ, most of us have a testimony of how we became a follower of Christ.

Perhaps you have done workshop or devotional exercises where you

• write out the testimony of your conversion,
• revise your testimony for clarity, and
• shorten our testimony to share it in 5 minutes or less.

When you tell your journey to faith story, does it answer this question:

“Do you have a faith worth sharing?”

Not Always Easy

When I conduct personal evangelism training workshops, I often find that people have not thought through their story well enough to answer that question.

They have had little practice and understanding of their own story of coming to faith in Christ.

Many don’t even know how to communicate their testimony in a single direction.

When I ask them to tell me their story of how they found Jesus, their testimonies come out

• awkward,
• clumsy,
• drifting without a direction and
• usually very rambling in illogical sequence.

The stories may be full of

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

Tips to Improve Your Testimony

1.  Avoid the pain, if it’s still there.

Oten “helpful suggestions” for improving your testimony descend into navel-gazing like

“family-history, blame-your-parents-for-your-sin.”

Some people have a tortured past. Digging into their life before Christ is an exercise in self-torture.

I’ve encountered people with such traumatic pasts that digging around these themes are just a painful exercise.

You may be growing in your healing, but the wounds of your past are still too painful.  

Developing your testimony doesn’t have to go that far, and doesn’t have to be that painful.  

Use your discretion in what aspects of your story that you want to make shareable.  

If the emotional pain and scars have disappeared and you can talk about your past as a matter of fact, you may have reached a healthy space to include those elements in your testimony.

2. Avoid doctrinal framing

Other times, “helpful suggestions” require us to frame our story to cover certain 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 can sound contrived to make a theological point that you may have come to understand later.

Instead, talk about the experience of conviction that you felt. Talk about how you knew that the sin pattern was wrong, and why you wanted to change.  

You want a genuine story, not one that sounds contrived or unreal just to fit your doctrine.

I was 7 and it bothered me that I kept lying to my parents. . . I remembered hearing the Bible stories about the 10 commandments and realizing that I was breaking God’s law.  I couldn’t help myself though.  I knew God was not pleased, my parents were not pleased.  I needed Jesus.

Transformational Stories

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 the time during our walk with the Lord.

These stories go beyond your conversion moment and into today.

For those of us who follow Christ but cant point to a conversion moment, stories of transformation are powerful testimonies as well.

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.

Moments 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 experiences 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 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.

Free Download to Develop Your 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.

Download this free testimony discovery tool (an 18-page questionnaire for reflection) to help you discover key elements in your journey to faith.

Let me ask you this:

Do you have a faith worth sharing?