Written by

Why Every Christian Writer Should Write Down Their Personal Testimony

Every Christian writer should have their personal testimony of faith honed and ready to share. I realized this when mine wasn’t.

Tommy, who’d paved my driveway, had come for his money. He sat on my couch with his head in his hands, a drunk with a bad hangover. He looked terrible.

Yet he was also a sweet-natured man with teenage kids. It broke my heart.

“You can’t go on like this, Tommy,” I found myself blurting.

To my surprise, he didn’t bristle at my interference. He nodded.

Hesitantly, I began to share how Jesus claimed me when I was broken and, in time, blessed me with a strong man of faith to be my husband. It was the first time I had shared my personal testimony off the cuff with a virtual stranger.

Though I had ummed and aahed my way through it, Tommy liked it and was pleased when my husband and I prayed for him.

No, he didn’t come to faith there and then. I believe God appoints several of us to work, independently of one another, on every lost soul. We may not see the harvest but what matters is doing what Jesus said: being witnesses for Him to the ends of the earth.

There are two other important reasons for having our personal testimony at the ready:

1. To remember and honor what God did for us.

If we have our story straight in our heads, then every other story we want to tell falls into place. I’ve had a true story of Ireland during the War of Independence (1921) in a holding pattern for the last ten years, without knowing why I wanted to tell it. Since focusing on the new testimony course I’m leading, I’ve understood how the false optimism that spelt disaster for my characters was echoed in my own ‘before Jesus’ situation. Though I’ll have to admit to who I was, I’ll be able to write this story now.

2. The workers are few.

If we Christian writers aren’t ready to tell our faith story, who else can be expected to? It’s no easy thing. In many circles, it’s uncool to be a believer, or we feel we’re foisting unwanted opinions on people. All around us, tolerance is tipping over into anything goes: it looks like no one wants redemption.

A survey among a group of churches that emphasized personal evangelism found that 92% of its members had never evangelised to another person about Jesus! Hard as it is, telling our story is less confrontational than a straightforward sharing of our beliefs because no one can deny our personal experience. It has the power to inspire and provoke to envy. Our listener could wind up wanting what we’ve got.

So how do we prepare?

  • As with any story, we start with a premise – our story in one sentence – and go on to define an opening situation, point of conflict (when Jesus came knocking) and a resolution.
  • We eliminate churchy jargon and speak with candor and honesty.
  • We show, don’t tell: speaking in specifics.

By writing our personal testimony, we will always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us for the reason for the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15). And, sometimes, too, to needy people like Tommy, who don’t ask.

Question: Did you write your testimony down? Do you share it?

* Image credit: Ferdinand  Reus (Creative Commons)

Comments

  1. says

    My testimony doesn’t include a “crisis point.” There have been many personal crises in my life and God has always come a’knockin’. But one singular moment? No such thing for me. My testimony is a spiral of encounter and blessing, of backsliding and ego. So, I guess I have not written it down. It’s the length of my life. I like the idea, though. I do.

    • says

      Hi Tripp – in the Testimony class I’m teaching, we’ve had this come up: ‘Ah, but I’ve been a believer since I was a kid – I don’t have a great story of transformation.’ But we all do have a story of what God has done in our lives. The person who said this, in the first week, last week told us about a car crash and a shattered elbow that the doctors believed would never function again. But my student knew better – she had prayed and God had told her she would be healed. And she was waving her arms about – and crying – as she shared that she was!

  3. Douglas Panneton says

    I have written my testimony down – and it has come in handy on many occassions ( especially when I am “meeting” someone new on line and they ask me what my story is – I can copy and paste and voila – they have it ) –

    One thing we should all be aware of though is that as nice as sharing our testimony is, it is not always the same thing as sharing the Gospel. We need to make sure that our “Testimony” has a clear Gospel message in it,

    • says

      I like your idea of copying and pasting your story to those who ask, Douglas. The approach with the Testimony class I teach is storytelling, rather than theology-based. Whilst it would be very wrong for someone to tell a story that wasn’t Gospel-aligned, I think it’s important that, first and foremost, the story of being claimed should inspire the listener. Church jargon and scriptural quotes can distance rather than bring that person closer to the one who’s witnessing.

    • says

      You have inspired my husband and me to have quite a lengthy discussion about whether the cross is essential to a testimony or not, Douglas. My position was first inspire with redemption and then talk about Jesus sacrifice. His was that a testimony without the cross is meaningless. So I’m going to bring it to my Testimony Course Focus Group to discuss further.

    • says

      Hi Bill – I looked up the 315 Project – it’s really good. But I am sure that with modern technology we don’t need to be in Atlanta to create a video but that anyone can do this anywhere. I was tempted to respond using their online form but if you would like to put me in touch with the right person, even better. bobbie@scrollchest.com

  6. Rosann says

    I recently wrote mine down and found it quite helpful to do so. The story of all the suffering has always been there in my mind, but to stop and think about when I truly opened my heart to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior – the beautiful part of the story – is something I was less inclined to share in my writing. It felt really good to get my testimony (in full) written down. 🙂

  7. John Sebesta says

    I have an interesting testimonial that started at birth being a thalidomide baby only to have many more trials that lead me in living in a demoniac home, have demons submit to me because I knew Jesus and confessing to an Angel finding out that now I am a citizen of heaven. This was due to Luke 10:20. Is there anyone that can write my story professionally and is it worth writing?