Writing Your Testimony

Grab your coffee, and a pen and 2 sheets of paper today. You’ll have an assignment! The teacher in me is coming out. Sometimes you have to follow through and do something to actually learn it.

As we’ve walked through 8 months of Back to Basics, I’ve often wondered if anyone is really listening to the heart behind this series. The deep heart desire of each of us at the Priceless blog is that you would come to know Christ, and would grow a deeper relationship with Him – a more obedient lifestyle that honors Him in all you do.

With that end in mind comes this lesson. If your heart has been pricked by some of these articles to the point of making changes in behavior and commitment, then you are well on your way to spiritual growth (even if you can’t see big changes yet!). Many of these lessons have had a personal focus. They have been things that would change our lives – studying God’s word, prayer, scripture memory, etc.

But what is our end goal? To just be changed for ourselves? No. In Matthew 28:19-20, God’s Word tells us, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We have an assignment. A duty. A commission. So now that you have been feeding yourself spiritually and growing, it’s time to learn to carry out that joyful responsibility.

Today we will learn to write out our story, our testimony – a short one that can be shared in 3-5 minutes. Please read the how-tos, but more than that, grab your paper and do it!

Steps to Writing a 3 Minute Testimony.

1. 

   Something like this…

   Take one sheet of paper and turn it sideways. Divide it into thirds with vertical lines. You now have 3 columns. Title the columns individually, left to right, with “Before I met Christ,” “How I met Christ,” and “After I Came to Know Christ.” Leave yourself plenty of room below to write notes.

2. Start with the left column. Jot down notes about what your life was like before you became a Christian. Write down circumstances, feelings, beliefs, or what you did and did not understand about the Bible, church, or being a Christian.
3. Under the second heading write down the facts, maybe in a bulleted list, about how you came to know Jesus, your salvation experience. Tell the basics: how old you were, where were you, who shared Jesus with you, what Bible verses led to your conversion, how you felt, what you prayed, did you put it off at first, and other similar facts.
4. And finally, in the third column explain in short phrases how your life changed after that. Was it immediate or over time? How have you grown in Christ? What have you learned? How has your faith been strengthened? What Bible verses are important to you today? What is the most recent or most powerful way you have seen God work on your behalf? How do you know you are a child of God?
5. Now take this note page and your other blank piece of paper. From the notes you jotted down, pick the most important ones or those that convey the meaning you want, and use them to write 3 concise paragraphs on your blank page to tell your story.

• Make sure you include scripture verses.
• Don’t glorify your sin, glorify Jesus.
• Use simple direct words that anyone can understand. Avoid “church words” such as “redeemed” or “sanctified” that non-church attenders may not clearly understand. (Alternate word options: Lord = boss, saved or redeemed = rescued, sanctified = set apart, justified = balanced my account, sin = something that goes against God’s standards.)
• If you keep with the 3 distinct paragraph form, you will easily remember the past-present-future of your story and be able to share it in any moment.
• Look over it daily until you are comfortable saying it with ease.
• Grab a good friend and ask them to let you practice sharing it with them. if you’ve already said it many times, you won’t be as nervous telling your story to a stranger or whoever God puts in your path.

Now it’s time to try! You can do this! God will use it when you are obedient to do it!