Sharing Your Testimony

Once you start a conversation with a lost person, the challenge becomes how to transition into the gospel. You want this to happen naturally without forcing a conversation on the person that he does not want to have. You can gauge his level of openness by asking questions or making statements related to the conversation. One method for this is sharing your testimony. Every believer may not know how to share the gospel in detail or quote every verse related to salvation. But every believer can be a witness for Christ by telling others their own story of how they came to salvation. Your story makes your witness powerful and meaningful, because few people will argue with a story of personal transformation.

Your Testimony Outline

Since your testimony is told like a story, there are many ways to tell it. This approach will break it up into three parts – your life before Jesus, how you learned the truth about Jesus, and your life since knowing Jesus. By doing this, you can focus on the important details without getting sidetracked. You will take some time to write your story based on these points. You do not have to fill all the lines, but they are there for you if you need them. Maybe you have written out your testimony before, and you have already used it in real-life situations. You certainly can keep using the format most comfortable for you. This exercise provides you with one more way to talk about the most important event in your life.Before you write out your story in your own words, here are some thoughts to keep in mind:

• Keep it brief. Your testimony should be short enough to tell in about 2-3 minutes. It should be long enough to include all the important details.
• Keep it a story. People can relate to you if you’re willing to share your personal experiences in a story. This is not necessarily the time to go into a full explanation of the gospel. Just share in a personal way how you came to know Jesus.
• Avoid using religious words that may be misunderstood. Many lost people come from unchurched or non-Christian backgrounds, so biblical concepts can be foreign to them. Use words and concepts that will be the most universally understood.
• Be excited about telling your story. Some Christians think that they should not use their testimony because it is not an interesting story. That is simply not true. No matter how you got saved, your story is worth telling because it is about how Jesus has changed your life. Get excited about what he has done for you, and that will create interest in the lost people you talk to.

When you prepare your conversion testimony, you can arrange your thoughts in three successive stages.

1. My life before Jesus
2. How I learned the truth about Jesus
3. My life since knowing Jesus

Assignment

1. Memorize Acts 4:20
2. Memorize the four tips for sharing your testimony (only the bold). Be prepared to write out these tips on the quiz next week:

• Keep it brief.
• Keep it a story.
• Avoid using religious words that may be misunderstood.
• Be excited about telling your story.

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